Pork and Chive Boiled Dumplings 韭菜豬肉水餃

Making dumplings with family and friends is a lot more fun than doing it alone. A few weeks ago, my girlfriends and I had a "dumplings party" (make our own) at a friend's home. When we arrived, the host had started to work on a large batch of dough. However as the dough was quite dry, we had to add more water into it. It takes more effort to add water to the dough if it is too dry; it's easier to add more flour to dough which is too wet. Nonetheless we got it done by dividing up the dough and working our arm muscles.

When the ingredients were ready, we formed a production line - with one person mixing the filling, others rolling-out the wrappers and the rest wrapping the dumplings. One person didn't like the texture of the original dough and decided to make her own dough by using warm water, which yields softer dough. So we ended up with different types of dough (cold vs warm water) and various wrapping styles. Apart from freshness, the advantage of using home-make dough is ease in shaping and sealing the dumplings. 

With so many people involved, it didn't take too long to complete the wrapping process. After the dumplings were cooked, we savored them quickly. We tried to distinguish between the cold versus warm water dough dumplings. Cold water dough has a slightly chewier texture, whereas warm water dough is a little softer. Some prefer the earlier, others prefer the latter, others can't tell the difference and were happy with both. 

All in all, we had a wonderful afternoon chatting, making and eating the dumplings. It's a great "team-building" activity and we are looking forward to our next DIY session.

RECIPE FOR PORK AND CHIVE BOILED DUMPLINGS

Makes 30 dumplings

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Ingredients

Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp water

Filling
400g ground pork
100g chinese chives, chopped
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp chinese rice wine
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
few dashes of pepper
3 Tbsp water

Dipping sauce
1½ Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cooking wine
1 tsp chili oil (optional - for spicy taste)
Ginger, julienned

Steps:

Dough
1) Add flour to a large mixing bowl. Add water slowly and use your fingers to stir the flour with water. The dough should come together, feel a little firm yet pliable. Learn to feel the dough as different flour scooping methods and climate can affect amount of water required. If the dough feels too wet, add a little more flour (1 Tbsp at a time). If it feels too dry, add a little more water (1 Tbsp at a time).

Mix well and remove dough from bowl. Knead the dough till smooth and elastic, for about 5-10 minutes.

2) Place dough in bowl and cover with damp cloth or plastic wrap to allow dough to rest.

Filling
3) Wash and chop the chinese chives.

4) In a mixing bowl, add ground pork, soy sauce, chinese rice wine, sugar, sesame oil, pepper and mix well. Add 1 Tbsp of water (total 3 Tbsp) at a time, stirring quickly in one direction with a pair of chopsticks to help the meat absorb the water. Lastly, add chopped chinese chives and mix well.

Wrapping
5) Dust some flour on work surface. Roll dough into 2 log shapes and divide into 30 pieces (about 15g each).

6) Flatten and roll each piece into a 3.5 inch (9 cm) circle. Place a heap of filling (about 1 Tbsp) on each wrapper.

7) Wrap the dumpling according to this video. (to keep it simple, you can also make 1 or 2 pleats on each side.)

8) Over high heat, bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add dumplings (cook in batches if needed). Once the dumplings float, cook for another minute and remove dumplings with strainer. Serve hot with dipping sauce.