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"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." - James Beard


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Saturday, March 1, 2014

Pork & Mushroom Dumplings


Well, these were fantastic!  It's a bit of a project to assemble the dumplings.  It takes a little time but it's not that hard. And the effort is worth it. 

This recipe made 40 dumplings, so there were plenty leftover to freeze.  


One special ingredient I needed to track down was round dumpling wrappers.  My local supermarket has a decent supply of Asian ingredients, but only had square wonton wrappers, so I had to go to the Chinese speciality store for these.  But they only cost a buck!  

Here's what you need for these fantastic dumplings:


2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
10 green onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
4 ounces shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound ground pork
40 round dumpling wrappers
cornstarch
vegetable oil


For the dipping sauce:
1/4 cup hot water
4 green onions
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons sambal oelek (chili paste)


Slice the green onions.


Remove the stems from the mushrooms.


And finely chop them.


Heat the sesame oil in a pan and add the green onions, garlic, ginger and mushrooms.  Cook for about 3 minutes.


Remove the mushroom mixture to a large bowl and let it cool a little.


Add the ground pork, pepper, soy sauce and hoisin sauce to the mushroom mixture.


Mix together very well until completely combined.


Lay out some dumpling wrappers on a sheet of parchment and cover the rest with a clean dish towel.  Have a little bowl of water on hand to seal the dumplings.


Spoon about a teaspoon of the pork mixture onto each wrapper. Be careful not to overfill it.  


Dip your finger in the water and run it around the edge of the dumpling wrapper.  Fold it into a half moon and press the edges to seal.  


Place the sealed dumplings on a tray sprinkled with cornstarch and cover them with a clean towel so they don't dry out while you assemble the rest.


Repeat with remaining dumplings about 8 or 9 at a time until you have used all the filling. 


You'll end up with a tray full of dumplings! 


Before cooking, make the sauce.  Mix together hot water, brown sugar, green onions, soy sauce, rice vinegar and sambal oelek.
   

To cook the dumplings, heat a little vegetable oil in a large pan over high heat.  Place as many dumplings in the pan as you can fit without crowding.  


Cook for about 30 seconds until brown and then flip them over.  Add 1/3 cup water to the pan, cover and steam for 4 minutes.  Wipe out the pan and repeat with additional dumplings if necessary.


Serve with the sauce for a delicious snack or meal.  


Unless you're serving a crowd, this will be too many dumplings for one meal.  Freeze the rest of the uncooked dumplings on a tray until firm, then place in a freezer bag to store.  To cook from frozen, follow the same instructions but steam for 6 minutes.  


I was so pleased with how these turned out that I can't wait to try other flavours!  Shrimp?  Chicken?  Veggie?  Maybe I'll even make pierogies!  


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