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Chinese Pork & Chive Dumplings

Pork & chive dumplings with soy sauce
I need my weekly dose of dumplings. I have a passion for them, the Asian, the Italian, the French, or even the Polish ones alike. Careful, still talking about dumplings here !! One of my all-time favourites are the classic Chinese steamed dumplings, in their most common Pork and Chive version. I simply adore their garlicky, sesamey flavour, with a freshness brought by the ginger and the scallions, but also all the richness of the fatty pork. I sometimes mix it with veal if I want to lessen the strong porky taste (but that's not very authentic if you do !). If you’re lazy like me, buy frozen wrappers, spend 30mn on your filling, and move on to the soothing part : the folding ! Make yourself comfortable : sit down, turn on your TV, your radio or your favourite podcast, because if you want to freeze lots of delicious dumplings (and I recommend you do so), it’s gonna take a while ! Bring a companion in if you can, or two, and start wrapping. I don’t find it annoying, rather therapeutic.

Chinese Pork & Chive Dumplings - Recipe

Ingredients - Advice & key points

For some ingredients in this dish (like the Chinese cooking wine or Chinese vinegar, msg, chives), you might need to visit an Asian store :
  • If you're in Paris :
    • your could go to the K-mart near Opera (there are several others K-marts, check on Google) ;
    • you can also go to Tang Frères in the 13th (they have other stores in Paris but be careful, some are small, this one is large) or Paris Store in the 10th ;
    • ever since I moved to the 18th, I've been going to XP 16 or Chen Market, but those shops are slightly smaller, especially XP16, and you might not find everything you need. 
  • If you're in France :
    • Paris Store has several shops across the country ;
    • you can also order online ! There are several online Asian websites you can order from.
    • For my foreign friends : I bet you can easily find some Asian shops around you or online, but if you can't, message me with your location and I will try to find it for you !
Got everything you need ? Let's fill your freezer with dumplings ! PS : This recipe will provide you around 100 dumplings, which is good for 8 to 10 servings depending on your appetite ! Don't forget to buy enough dumpling wrappers (in my usual shops they average on 25 dumpling wrappers per package only).
Cooking Method
Cuisine ,
Courses
Difficulty Intermediate
Time
Prep Time: 120 min Cook Time: 10 min Total Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
Servings 8
Best Season Suitable throughout the year
Description

Juicy, meaty yet fresh dumplings, much tastier than takeout.    

Ingredients
  • 4 frozen dumpling wrappers packages (based on 25-wrappers packages)
  • 1 kilogram fatty ground pork (you can mix with veal (less authentic))
  • 250 grams napa cabbage (shaved)
  • 3 eggs
  • 6 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 1 ginger thumb (1 thumb = ~2 tsp)
  • 200 grams Chinese garlic chives (replace with 4 scallions per 100g of chives)
  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons shaoxing cooking wine (rice vinegar is ok)
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (more if your pork isn't fatty)
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 4 teaspoons table salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 pinch msg (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon white pepper
    • For the dumplings sauce (per person)
  • 1 tablespoon Zhenjiang vinegar (rice vinegar is ok)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon chili oil
Instructions
  1. Prepare your ingredients

    Thinly shred you cabbage using a large knife, then mince it.

    Mince your scallions and/or chives, your ginger, your garlic. 

    Add all of these ingredients to a bowl. 

    Add the meat, eggs, soy sauce, oils, cooking wine, salt, sugar, white pepper and msg optionally. 

    Combine with chopsticks, stirring in one direction only.  

    Let it marinate around 20-30 minutes in the fridge. 

    If you want to make sure you seasoned the meat properly, bring a small amount of water to a boil and drop some filling in it, then remove after 3 minutes. Taste and adjust your raw filling accordingly. 

    It takes a short while to combine all the ingredients properly, so make sure you spend at least 5 minutes on this step.
  2. Fold those dumplings !

    Fill a small cup with water.

    Put around 1 tsp of filling on the center of a dumpling wrapper.

    Wet the wrapper's edges with your index (that you put in the water cup). 

    Fold it in half, then pinch strongly in the top middle. Start pinching each side from the top middle to the top bottom, making sure your dumpling is completely sealed by the end of the process.

    If it doesn't make sense, check out my video ! 

    Don't overfill your dumpling, or it won't close properly ! After folding 10-15 dumplings, put them under a wet kitchen towel and in the fridge, or straight in the freezer. If you want to freeze some, put them on a plate before putting them in a plastic bag 30mn later (they'll be solid and won't stick together).
  3. Cook your dumplings !

    Line a bamboo steamer with holed cabbage leaves or holed wax paper.

    Boil some water in the bottom of a large pot, then put the bamboo steamer on top. 

    Steam the dumplings for around 8 minutes (10 minutes if frozen), or longer if needed.  

    While they steam, make your dumplings sauce by mixing together all the ingredients. 

    Et voilà !! You're done ! 

    Be careful to not overcook your dumplings ; you'd get dry, sad dumplings !
Keywords: home made, dumplings, pork, chives, scallions, soy sauce, comforting
Read it online: https://multicarbs.com/recipe/pork-chive-chinese-dumplings/

Thank you for trying out this recipe ! Do not hesitate to leave some feedback. I hope it brightened your day.