Continuing through the Land of Plenty cookbook…
Today is just a quick post, but I get to gleefully delve into one of my favorite Chinese snacks, dumplings. There are roughly 22,632 ways you can prepare dumplings, but this preparation just happens to be the “Zhong” Crescent Dumplings. Fuschia says this is a traditional New Year’s dish in Northern China, but did you know you are allowed to make them whenever your little heart desires? It’s true.
I’ve made dumplings a few times in the past, always using the wonton and dumpling wrappers you can buy at most any grocery store. I plan on making my own dumpling dough soon, but I made these along with the Dan Dan noodles and using pre-made wrappers is a big time saver, and the taste/texture is great as far as I’m concerned. These wrappers are from Super H but you can usually get them near the refrigerated produce at any Kroger or Publix. I bought these frozen so you can stock up and just pop a package in the refrigerator earlier in the day when you need to use them, they defrost very quickly.
I don’t have many pictures, but here’s the quick run-down of preparing the dumplings:
First create the filling for your dumplings. I used almost 1lb of ground pork, 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine, 1 egg, salt and pepper, and almost one cup of water in which I had soaked a large piece of ginger. The filling was very paste-like, per the recipe.
Next, setup your dumpling prep station. Have your wrappers ready to go, your filling bowl next to that, a small bowl of water for sealing, and a plate to put the finished dumplings.
Lay the dumpling in your hand, add a tsp of filling, then seal the dumpling by dipping your finger in water, then run your finger around the edge, fold the dumpling over, and ensure a tight seal. If you fold the wrapper over and create some dimples you have the standard crescent shape. I did this with a few of them, but I also chose to try another folding method I saw (pictured below).
Put the finished dumpling on your lightly floured plate (you may not need flour if they aren’t sticky). Repeat for what seems like eternity.
Now that you’ve finished folding a million dumplings, you are ready to cook. I’ve always cooked my dumplings in the pot sticker style, pan frying for a minute or two, then steaming them. This recipe calls to boil the dumplings, so I was interested to see how they would turn out.
Boil a pot of water, as soon as the water is close to a rolling boil, add as many dumplings as you can to your pot without overcrowding. As soon as the water reaches a rolling boil, pour in one cup of cold water. This keeps the water from boiling too hard, potentially breaking the dumpling. Repeat this boil/cold water step two more times. After the third cycle your dumplings should be done. Gently remove them from the water (a metal strainer works perfectly), shake off the excess water, then serve immediately with your dipping sauce.
What dipping sauce? A dipping sauce of aromatic soy sauce, chili oil, sesame oil, and crushed garlic is recommended. You can use regular soy sauce, but the cookbook has a recipe for the sweet, aromatic soy sauce which you can create ahead of time.
Creating the soy sauce is easy and it’s really tasty. Simmer 1/3 cup of soy sauce and 2/3 cup of water, add star anise, red chilies, ginger, Sichuan pepper, cinnamon bark, and 4 tbsp of brown sugar for about 20 minutes.
Strain the solids from the liquid, then you are left with a deeply aromatic and flavorful soy sauce. This stuff is worth the effort and you will have plenty leftover to use for a variety of dipping sauces.
With the dan dan noodles and dumplings I drank a bottle of 2005 Carl Schmitt-Wagner Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg Riesling Spätlese. A sweeter wine like this goes nicely with the spicy Sichuan food.
It had a faded gold color with some aromas of sweet cantaloupe and orange cream. The wine coated my tongue well, it was not overly sweet, and it kind of had a “Sprite” effect going on. The finish was fairly long and tasty, ending with a frothy cream texture. It could use a bit more acidity for me but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was even better the next day.
The dumplings themselves were the best I’ve ever made. The texture was perfect, soft, and slightly sticky, not gummy or rubbery at all. The filling was fairly bland, but that’s what the dipping sauce is for. I could have happily eaten 20 of these things. Too bad I had to share. :-(
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