Happy Chinese New Year : leek and pork dumplings (EN)

Just in time as today is the last day of the celebrations for the Chinese New Year!

I just try this year to make my own dumpling as I am a big fan. And whereas I thought it would be rather complicated, it's really a piece of cake! However, you would rather have to be patient as molding the dumpling takes time. Or better, invite your friends to a dumpling workshop session, which will guarantee everyone fun and would ensure you less trouble !

The great thing about chinese dumplings is its versatility. For the filling, you can pretty much use anything you want: ground pork is the most common ingredient, but you can also fill them with beef, chicken, shrimp, vegetables (for vegetarian option), or be creative and combinates your favourite ingredients.Which means you can’t go wrong with the dumplings! Though use of spices, herbs and some tasty vegies will  help you to give more flavour. And once you eat one, it's simply impossible to stop!


Ingredients for 6 people

Filling
1 leel, chopped finely
350g minced pork
2 spring onions cut in small pieces
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 handful fresh coriander
Ground white pepper (or freshly ground black pepper)
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 package frozen round dumpling wrappers (gyoza/potsticker wrappers), defrosted at room temperature for 30 minutes

Dipping sauce
2cm ginger piece, grated
2 tea spoons grated ginger
1 spring onion cut in thin slices
sesame seeds
2 tbsp seasame oil
4 tbsp soy sauce

In a large bowl, combine the pork, ginger, garlic, green onion, soy sauce, and the leeks. Stir until well mixed.
Preheat a pan, spread sesame oil and cook the mixture on a medium fire.
Moisten edges with water. Place 1 teaspoon of pork filling onto each wonton skin. Fold up and press to shape into a half-moon shape, encasing all of the filling.
Set dumplings aside on a lightly floured surface until ready to cook. Steam dumplings in a covered bamboo or metal steamer (covered with a pierced baking paper) for about 10 minutes. Serve immdiately.

My tip : I prefer to precook the meat mixture to be sure it's well cooked and to steam quicker, but you can skip this step and then steam them for a longer period of time (at least 20 min). You can also cook them as Japanese gyozas : brown them in a pan with sesame oil and then cover them with boiling water on a medium fire until the water gets evaporated.