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Pork dumplings (饺子🥟)

When I was growing up, it was always a lucky day when my mum made dumplings. Better yet, pan-fried dumplings. I’d smell the waft of fried dumpling skin from my bedroom and run downstairs to see the mouth-watering dumplings fried perfectly on the bottom and soft on the sides. 

Ingredients 

Pork mince

1 whole Chinese cabbage (and more!)

Sugar

Salt

Chicken powder

White pepper

Oil

Dark soy sauce

Light soy sauce

Cooking caramel (optional)

Spring onions

Minced ginger 

Strong white flour

Let the magic begin...

Dumpling mixture: 

Put the Chinese cabbage into a food processor. Don’t blend till it’s fully minced; just so it’s broken into small pieces 

Add sugar, salt, chicken powder, white pepper, oil, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and cooking caramel to the pork mince. If the mince is too dry i.e. not silky (or ‘waat’), add water 

Dry out the Chinese cabbage using a milk bag / cheesecloth 

Mix the dried Chinese cabbage with the seasoned pork mince 

Add more sugar. chicken powder, oil, dark soy sauce, light sauce and mix mix mix...

Dice the spring onions into tiny pieces and throw it into the mixture 

Throw the minced ginger into the mixture 

Mix mix mix 

Dumpling skin:

Throw in the strong white flour and a tiny bit of salt into a mixing bowl. Mix this with chopsticks 

Pour a little bit of water into the mixture and mix. Take care to not add too much water. Always better to have too little water than too much. It shouldn’t feel sticky 

Start kneading the dough with your hands 

Cover the dough for 15-30 minutes 

Knead the dough so it becomes more soft 

Wrapping the dumplings:

Put a little bit of flour onto a wooden board

Using a knife, cut a bit of dough out and cover the bowl again

Gently shape the bit of dough you cut out into a ball shape 

Roll the ball into a flat circle using a rolling pin 

Start wrapping!