Dumplings...on a week night?

So these dumplings were super yummy, but not exactly quick weeknight supper. I should have used my better judgement and waited until a Saturday evening, but I actually was on the blogroll for "The Daring Kitchen" a whole month before I thought I'd be!  I certainly don't want to look like a slacker- just misunderstood how long the "induction" process was for "Daring" :)

So let's get down to the nitty gritty. I chose to make the pork gyoza with wheat wrappers & a wonderful soy dipping sauce.

Pork filling: 

• 1 lb (450g) ground pork 
  
• 4 large napa cabbage leaves, ~I substituted Savoy cabbage & it was fabulous~
  
• minced 3 stalks green onions, 
  
• minced 7 shitake mushrooms, ~You'd figure I could find shitake mushrooms- I live in a pretty culinarily diverse area, after all. But I couldn't. I used cremini, again, made for a great substitution.~ 
•  1/2 cup (75g) bamboo shoots, minced
  
•  1/4 (55g) cup ginger root, minced 
  
• 3 tbsp (40g) soy sauce 
  
• 2 tbsp (28g)sesame oil 
  
• 2 tbsp (16g) corn starch 
  

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly (I mix by clean hand). Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to a day, but preferably within an hour or two). 

Dough:

(double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches - or just halve the filling recipe) 

• 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 cup (113g) warm water flour for work surface 
  

Dipping sauce: 

• 2 parts soy sauce 
  
• 1 part vinegar (red wine or black) ~I used rice wine vinegar~
  
• a few drops of sesame oil chili garlic paste (optional) 
  
• minced ginger (optional)
  
•  minced garlic (optional) 
  
• minced green onion (optional) 
  
• sugar (optional)
  

Make the dough: In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. I had a firm dough that was quite smooth.

 Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut dough into 1 1/2 inch wide strips and revert back to kindergarten when you made play dough snakes! Cut 3/4 inch chunks and use your palm to flatten out the pieces. I used a tapered rolling pin, but given a choice would use a traditional straight pin. I do feel it would have been quite a bit easier. Roll the dough into a round, about 1/16 of an inch think(make sure your edges are slightly  thinner than the middle). Put about a tablespoon of the pork mixture in the middle of the wrapper and crimp the edges in toward the middle(it should look like a drawstring coin purse).

 

Steaming: Place dumplings on a single layer of  cabbage leaves or on a well-greased surface in a steamer basket with lid. Steam covered for about 6 minutes. I used my wok with about 2 inches of water and a petal steamer(I lost my bamboo steamer in a move). They did stick together a bit- should have oiled them lightly. 

Frying: I heated up my skillet with a little canola oil & placed the dumplings flat side down. Fry them until golden brown & crispy- about 5 mins.

* I only ended up making one batch of the dough, while the dumplings tasted wonderful, they were extremely labor intensive for a Wednesday night. So I steamed some broccoli & had the leftover fried up pork filling for lunch the next day. The Dude and I totally dug into these while indulging in some "Bizarre Food" with Andrew.

Happy Noshing!