Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 cup minced garlic chives
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon (about a 1-inch knob) peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 package round wheat dumpling wrappers
Chef notes
My mom used to make these dumplings every weekend by the dozen for my brother and me. As soon as I was old enough to learn how to make them with her, I relished the experience. They are full of juicy pork, zingy ginger and garlicky chive, steamed until tender then crisped to perfection on the bottom. We always made so many because we could never stop eating them. This recipe will make about 40 to 50 dumplings total, so you don't have to either!
Technique tip: Salt the Napa cabbage and squeeze out all the water before mixing it into the filling to ensure the dumplings aren’t soggy after cooking. Don’t overfill the dumplings or they will be hard to pleat. Steam three times after searing the bottoms to fully cook the meat and wrapper.
Swap option: Instead of ground pork, you can try other types of ground proteins.
RELATED: TODAY recipes are now shoppable — and it makes ordering groceries online so easy
Excerpted from "Myers + Chang at Home: Recipes from the Beloved Boston Eatery" by Joanne Chang with Karen Akunowicz, Published 2017 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, copyright © 2017 by Joanne Chang and photography © 2017 by Kristin Teig.
Preparation
1.Thinly slice the Napa cabbage and place in a large bowl with the salt. Toss well and set aside for atleast 10 minutes.
2.In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, garlic chives, soy sauce, ginger and sesame oil and useyour hands to mix all the ingredients thoroughly together. Set aside.
3.Take the cabbage in your hands and squeeze as hard as you can. Squeeze as much water as youcan out and add the cabbage to the pork mixture. Again, mix well with your hands until filling iswell combined.
4.Fill a small bowl with warm water.
5.Lay a dumpling wrapper on a work surface and scoop about 1 tablespoon of filling in the center ofthe wrapper.
6.Dip your finger in the water and paint all around the edge of the wrapper to moisten.
7.Fold the wrapper over in half to look like a half moon. (This always reminds me of making a tacoshell.)
8.Pinch just the top of the wrapper together, leaving the sides exposed and open.
9.Start pleating the left side of the dumpling: Hold the dumpling on the top, fold a pleat on one sideof the wrapper (about halfway down the arc towards the center of the dumpling) and press it into the otherfacing side of the wrapper.
10.Repeat the pleating almost to the bottom of the arc so that you have two pleats on the left side ofthe dumpling. Repeat the pleating process on the right side of the dumpling, again pleating towardsthe center.
11.When the dumpling is completely pleated you should be able to sit the dumpling on its bottom andit will look like a little loveseat. The smooth side of the dumpling will be the seat and the pleatedside will be the back of the couch.
12.Continue with the rest of the dumpling wrappers and filling until the filling is used up.
13.Heat a large heavy bottomed skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of the oil.
14.When the oil heats and starts to shimmer, carefully add as many dumplings as will comfortably fitin the skillet and turn the heat down to medium.
15.Cook without moving the pan until the dumpling bottoms brown, about 3 minutes. Check bygently lifting them up and peeking underneath.
16.When the bottoms of the dumplings are a deep golden brown, add about 2 tablespoons of water tothe bottom of the pan and immediately cover with the lid. The pan will sizzle and steam upimmediately so don’t be startled. Shake the pan from time to time to keep the dumplings fromsticking.
17.Let the dumplings steam for 2 minutes, at which point most of the water will have evaporated.
18.Add another 2 tablespoons of water to the pan, cover again, and steam again.
19.Wait until the water has mostly evaporated again and repeat one last time with a final 2 tablespoonsof water.
20.Turn off the heat, keep the lid covered, and rest for 1 minute.
21.Uncover and turn the heat back to medium-high and crisp up the bottoms. Remove from the pan.
22.Continue cooking all of the dumplings in the same manner, adding 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan ata time as needed. Serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce.
Here's everything you need to know about the cool new feature.
