The steamed dumplings are a cheap and easy to make Chinese dish that’s both popular and traditional. It is commonly served in dim sums or as appetizers and side dish. You can even buy pre-made dumplings in the frozen section of most supermarkets. Dumplings come in many forms and the more popular variety are pot-stickers, manti, har gow, shaomai and even wonton. In this recipe, we use a pork-based recipe to form the most basic steamed Chinese dumpling recipe that can then be expanded to include a plethora of other ingredients. It’s the “base” pork-based steamed dumpling recipe, so to speak. Only eight key ingredients make up this basic recipe, which are: ground pork, chopped Napa cabbage leaves, Chinese five spice, Chinese cooking wine, sesame oil, scallions, wonton wrappers and chopped water chestnuts. You may extrapolate on the recipe by adding other ingredients, such as chopped shiitake mushrooms, baby shrimps, cabbage, peas, diced carrots, chives, garlic, onions, glass noodles, egg, black fungus, etc. The possibilities are literally endless. Best of all, if you have access to a local Asian supermarket, the cost to make 72 dumplings is around $15 or less, depending if you already have some of the dry ingredients (five spice, sesame oil). For this recipe, we recommend a 2-tier stackable bamboo steamer. If you do not have access to one, a traditional steamer or steamer rack will do.
Easy Steamed Pork Dumplings
-
- Prep Time
- Minutes
-
- Cook Time
- Minutes
-
- Yield
- 72 dumplings
- Difficulty Level Easy
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork
- 2 oz. water chestnuts, finely diced
- 1 stalk green onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Chinese five spice powder
- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 2 tsps Sesame oil
- 1 pack of Wonton wrappers
- 1 Napa cabbage, the smaller the better
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Start by washing and preparing the fresh produce. Drain and wash the water chestnuts then finely dice water chestnuts and two large Napa cabbage leaves. Finely chop the scallions.
- Add all ingredients into a large mixing bowl, add salt and pepper to taste and then hand mix until thoroughly combined.
- Once the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, remove the wonton wrappers from its packaging and work with one wrapper at a time. Lay a wonton wrapper on a clean chopping board and spoon in 1 full teaspoon of the meat mixture and place it at the center of the wrapper.
- Moisten the edge of the wrapper with water then each corner inward, towards the middle. Bring up the rest of the wrapper towards the middle and give it a gentle twist to secure the wrapper and create a little pouch. Press down on the dumpling slightly to flatten out the base. Place the completed dumpling on a baking sheet and continue wrapping dumplings until the ingredient mixture is spent. You may end up with extra wonton wrappers.
- Stackable bamboo steamer is the best steamer to cook dumplings, as you can cook several dumplings on multiple tiers in one sitting. If you are using a bamboo steamer and have steamer lining, place the liner at the base of each bamboo steamer rack. If you do not have one or the other, or are using a regular steamer, steamer rack or basket, cut up the Napa cabbage leaves and lay them on the base of the steamer to create a lining. Chances are, you will have a lot of Napa cabbage left over, which you can use for other recipes or hot pot.
- Place the dumplings on the steamer as close as possible, but without touching. As they steam and cook, the wonton wrappers will become moist and sticky. If the dumpling touches each other during the cooking process, they will become stuck together and separating them will mean tearing them apart.
- Heat water on high heat until boiling, then lower heat to medium-low. Place your steamer over the boiling water and steam for 15 minutes.
- If you used a bamboo steamer, you may serve the dumplings directly from the steamer rack. Place each rack on a plate and serve with soy sauce (with a squeeze of lime) or Chinese chili sauce.
- Servings : 8
- Ready in : 60 Minutes
- Course : Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
- Recipe Type : Appetizers, Pork
- Ingredient : Corn starch, Green Onions, Napa cabbage, Pork, Rice cooking wine, Sesame oil, Water chestnuts, Wonton wrappers
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