Rainy Day Dumplings — (blog)abel

So the recent weather here in Boston has been incredibly temperamental- just from yesterday to today it has gone from being perfect sweater weather to extreme humidity fit for loose-fitting tank dresses. For me, Tuesdays are my longest days, but the rain and the cold and my tiny lunch break really exasperates this feeling. By 5PM, what I was really craving was dumplings, and so I thought I’d share my recipe that I whipped up. I absolutely love dumplings and have had my fair share of them throughout the years, but a pork/scallion/napa cabbage dumpling will always be my go-to. Though I like to eyeball proportions, these are approximate values of how much of each ingredients I used. I truly believe these little bundles of joy are exactly what you need on those slow raining days.

You’ll need:

1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 egg
16 oz ground pork
1 bunch of green scallions (about a cup)
napa cabbage leaves (also about a cup)
1 tablespoon grated ginger root
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 garlic cloves)
100 wonton wrappers

Filling

The first thing I do is prep all the ingredients, so I minced the garlic cloves, grated (or finely dice) the ginger root, cut the green ends of the scallions (make sure to plant the bulbs for an endless supply!), as well as the napa cabbage leaves.

Next, in a medium metal bowl, I beat the egg and combined all the liquid ingredients (soy sauce, sesame oil) before adding the ground pork. With a spatula, I mixed the meat in to really allow the liquids to soak in. Finally, I combined the rest of the ingredients from the chopping block to complete the filling!

The Making of the Lil Dumplings

Now comes the tedious part- filling all of the wonton wrappers. If you follow my proportions, you will perfectly complete all 100 wonton wrappers in the pack. To prep this step, pull out two baking sheets and line them with parchment paper- this is where you will be lining up your completed dumplings before frying them. Then, I like to prepare a shallow bowl of water to dip my finger in to seal each dumpling. Each dumpling can hold about half a tablespoon of filling before becoming impossible to hold its shape. To do so, I place a dollop of meat in the center, dip my finger in the water to wet the edges of the wrapper, pull up each wonton wrapper corner, and bunch the tips together to center the meat. Voila! Start lining up your babies on the cookie sheet (about 50 per sheet).

Cookin Them Up

Here comes the most important part- making your dumplings edible :) Some people like to steam their dumplings, but my favorite way is to pan fry them. To cook all the dumplings, I used one large pan and one medium pan by filling every available space in the pan. It is unlikely that they will stick together so you do not have to worry about that. First, I heated enough olive oil to coat the pan at a medium high and once the oil got how, I added the dumplings- be careful because the oil may be crackling at this point. Allow the bottoms to crisp to a golden brown (about 2-3 minutes). Then, bring the heat down to low, throw in about half a shot glass worth of water into the pan, and lid it for about 7-10 minutes to essentially steaming the dumplings. This technique ensures a crunchy bottom while fully cooking the center. The wonton skin should turn from a white tone to golden yellow. To be extra sure, take out a dumpling and cut into the middle to make sure the center has turned from a pink to a whitish-gray tone, indicating that it is fully cooked. Top your dumplings off with black sesame seeds and serve right off the pan!

An Optional Dipping Sauce

My favorite (and classic) dumpling dipping sauce is sort of a jumble of ingredients, but these are the proportions that I would assume make sense. Take a small bowl and combine 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of rice vinegar, chopped up ginger, and sesame. Whisk these ingredients together and serve together with the dumplings.