Chinese cooks of the old school pride themselves on producing the thinnest possible dumpling wrappers with their hands (no rolling pin); Chinese cooks of the new school buy factory-made wonton wrappers. Both have a point. Wrappers that are handmade possess much more character anddélicatesse than the doughier, additive-laden commercial ones. However, rolling the wrappers out one at a time in the traditional way is a time-consuming and—after the novelty wears off—excruciatingly boring task. Our nonauthentic solution is to roll out the dough into sheets and then cut out the wrappers with a round, three-inch biscuit cutter. These may not look quite as handcrafted as the ones produced by the one-at-a-time method, but they are just as pliable and delicate, and the amount of time saved in what is already a very lengthy business is, frankly, awesome.
THE DUMPLING WRAPPER
[makes about 100 dumplings: a meal for 4 or a snack for 6]
1 pound (about 4 sifted cups) all-purpose flour (see note)
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
1½ cups boiling water
Put the flour in a large mixing bowl. Dissolve the salt in the boiling water. (Salt is not a traditional ingredient, but we prefer the wrappers made with it. Omit it if you wish.) Form a well in the center of the flour and gently pour the salted water into it. With a pair of chopsticks, stir the water into the flour to produce a crumbly-textured mass. Let this cool for 1 or 2 minutes and then knead for about 10 minutes, or until you have formed a smooth, pliable dough. Wrap this in plastic film and let it rest for 30 minutes. (This is a good time to assemble the dumpling filling.)
Cook’s Note.The Chinese like their dumplings to be as white as possible, which, I think, is a primary reason why Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, inThe Dim Sum Book, recommends Gold Medal all-purpose, bleached flour as the closest supermarket equivalent to Chinese dumpling flour. However, we use King Arthur all-purpose, unbleached flour with splendid results.
THE FILLING
½ teaspoon Szechwan peppercorns (see note)
2 bunches (12 to 16) scallions, washed and trimmed
1-inch slice fresh ginger, trimmed and peeled
2 cloves garlic
½ tablespoon peanut oil
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce (see note)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (see note)
1 pound ground pork (see note)
Put the Szechwan peppercorns into a small cast-iron or other indestructible skillet and heat dry over medium flame, shaking regularly, until they begin to release their odor. Empty into a mortar or onto a cutting board and let cool a few minutes. Then, with a pestle or the side of a cleaver, pulverize them.
Coarsely chop the scallions, including the green part. Either slice, then finely mince, the piece of ginger or cut it into quarters and squeeze it through a garlic press, reserving the juices and soft pulp and discarding the remaining fibrous mass. Prepare the cloves of garlic the same way.
In the same small skillet used for the peppercorns, heat the peanut oil over medium-low heat, then add the chopped scallions and garlic. Sauté gently for no more than a few minutes, stirring often, until the skillet’s contents have softened and turned translucent.
Turn the sautéed garlic and scallion, the pulverized peppercorns, and the prepared ginger into a small mixing bowl. Pour in the soy sauce and toasted sesame oil and mix well. Add the ground pork and use your fingers or a rubber spatula to work the seasonings through the pork thoroughly.
Meanwhile, bring some water to a simmer in a small pot. Take a pinch of the filling, roll it into a small ball, and poach it gently in simmering water for a few minutes until cooked through. Remove, cool, and taste, adjusting the seasoning of the remaining filling as necessary. Cover the bowl with plastic film and refrigerate while you roll out the dumpling wrappers.
Cook’s Notes.Szechwan peppercorns: These are not true peppercorns but the dried berries and husks from a type of ash tree. They have a peppery, complexly spicy flavor.
Dark soy sauce: The Chinese name for this condiment—lao toe cho—means “old-head soy,” indicating something more mature than the ordinary, or “light,” variety. It is intensely salty, with a distinct molasses-y taste and aroma (it contains more of both those ingredients than it does soybeans). Dark soy provides some extra flavor when used in cooking—it will overpower any dipping sauce—but in this recipe it is not essential. Substitute a good brand (such as Kikkoman) of ordinary soy sauce.
Toasted sesame oil: This oil comes from sesame seeds that are roasted before their oil is extracted, producing what Bruce Cost inBruce Cost’s Asian Ingredients calls “a prime contender for the world’s most seductively flavored oil.” He might have written “most seductive flavoring oil,” since it is not used for cooking but as a seasoning agent, almost never added to a dish until it has been taken off the heat, and is always used sparingly, since only a few drops are needed to make its suave and nutty presence known. Kodaya pure sesame oil is very good. Keep it refrigerated.
Ground pork: I find the ground pork sold at our local supermarket to lack the texture necessary for a truly good dumpling; mincing it with a cleaver quickly reduces it to a glutinous lump. However, I noticed that the pork in the store’s Italian sausages was much more coarsely ground, and I asked the butcher about this. He told me that the ground pork was put through the grinder twice, but the sausage meat only once. He did a “one grind” with the same cut (pork butt); the result had exactly the right balance of texture and succulence.32
MAKING THE WRAPPERS
The dumpling-making process from the kneading of the dough to sitting down at the table takes from 3 to 4 hours. The best way to shorten this is to do as the Chinese do and get everyone who plans to eat them to help make them.
Traditional Method.Take the rested dough and divide it into 2 equal portions. Rewrap one of these and roll the other between floured hands into a foot-long cylinder. Fold this in half and cut it into 2 equal portions. Again wrap one of these portions in plastic film and continue rolling the other until it is about a foot long. With a sharp knife, cut this into 6 equal segments, and each of these segments into 4 equal parts, producing 24 pieces in all.
With floured hands, form each of these pieces into a round ball and, on a floured surface, use a rolling pin to flatten it into a thin dumpling wrapper about 3 inches in diameter. Repeat this entire process, using all the dough, until 96 wrappers have been produced. Set each as it is made on a cutting board or platter, slightly overlapping the one before. Keep these loosely covered with plastic film to prevent them from drying out.
Faster Method.Take the prepared and rested dumpling dough and divide it into 4 more or less equal portions. Cover 3 of these with plastic film. Flatten the remaining portion with floured hands and, with a rolling pin (ideally of the wooden baton sort used to make pasta), roll the dough out on a floured surface until it is as thin as you can roll it pork.without tearing it, lightly flouring either side as needed to prevent sticking. Then take a 3-inch biscuit cutter (or a can or drinking glass with the same diameter) and cut out as many rounds of dough as you can, laying these out on a large platter. (These can overlap slightly, but be careful that they don’t stick together.) Reserve the scraps under plastic film.
Repeat with the 3 other portions of dough, completing the process by kneading all the scraps into a fresh ball and rolling this out as well. By the end you should have close to 100 wrappers.
PREPARING AND COOKING THE DUMPLINGS
Take the filling and divide it roughly into 4 parts. Using about ½ teaspoon per dumpling, put some filling into the center of the first wrapper. Lift the edge that is closest to you and stretch the dough over, using the middle fingers of each hand to tuck in the filling as you do. Seal it by firmly pressing the edges together, using your fingertips to hold the filling in place. Finally, turn each one seam side up, fold its arms around its tummy, then press it down gently to slightly flatten its bottom. Continue, setting each dumpling as it is made onto a lightly floured surface and lining them up in ranks of 12.
When you have filled 2 ranks (24 dumplings), you should have used approximately one-quarter of the filling. If not, adjust the amount of filling you are using per dumpling. Check this again when you have filled 4 ranks and then again at 6, awarding yourself a pat on the back if you finish up with no filling or wrappers left over.
To Boil.Fill a (preferably nonstick) 12-inch skillet about three-quarters full with water and bring this to a boil. Slide in as many dumplings as can fit comfortably without crowding. They should soon float to the surface—use a spatula to gently dislodge any that stick to the bottom. Bring the water back to a bare simmer—do not boil or the dumplings may break apart—and cook for 15 minutes, or until the dough is tender. Remove them with a slotted spoon to soup bowls and then, if you like, ladle over some steaming hot, seasoned chicken broth in which bok choy or another leafy Chinese green has been cooked until tender.
To Steam.These dumplings can be steamed in any covered pot that has a steaming insert. Lightly oil the insert, layer the dumplings in it one deep, and steam them for 20 minutes over boiling water, repeating the process until all are cooked and moving them when done onto a heat-proof dish in a warm oven. Serve with dipping sauce (see below).
To Panfry(Kuo Teh/Pot Stickers). Heat 2 tablespoons of peanut or other cooking oil in a (preferably nonstick) 12-inch skillet. When the oil is hot, tilt the pan to spread it over the entire bottom and a bit up the sides. Then fill the pan with as many dumplings as you can—ideally, half the batch—making sure all their bottoms touch the pan. Let them fry over medium-high heat for 2 minutes and then add 1 cup of water. Cover the pan and turn the heat up high until the water boils. Adjust it until the water is at a simmer and cook—still covered—for 10 minutes. Then remove the cover and turn the heat up again to medium-high. Let the liquid boil off and, shaking the pan frequently to keep the dumplings from sticking (and gently freeing any that do with a spatula), cook until the bottoms are golden brown, adding more oil if necessary. Serve crusty side up on warm plates with dipping sauce.
ASIAN DUMPLING DIPPING SAUCE
[per person]
There are countless formulae for these; the one we currently prefer is made simply.
1 tablespoon plain (i.e., not dark) soy sauce
1 tablespoon chicken stock or water
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
½ teaspoon rice vinegar
¼ teaspoon sugar
Mix well and garnish with a smidgen each of minced ginger and scallion.
ADDITIONAL FILLINGS
The following fillings can be used instead of the basic one given above. The method of filling and cooking the dumplings remains the same. Remember to take a small pinch of the filling and poach it gently in simmering water for a few minutes until cooked through. Then remove it, let it cool, and taste it, adjusting the salt and any other of the seasonings in the remaining filling as necessary.
MOSLEM-STYLE LAMB FILLING
(adapted from Barbara Tropp’sThe Modern Art of Chinese Cooking )
[to fill about 8 dozen dumplings]
Made with ground pork instead of ground lamb (and, of course, minus the orange peel), this cabbage-and-meat filling is as familiar to Chinese as the pork-intensive version above.
¼ pound Chinese (napa) cabbage leaves
½ teaspoon salt
1 pound ground lamb
1-inch piece of peeled fresh ginger, minced
2 or 3 scallions, minced (both green and white parts)
2 tablespoons regular"soy sauce
3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
½ teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest (optional)
Rinse the cabbage leaves. With a Chinese cleaver or large kitchen knife, chop these into shreds. Put the shreds into a small bowl and toss with the first ½ teaspoon of salt until it is mixed all through. Let this sit for 30 minutes, then squeeze out as much moisture as possible with your hands or by wringing it out in cheesecloth or an old, clean dish towel. Discard this liquid.
Place the minced cabbage—now much reduced in bulk—into a mixing bowl and add all the remaining ingredients. Use your hands or a rubber spatula to mix these thoroughly and blend the seasonings throughout. Cover and either let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or in the refrigerator overnight to allow the flavors to meld. Bring to room temperature before filling and cooking the dumplings, as directed on pages 189–90.
PORK AND BOK CHOY FILLING
(adapted from Eileen Yin-Fei Lo’sThe Dim Sum Book )
[to fill about 8 dozen dumplings]
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda (optional)
1 small to medium head bok choy
1 pound coarsely ground pork
6 scallions, trimmed and finely chopped
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
grinding of black pepper
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Bring the water to a boil and stir in the salt and, if wished, the baking soda (Chinese cooks, among others, use it to retain the color in cooked greens). Cut off the green part of the bok choy leaves and slice these into ¼-inch strips. Coarsely chop the white stems. Add both to the boiling water, stir, and cook until wilted, about 1 minute. Drain in a sieve, refresh under cold running water, shake well, and then use a rubber spatula or the back of a cooking spoon to press out as much water as possible.
Blend these in a mixing bowl with the other ingredients until everything is well mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Then proceed to make and cook the dumplings as directed on pages 189–90.
PORK AND SHRIMP FILLING
(adapted from Ken Hom’sThe Taste of China )
[to fill about 8 dozen dumplings]
5 dried Chinese black mushrooms or fresh shiitake (see note)
½ pound Chinese (napa) cabbage, finely shredded
8 ounces coarsely ground pork
8 ounces uncooked shrimp, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons each dark and light (ordinary) soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
½ teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
If using dried Chinese black mushrooms, soak these in just enough hot water to cover until they are reconstituted, about 20 minutes. Discard the soaking liquid and the mushroom stems, and chop the caps into small pieces. If using fresh shiitake mushrooms, brush any dirt off the caps and then chop them into small pieces. Put these and all the other ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Then proceed to make and cook the dumplings as directed on pages 189–90.
Cook’s Note.Chinese black mushrooms are common and inexpensive, and they are available in almost any Asian grocery. They are dried shiitake mushrooms, and, at least in dumpling recipes, the fresh can be substituted for the dried, depending on the preference of the cook.
NIRA (GARLIC CHIVE) FILLING
[to fill about 8 dozen dumplings]
In Japan these dumplings are calledgyoza,and some cookbooks claim that it is the addition of the nirathat makes them authentically Japanese. But nirais their word for the garlic chive, an ingredient widely used in Chinese cooking, including as part of dumpling fillings. Obviously, a dumpling made in a Japanese kitchen will taste differently from one made in a Chinese or an American one, but so far as recipes are concerned, there is no real difference between gyozaand chiao-tzu.
6 Chinese (napa) cabbage leaves
>
½ teaspoon salt
1 bunchnira (garlic chives) or ordinary chives
½-inch peeled fresh ginger, finely minced
2 large scallions, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons ordinary soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 pound coarsely ground pork
4 or 5 shiitake mushroom caps, chopped small
With a Chinese cleaver or large kitchen knife, shred the cabbage leaves. Put these into a small bowl and toss with the first ½ teaspoon of salt until it is mixed all through. Let this sit for 30 minutes, then squeeze out as much moisture as possible with your hands or by wringing it out in cheesecloth or an old, clean dish towel. Trim the white root ends from thenira and mince the green. (If substituting chives, simply mince.) Turn this and the cabbage into a bowl and blend thoroughly with the other ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Then proceed to make and cook the dumplings as directed on pages 189–90.
GOON MANDU FILLING (1)
(adapted fromThe Encyclopedia of Asian Cooking )
[to fill about 8 dozen dumplings]
Two ingredients, not always combined in the same filling, seem to differentiategoon mandufrom the other Asian dumplings in this family: chopped beef and ground sesame seeds. These dumplings, by the way, will have noticeably more beef flavor and a much more appealing texture if you use a coarse (chili) grind of beef or, better, hand-mince a cut like London broil or sirloin tip.
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1¼ pound hand-minced or coarsely ground beef
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
6 to 8 scallions, trimmed and minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
Sprinkle the sesame seeds into a cast-iron or other durable small skillet and set over a medium flame. Gently toss the seeds as they heat so that they toast on both sides. Remove from the heat as soon as the seeds release their fragrance and begin to turn color. Thoroughly blend them with the other ingredients in a mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Then proceed to make and cook the dumplings as directed on pages 189–90.
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