Tampering In The Kitchen...

Most of the complaints I get from dumplings from my friends boils down to one problem, really; too little filling .

I tend to REALLY stuff my dumplings. They look much cuter and palatable that way. This recipe makes about 50 dumplings. I didn't have time to make my own dumpling wrapper this time, but will do so next time. I saw these green vegetable dumpling skins the other day at a nearby Asian supermarket (in NYC) and I'm just dying to make my own version!

Ingredients

Group A:

1 pound ground beef

½ pound ground pork

1 egg

Group B:

1 ½ cups Napa cabbage diced

¼ cup green onions, finely chopped

⅓ cup shitake mushrooms, finely chopped

¼ cup onions, diced

1 ½ tbs minced ginger

Group C:

2 tbs light soy sauce

1 tbs dark soy sauce

1 tsp Shaoxing wine or other Chinese rice wine

1 ½ tsp sugar

½ tsp corn or tapioca starch

1 tsp sesame oil

¼ tsp pepper

Extra Salt & Pepper to taste

50 dumpling wrappers and a bowl of water

Directions:

1) Use your hands to mix the ingredients in Group A together in a large bowl

2) Mix all the ingredients in Group C together in a small bowl and pour it on top of the meat mixture in the large bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. **Most people usually add the ingredients in Group C to the meat one by one, but I find that hard to distribute all the ingredients evenly into the meat.

4) One by one, slowly mix in the ingredients in Group B.

5) Add extra salt and pepper to your liking.

6) To wrap the dumplings, place a wrapper in palm of one hand. Place a heaping tablespoonful of the meat mixture onto the center of the dumpling wrapper.

7) Using your fingertip, wet the outer edge of the dumpling wrapper with water. Fold up the sides of the dumpling into a half-moon shape and firmly press it together… or you can pleat it to make it prettier!

8) Line the up the completed dumplings on a cookie sheet and pop it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Then you can throw them all in a zip-lock freezer bag and store them for later use (up to one month!). No need to thaw them when you’re ready to cook.