Restaurant quality dumplings in the comfort of your home
Pan Fried Pork and Shrimp Dumplings
These dumplings are the most basic recipe for your standard Chinese pan-fried dumpling also known as potstickers. They are called potstickers, because when you cook them, they stick to the pan and are released with the addition of water. They differ from steamed or boiled dumplings, because they have the added element of a crunch from the pan-frying.
In this recipe, the method is almost more important than the ingredients. Nailing the consistency and texture of the dough, the shape of the dumpling, and the cooking process of frying, steaming, and then frying again is essential to the success of this recipe. The dough of dumplings is basic, but the filling has endless possibilities. Any filling will be delicious inside of these dumplings as long as it is not too moist and well-seasoned. It needs to be well-seasoned, so you can taste it through the wrapper and not moist, because the dumplings will burst.
(Note: I decided to use pork and shrimp, because I enjoy those flavors together. But if you are not a big fan of seafood or pork and want to go a bit lighter, the dumpling dough is vegan and so are all the seasonings, except fish sauce. If you substitute out the proteins for tofu or vegetables, the filling will be just as delicious.)
For a video of me making the recipe, check out our YouTube channel video coming soon.
Ingredients:
Dumpling Dough:
2 cups All-purpose flour + some for dusting
1 cup boiling water
Filling:
1/2 lb shrimp, finely chopped
3/4 lb ground pork
4 ea scallions, sliced
1 tbsp ginger, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp oil
Equipment:
2 medium bowls
Measuring cups
Chopsticks
Rolling Pins
Circle Cookie Cutter
Nonstick Pan with lid
Tongs
Method:
1. Start the dough by placing 2 cups of flour into a medium bowl. Pour in the cup of boiling water and use chopsticks or a fork to mix until all the flour has gotten wet.
2. Once all of the water had been slightly incorporated into the flour, turn the contents of the bowl onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is a smooth ball. This will take from 5 to 10 minutes. The dough might be hot, so wear gloves if you want to work with it immediately or wait a few minutes until it is safe to touch.
3. Once the dough is a smooth ball, wrap in plastic wrap and set aside, so the gluten can relax and soften the dough ball. You want to rest the dough until it is earlobe soft which means when you squeeze it, it should be as soft as an earlobe. This usually takes from 30 min to an hour.
4. While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. In a medium bowl, mix the pork, minced shrimp, scallion, ginger and garlic until all the ingredients create a homogenous mixture. Add in the seasonings and cornstarch, then continue to mix until the filling forms a sticky paste. The filling should hold together when you lift it onto a spoon. Set aside.
5. Grab the now soft dough, break it up into 8 sections. Keep the sections, you are not working with covered in plastic wrap to prevent drying. Take one of the sections and with a rolling pin, roll it out until it’s a 1/8 in thick. Once it is; take a circle cookie cutter about 3 inches in diameter and cut out a circle. Cover to keep it from drying and repeat as many times as you can on the section. (You will have scrap but just pull those scraps away and set them aside. Do not immediately try and roll them out to cut. They will be too tough. Roll out all the other sections, and then return to the first set of scraps)
6. Once all the wrappers are cut out, start with one circle placed in front of you. For a simple shape grab 1 tbsp of filling and place it in the center of the wrapper. Grab the edges of the wrapper and bring them to the center and Seal the top then pinch the sides in to create a boat-like shape.
7. To create a more complex shape, place the filling in the same place. Starting from the left edge pinch the two sides of the wrapper together, and then continue pinching all the way across the top of the wrapper sealing it as you go. This folding will create the potstickers you probably have seen before.
8. Once all the dumplings are shaped. Heat medium nonstick sauciest with 2 tbsp of oil. When the oil is medium high heat, place the dumplings in and sear the bottom. When the dumplings have turned golden-brown bottom, pour in 1/2 cup of water, then quickly cover with a lid. This will allow the dumplings to steam. Be careful in this step, because oil might sputter.
9. Once most of the water has evaporated, around 5 mins, remove the lid and allow the dumplings to re crisp on the bottom. Once all the water is gone and you start to hear sizzle again instead of steaming, with tongs remove the dumplings from the pan and serve with a dipping sauce of your choice.
Comments