Pork and Chive Dumplings - CJ Eats Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to perfect dumplings? ›

A pinch of salt seasons the dumplings and enhances the flavors of the other ingredients. Cold butter or margarine is cut into the flour mixture to bind the dry ingredients together. It also keeps the dumplings light and tender. Whole milk helps create a smooth, moist dough.

Raw pork and chive dumplings last up to 6 months in the freezer. To cook frozen dumplings, do not thaw and add them directly into the boiling water and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until fully cooked.

For the uninitiated, these are translucent, slightly chewy dumplings made of tapioca flour, filled with a mixture of Chinese chives, garlic, and often dried shrimp.

Hand-mincing meat and adding more pork belly results in the juiciest dumplings. Traditionally, some Chinese cuisine uses hand minced meat for their dishes. For example, lots of dim sum items like siu mai, pork buns, beef meatball, and more use hand minced meat to control the texture and fat content of the dish!

Don't Overwork the Dumpling Dough

Stir everything together until the wet and dry ingredients are combined and you don't see any more dry flour. The dough might look a little lumpy, but that's okay! Overworking the dough is one of the easiest ways to end up with tough dumplings.

Rather than simply steam or pan-fry the dumplings, I stir-fried them in a hot skillet with sliced bell peppers and scallions, drizzled in some chili crunch and soy sauce, and now can no longer look back. It was so delicious! Frozen dumplings are a true lifesaver on the busiest nights when you're at your most tired.

Do you need to defrost frozen dumplings? No, you do not need to defrost frozen dumplings before cooking, you can take them straight from the freezer to the pan. If you wanted a faster cooking time, let the dumplings partially thaw for 10 minutes before cooking.

Making your own dumplings is really easy when you use wonton wrappers. These dumplings are really simple and what we created for our wonton soup, but could easily find themselves in any number of delicious... soups. If you love them, try adding them to other soups.

Before they're picked and packaged to be sold, garlic chives—also known as Chinese chives—typically grow taller than common chives and have flatter leaves and white blossoms. They're aptly named because of their more potent, garlic-like flavor. Unlike common onion chives, they are not hollow.

What are the 3 components of dumplings? ›

What are dumplings made of? The dumpling dough is made of three main ingredients: flour, water and salt.

Often they burst during cooking because they have too much filling for the amount of dough. Some doughs are too dry, so the dumplings won't stay sealed. Others can be too wet and sticky and end up tearing. If the filling isn't cohesive enough, it will tumble out when you bite into it.

You's pork dumplings are built on a base of fatty ground pork—for best results, ask a butcher to grind up some pork shoulder for you—mixed with cooking sherry for sweetness, ginger for fresh bite, and just a little soy sauce and salt.

Cover up. As you fold your dumplings, keep them covered with a slightly damp kitchen towel. This prevents the dumplings from drying out (dry skins can split when cooked). Making fresh dumpling wrappers isn't hard when you have Hetty McKinnon to guide you.

It's best to have your lid ready: Immediately add about 3 tablespoons of water to the pan, just enough to cover the base of the dumplings, then cover and cook for 3–4 minutes, or until the water has evaporated. Lift the lid and allow the dumpling to cook for another 30 seconds, to allow the bottoms to get extra crispy.

Mei cooks her some special dumplings which she claims to be effective for rejuvenation. She tells Mrs. Li that the secret ingredient for her rejuvenating dumplings is unborn fetuses imported from an abortion clinic in Shenzhen, where she used to work.

And for a pork-veggie filling that's compact, cohesive, and moist—but not dense or wet—mix the meat vigorously to release myosin, a sticky meat protein that helps the filling hold together. Using just the right amount of filling helps ensure that your dumplings can form a proper seal and won't burst open while cooking.