Pork & Chive Dumplings

You'll need

30-ish dumpling wrappers
2 tbsp neutral oil
Cornflour (for dusting)
500g pork mince (not lean)
1 cup chopped garlic (Chinese) chives
1 5cm piece of ginger grated
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp white pepper
¼ cup cold Asian chicken stock (or water)

Make it

In a large bowl add all the dumpling filling ingredients, except for the stock. Mix with a chopstick or spoon in one continuous direction until everything is combined. Add in the stock and continue to mix until the mixture changes its texture and starts to look sticky.

Fill time! Add about 1 tbsp of filling into the centre of each wrapper, trace around the outside with a water-dipped finger, then fold it in half and press to seal. If you want to do pleats or fancy folds, be my guest, but the half-moon will taste just the same. Place them on a tray dusted with cornflour (this gives the crispiest bases). If you’re not cooking them right now, pop them in the freezer on the tray (making sure they aren’t touching). You can cook them the same from frozen later on.

Now the cooking. Pop a large non-stick pan on medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add in a few tbsp of vegetable oil and place your dumplings in (with a little space around each one). Fry until golden on the bottoms then turn the heat down to low (or you’ll burn your kitchen down). Place the lid on the frypan and leave a gap to pour in ½ cup of boiling water, then secure the lid and steam for about 5 minutes (if cooking from frozen add a little extra water and steam for about 10 mins). When most of the water has evaporated, remove the lid and allow the last of the water to steam off. Add a small drizzle of oil to the pan to let the bottoms crisp up again, once they are deep-gold and crispy remove them from the pan with a spatula. You’re done!

A few things answered

Can I make my own wrappers?
Yes! I like making them as they tend to be softer and easier to wrap. They are a bit of extra work though, so I've left them out of this recipe.

Why do I need to mix in one direction?
‍This changes the structure of the meat and results in a soft, tender filling.

Why am I adding vegetable oil into the filling?
Most of the pork mince we buy at the shop isn’t fatty enough to make for a juicy filling — if you get your hands on mince with a little extra fat, you can skip this.

What’s with the stock in the filling?
This is where you turn a regular dumpling into a plumpling. The extra water in the filling makes for a super juicy centre, not only by semi-steaming the insides during the cooking but also creating a mini soup inside.