I travel for food

Passport & Plate - Chinese Pan-Fried Dumplings (Wor tip)

Hong Kong | Monday, March 10, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients
Chinese Dumplings Recipe
-Makes roughly 48 dumplings

Dumpling dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp vegetable oil
1½ cup boiling water

Dumpling filling:
½ Napa cabbage (Chinese cabbage) finely chopped
2 stalk green onions/scallions (green and white parts), finely chopped
1 inch ginger, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
500g ground meat (pork/beef/turkey/chicken)
1 tbsp dry Sherry (Chinese white wine or any kind of white wine)
1 tbsp soy sauce (dark or light)
1 tbsp sesame oil
¼ tsp ground white pepper (or ground black pepper)

Dumpling dipping sauce:
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
½ tbsp chili oil (optional)
fresh ginger, thinly sliced

 

How to prepare this recipe
1. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl until combined. Add the oil and then slowly stir in the water.
2. Stir until the mixture comes together into a dough. It should be very sticky.
3. Form the dough into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.
4. Combine all the ingredients into a bowl.
5. Leave it in the refrigerator until ready to fill.
6. Flour the surface of your counter with flour. Cut the dough in quarters. Leave the rest of the dough in the refrigerator until ready to use.
7. Work with one quarter of the dough. Roll into a rope to about the diameter of a US quarter (25mm).
8. Cut the rope to about ½ thumb size piece.
9. Flatten the dough with the palm of your hand until it becomes a circle. Roll out the dough until it is slightly bigger than your circle. Don’t make the dough too thin or it could break while boiling.
10. Use an upside-down cup and cut out a circle with a sharp knife.
11. Lay each circle on a floured surface with more flour between each skin. Cover the circles with a towel to prevent drying.
12. Have a cup of water next to you when filling.
13. Grab a skin and put roughly a spoon of filling in the middle of the circle.
14. Dip your finger in the water and wet the edges of the skin.
15. Fold over until the edges meet.
16. Press the edges until you get a tight seal.
17. Make 4 pleats on the edges (or whatever design you want).
18. Place the dumpling on a floured surface and cover with a damp towel.
19. Get a big pot of boiling water and add the dumplings. Stir the water while boiling to prevent sticking. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the dumplings start floating.
20. Add the dumplings to a hot pan with 1 tsp vegetable oil. Pan-fry the dumplings until the skins are golden brown.
21. Make the dumpling sauce to your liking. Eat!

 

The story behind this recipe
My family is originally from Hong Kong, but I was born and raised in the United States. One of my favorite things to eat is pan-friend Chinese dumplings or wor tip in Cantonese. My mother never made dumplings for me herself. She was a nurse who worked all the time, and dumpling-making is very time consuming. However, whenever there was a chance, she would always take me to this one local restaurant near our house that did handmade dumplings. Mama Lu’s Dumpling House featured two ladies sitting in a glass room inside the restaurant. As I waited for the food to come out, I would watch from a distance as they rolled out the dough, filled and folded these mini-meat parcels with such ease. It was almost robotic how they worked. Then, like magic, as easily as these ladies made the dumplings, it would appear right in front of me. I usually got both the steamed and fried versions, but eating it is the same. I would first bite one end off to let the hot air out. Then, it gets dunked into a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar and thinly-sliced ginger. The salt and sour with the freshness of the ginger cools the dumpling meat enough to be eaten. The softness of the meat and the crunchy, yet chewy dough balances each other out: pure happiness in a simple, little package.

I have been living in Germany for the past two years now. Germany is not exactly a hotbed for authentic Asian cuisine, so handmade dumplings are a rare commodity. My cravings were enough for me to start researching how to make dumplings myself. After several attempts trying to recreate wor tip, I came up with this recipe. Yes, it does take some time to make. I have also invited friends over and had a dumpling party to spread the joy (and work). Everyone enjoyed themselves because they got to be part of the meal-making experience, not just the guests. And they all left with full bellies of dumpling goodness. For me, dumplings remind me of my childhood, but now I use it was a way to gather friends together.