Taiwanese Dumplings Recipes

TAIWANESE DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Spread cabbage and cilantro over a clean dish towel. Gather up towel and squeeze out as much moisture from the cabbage as possible.
• Transfer cabbage and cilantro to a bowl. Add pork, egg whites, jalapeno peppers, ginger, and sesame oil. Mix thoroughly with your hands. Season with salt and pepper.
• Cover 2 baking sheets with waxed paper. Fill a small bowl with water.
• Hold a potsticker wrapper in the palm of your hand. Place a tablespoonful of the pork mixture in the center. Dip a finger in water and use it to wet the edges of the wrapper. Fold up edges and pinch together to seal. Transfer dumpling to a prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining wrappers and pork mixture.
• Freeze dumplings until firm, about 2 hours. Transfer to large resealable plastic bags.

CHINESE DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• For Dough:.
• Place flour in a bowl and make a well.
• Crack eggs in a separate bowl and lightly whisk.
• Add eggs, oil, and half the water and mix together to make a dough.
• Add more water as needed. The dough should not be sticky (similar to pasta dough).
• Knead dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes.
• Cover and set dough aside to rest for 1/2 hour.
• For filling:.
• Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl to combine. Do not overwork the meat.
• Cover filling and put in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour for flavors to blend.
• To assemble:.
• Roll out dough into sheets, as thin as you can but won't break. I use a pasta roller, it makes it so much easier.
• Use a large round cookie cutter (about the size of a tuna can or a little larger) to cut out the rounds.
• Fill 1 round with 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture and dampen the edges of the round with water and then seal.
• Do the rest of the rounds.
• To cook:.
• Steam the dumplings for 12 minutes.
• You can serve them as is or you can then:.
• Stir-fry them in a little peanut oil just until they get a little crispy.
• Serve them with your favorite dipping sauces.
• Enjoy.
• If you're not going to eat them right away, after you steam them let them cool off and place them in a zip top bag and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

CHINESE DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Mix half of the chives and all of the filling ingredients together. Spread 1 heaped tbsp of filling onto each wonton skin and spread out a little.
• Bring the wrapper up and around the pork until you have a small, firmly-packed dumpling with an open top. Repeat with the rest of the mix. Can be made up to a day ahead.
• Steam the dumplings for 10 mins until the wrappers are translucent. Top with remaining chives and serve with dipping sauce.

CHINESE PORK DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Combine 1/2 cup soy sauce, rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon chives, sesame seeds, and chile sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.
• Mix pork, garlic, egg, 2 tablespoons chives, soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Place a dumpling wrapper on a lightly floured work surface and spoon about 1 tablespoon of the filling in the middle. Wet the edge with a little water and crimp together forming small pleats to seal the dumpling. Repeat with remaining dumpling wrappers and filling.
• Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place 8 to 10 dumplings in the pan and cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Pour in 1 cup of water, cover and cook until the dumplings are tender and the pork is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Repeat for remaining dumplings. Serve with soy sauce mixture for dipping.

CHINESE CHICKEN DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Cut the chicken breast into small pieces and stir fry in 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Let cool until warm.
• In a bowl, combine chicken with remainder of soy sauce, sesame oil, green onion, oyster sauce and sesame seeds.
• Put a small amount of the mixture into each wonton wrapper and fold diagonally. Putting a little bit of water on the edges helps seal them, but it often takes a bit of pressing. Make sure they are sealed so that the sauce doesn't leak out.
• Put the chicken broth and water into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Drop the wonton parcels into the saucepan and boil for 3-5 mins (they will look like cooked noodles when they are done). Only put a few in at a time so they are not touching as they tend to stick together.
• Remove with a slotted spoon and serve warm with soy sauce to dip.

TAIWANESE BAH-TZANG DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• The day before you want to serve, fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the peanuts and simmer for 25 mins. Remove the peanuts, drain and soak overnight in fresh tepid water. Rinse the rice in a sieve under cold running water and leave to soak overnight.
• To make the filling, put the dried shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimp in two separate bowls and cover with boiling water. Leave for 15 mins or until completely softened. Remove the mushrooms from the liquid with a slotted spoon and squeeze any excess water back into the bowl. Roughly chop the mushrooms to a similar size as the shrimp. Drain the shrimp and set aside.
• Cook the bamboo leaves to make them flexible. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the leaves and cook on a high heat for 5 mins. Turn off the heat and keep the leaves in the water for 20 mins. The water should turn a little brown. Rinse and drain the leaves. Drain the rice and peanuts and mix together in a big bowl.
• Meanwhile, for the filling, put the diced pork in a pan of boiling water. Simmer for up to 1 hr or until the meat is tender and falls apart easily. Drain and set aside. Heat a large wok on a medium-high heat and add the pork. As some of it is quite fatty, you shouldn't need to add any more oil, but if it begins to stick, add a little vegetable oil.
• Once the pork is browned, add the sliced shallots, shrimp and mushroom. Add the soy sauce and sugar. Cook for a further 1-2 mins until the meat is slightly caramelised. Take the pork off the heat and add the crispy shallots. Using a microplane or box grater, grate the salted egg yolk, if using, into the mixture and mix. Season.
• To wrap the bah-tzang, cut around 10 lengths of butcher's string to around 50cm.
• Lay one cooked bamboo leaf on top of another to give a double thickness. Fold the leaves in half and use your hands to form a pointed cone shape. Hold the cone in your hand, point-side down, like a sushi hand-roll or an ice cream cone.
• Pack the rice and peanut mix around the outside and the bottom of the leaf-cone to make a layer of rice over the entire surface. Continue until it's about two-thirds full. Spoon the pork, shrimp and mushroom mixture into the centre of the rice and pack it down tightly. Add another spoonful of rice on top so the filling is completely covered.
• To close the bah-tzang, fold the top edge of the bamboo leaves over the rice and tuck it in to seal the gap. Pull the leaves tightly so they enclose the rice and pork, tucking in any loose edges. Use one length of string to secure the parcel, winding it up in the string and leaving a length at the top. Make sure you tie the knots as tightly as possible so none of the filling escapes. Fill the remaining bamboo leaves, and tie them all together.
• Bring a large pan of water to the boil, lower in the bah-tzang and cook for 45 mins to 1 hr, then remove them from the water, drain and serve immediately. Untie the string and peel away the leaves (don't eat them) to reveal the sticky rice and tender pork. Serve with pickled chilli or radish and a sweet and salty soy-based dipping sauce. We've cut our bah-tzang open so that you can see the cross-section inside, but you would normally serve them unwrapped.