Pork & Spring Onion Dumplings

They look and taste fancy, but are truly really simple to make. I find the gentle folding and crimping of the dumplings really meditative and relaxing (does that make me weird? Haha). The filling can be made days in advance and you can choose to use store bought dumpling wrappers for the essence of time. The dipping sauce is incredible too. This recipe is Sohla El-Waylly’s from Bon Appetit, and I have linked it here, but also shared it down below. Here is the Youtube link for the recipe too, which is a great resource for the dumpling folding technique, and the whole process in general. Please have a read of the cooking notes that I have added below of some tips and tricks that I found helped me when I made them!

Ingredients

230g ground pork (not lean)

8 spring onions

2.5 cm piece of ginger

2 tsp & 2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black or white pepper

24 dumpling or wonton wrappers

5 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar

4 tsp all purpose flour

4tsp cornstarch

Vegetable Oil

2 tsp chili oil/crisp (optional - but highly recommend)

Method

Place ground pork in a medium bowl. Trim roots and tops from spring onions; discard. Thinly slice; transfer 2 tbsp of spring onions to a small bowl and set aside for the dipping sauce. Coarsely chop remaining spring onions and add to the bowl with the pork.

Peel the ginger and finely grate into bowl with pork using a Microplane or grater.

Add 2tsp soy sauce, 3/4tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper to pork. Rake through pork with chopsticks or your hands to quickly but thoroughly combine ingredients.

Get ready to form the dumplings! Place twenty four dumpling/wonton wrappers on a work surface and cover with a damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out. Place a small bowl of water nearby.

Place 1 wrapper in the palm of your non dominant hand. Scoop out a rounded teaspoon of filling and place into centre of wrapper. Use teaspoon to nudge the filling into a football shape (This will make it easier to fold the wrapper around it).

Dip a finger on your dominant hand in water and lightly moisten the half of the wrapper that is closest to you. Using your dominant hand, fold wrapper in half over filling and pinch closed using both of your hands. Using your fingers, make 6–7 pleats along the edge, pressing each pleat closed after you form it. Repeat process with remaining wrappers and filling.

To make the slurry for your crispy skirt, whisk 3tbsp rice vinegar, 4 tsp all purpose flour, 4tsp cornstarch and 1/4 tsp salt, and 2 cups (I found 1 cup was plenty) water in a large measuring glass to combine.

Now you are ready to cook your dumplings. Heat 2 tsp. vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high. Arrange 6–10 dumplings in pan (steam fewer at a time if you want a more crispy skirt) and cook until they start to sizzle, about 1 minute. (You don’t want them to take on any colour at this point.) Stir slurry well and add a generous ½ cup to pan. Cover and steam dumplings 5 minutes. Remove lid. Dumplings should be plumped and cooked through and most of the water should have evaporated, leaving a thin lacy layer of slurry beneath them. Cover and cook a minute longer if needed.

Uncover dumplings and cook until all the liquid evaporates from slurry and it becomes a crisp, golden brown skirt, about 2 minutes. You may need to rotate your pan as some areas will brown faster than others.

Invert a plate over pan and flip dumplings out onto plate. (You can also slide them out onto a plate if that’s more your comfort level.) Repeat cooking process with remaining dumplings and slurry (stirring well before each batch) in 2–3 more batches, adding 2 tsp. vegetable oil to pan after each batch.

While the dumplings are cooking, make the dipping sauce. Add 2 tsp. chili oil (if using), remaining 2 Tbsp. unseasoned rice vinegar, and remaining 2 Tbsp. soy sauce to reserved sliced scallions and mix well.

Serve dumplings with sauce alongside.

Cooking Notes

The crispy skirt is optional but it looks pretty, and actually helps with the steaming process and hydration of the dumplings when cooking. I tried once without the slurry and the wrappers were tough, uncooked and burnt! To combat this you could pan fry the dumplings, or create the slurry without the cornstarch and all purpose flour (just water and rice vinegar) to steam them the same way, until most of the water has evaporated.

If you have dumplings leftover, you can freeze them or store them in the fridge in an airtight container lined with baking paper.

Sohla says that rice vinegar can be swapped out for apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar. Cornstarch can be swapped for tapioca, arrowroot or potato starch.

A clear pot lid helps for steaming so you can see what’s happening, but no stress if you don’t. Peeking is okay!

Dumpling/wonton wrappers can be found in the fridge aisle of your local supermarket or at the Asian grocer.