Chinese Dumplings

These are one of my favorite foods and it seems like I crave them a lot especially when I am pregnant.  I always like to have a bag of homemade frozen ones in the freezer for quick lunches for me.  Lots of readers commented yesterday wanting a recipe so I am going to tell you what I do and if you want a specific recipe you can google recipes and you will find lots of different ones. 

I always start with a pack of ground pork.  Then add in some chopped green onions, soya sauce, sesame oil, ginger (grated or powder), garlic, and the secret ingredient brown sugar.   Mushrooms and Nappa are also very tasty in the dumplings. 

Once the mixture is put together if you want to let it sit in the bowl in the fridge for a little while so the flavours get good and mixed up you can or if you can't wait to chow down on these yummy treats you can assemble them right away. 

To assemble the dumplings I use wonton wrappers,  these can be purchased at your local grocery store and are usually found in the produce section.  Only use a small scoop of the meat mixture because you want the dumplings to close up tight so I would say about 1 tsp.  Place the meat mixture in the centre of your wrapper.  Now dip your finger tip in a little bowl of water and wet two opposite sides of the wrapper.  Now fold up like a triangle and pinch the sides up.  Make sure the dumpling is closed tightly. 

Now you can throw them in the freezer until ready to use :)  I cooked ours two ways last night.  I boiled most and did a few batches of fried ones.  For the fried ones I got a pan nice and hot over medium heat, add sesame oil and then lay 5-7 dumplings in the pan and cover for about 5 minutes.  Flip and do the same to the other side.   

To boil, which is my favorite way to enjoy them,  bring a pot of water to a rapid boil.  Add 5-7 dumplings in your pot and cook for 5 minutes or until the dumplings float to the top.  Remove from pot and put in a bowl. I like to cook my broth separately and pour the hot broth over the dumplings when we are ready to eat.  For this broth I used homemade chicken stock, green onions, ginger, and finely chopped celery. 

The kids all had to enjoy 1 boiled dumpling with a little broth before they were allowed to get a fried dumpling!  

They did a wonderful job using chop sticks which I think made eating dumplings more appealing to them :)