The Pork and Chive Dumpling Look
Update, Oct. 20, 2024: I made my own dumpling wrappers! Easier than I thought, but so time-consuming to fill and shape and wrap. Definitely holiday and special occasion making.
Right now, I’m debating with myself whether to go the lazy route (steam the rest of the pork and chive dumplings I made) or make more, but with chicken and cabbage, for bible study Mon.
I’m honestly tired of busting my ass over-doing it every Mon. to where I’m always five-10 minutes late.
Today, I made my first Chinese pork and garlic chive dumplings from an IG recipe.
I had a helluva time determining the right amount of filling to dough, then pleating them without getting pork and chive leaking everywhere. Unlike the recipe I followed, I had to use a little less than a tablespoon. Even after I made 38 to freeze, I still hadn’t gotten the hang of it.
I ran out of store-bought wrappers, so my husband went out to get some more. Just as I watched tutorials on how to fill, seal, and pleat round wrappers, he bought me square ones. They were the only kind available at Wal Mart.
I didn’t want to be dicking around on YouTube for another 30 min., so I quickly found a pictorial and tried my best to finish wrapping the leftover filling. The square wrappers were dry, so they cracked in places…never mind me trying to fold them into an ingot or a purse.
A triangle’s good enough.
One thing’s for sure, making dumplings cures you of being squeamish to handle raw meat. You’re in there with your bare hands handling raw meat from start to finish.
They looked hideous. But my husband dropped his chopsticks, rolled his eyes, and pronounced, “If these are your first time, I can’t wait to taste your second and third,” or words to that effect.
The recipe’s straightforward, with common pantry ingredients. However, I didn’t have light soy (regular soy’s okay) or enough garlic chives growing in our backyard, so I made-do with regular chives and scallion greens.
To me, they were just okay. They smelled a little weird. But maybe I’m not used to pork dumplings. I’d like to try recipes with corn starch as an ingredient.
I’m also tempted to make my own wrappers. They seem easy, except for the kneading part. Everyone would probably epic-fail during the rolling of the dough rounds, but my hands have a muscle memory when it comes to rolling out dough.
So should I thaw ground chicken tonight and make more filling Mon., or just steam the pork and chive dumplings in the freezer and call it good? Christina won’t touch them, but everybody else will…
