rite of passage

happy chinese new year! there are a plethora of traditional chinese dishes to eat in celebration of this holiday, but the only ones i made this year are dumplings and chow mein. every chinese kid grows up watching their moms make dumplings. it's a rite of passage, learning how to flavor the meat and veggies and, most importantly, how to wrap the dumplings properly so they look like little coin purses. all food eaten during chinese new year has a symbolic meaning. the only ones i can remember are the noodles representing longevity and the dumplings representing prosperity. coincidentally, those are also two of my favorite dishes.

dumplings take time to make. i don't make my wrappers from scratch, but i do marinade the filling for at least three hours- i find this helps the flavor to really sink into the filling. the wrapping takes the longest. i usually put on a movie and watch while i wrap. when i first started helping my mom make dumplings, i would get so frustrated with my ugly flat little dumplings, instead of plump pretty ones like hers that didn't fall over, but sat nicely on the tray. it's one of those things that just takes practice. the more you make, the better you get. i wouldn't say my dumplings are as pretty as my mom's, but they taste delicious, and that my friends, is the whole point of chinese new year, at least in my head- gorging oneself on lots and lots of yummy food!

dumpling marinade-

soy sauce

hoisin sauce

garlic powder
ground ginger

honey

brown sugar

salt and ground black pepper

combine everything into a large measuring cup. i usually make about 1 1/2 cups of this marinade, with a 1:3 ratio for the hoisin sauce and soy- 1 part hoisin for every 3 parts soy sauce. i also use low sodium soy sauce so i can control the salt content. add as much seasoning as you want and taste before you pour it over the filling. the marinade should taste a bit savoury, a bit tangy, and a bit sweet. you can add some heat with sriracha sauce, but i didn't because my kids can't handle spice, yet.

dumpling filling-

3-5 pounds of preferred ground meat- i use ground pork, but ground chicken or turkey works well

3 cups of minced green cabbage

2 stalks of green onion, minced

in a food processor, process the cabbage and green onion together until everything is finely chopped. empty into a large mixing bowl and add meat to it. season everything with salt and pepper and mix together. pour marinade over and combine. you can add as much or as little of the marinade, but i usually end up using the entire 1 1/2 cups. cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

time to assemble! you'll need about 3 packs of dumpling skins. each pack comes with two stacks, so you'll end up with 6 stacks of skins. 

spoon about 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of a dumpling skin. dip a finger into water and wet the perimeter of the skin. the water acts as the glue that holds the dumpling together.

fold the dumpling in half  and form a semi- circle with the filling in the middle. 

now comes the part that took me almost 20 years to perfect- pinching the dumpling closed. one side at a time, pinch the edge of the dumpling together. you'll be left with a little "pocket" that sticks out- flatten that against the curved dumping seam. repeat on the other side. it's almost like origami. 

pinch along the curve of the dumpling to make sure everything is sealed and viola! you have a dumpling!

i usually end up with almost 200 dumplings. as i make them, i put them in rows on a nonstick baking sheet, about half an inch apart, and freeze them overnight. once frozen, i transfer them into freezer bags and i have a quick meal ready to go. you can eat these babies steamed or fried. whatever your preference, make more of the marinade to dip the dumplings into, or use sriracha sauce, because dumplings are made for dipping. 

happy chinese new year!

until next post- maggie