When we went to China, I literally fell in love with the so called “dumplings”, or 水饺 in traditional mandarin. At home we call them “Chinese dumplings”. They consist of dough with filling mixture, and they are prepared by steaming of frying. As with any traditional dish, there are many diverse recipes both for the dough and the filling. My favourite dumplings are the ones with minced meat, prepared in bamboo steamer. You can buy the steamer from most of the online stores (we bought ours from Amazon).

I will show you a recipe for dumplings with minced meat with the note that it is not 100% traditional, but differs a bit as per my interpretation.

You can change the ingredients of the filling based on your own preference. Traditional recipes advice using sesame oil and oysters sauce. As these are not products I usually use, in my recipe I substitute them with olive oil and a bit more soy sauce. My favourite soy sauce is Kikoman, because it is preservatives-free and has a mild balanced taste. Of course, you can use any other brand.

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Ingredients

For the dough:

• 2 cups of white flour
• ¾ cup of water at standard room temperature
• 1 teaspoon (tsp) of sugar
• 1 tsp of dry yeast

For the filling:

• 300 g pork minced meat (12 oz)
• 1 tablespoon (tbsp) of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of mashed garlic
• ½ tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 sticks of green onion
• 1 tsp of grated fresh ginger
• ½ cup of water
• a bit of black pepper, pending on your preference

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Preparing

1. Dough and filler

I mix well the yeast and the sugar in water and leave for 15 min, in order to activate the yeast. In the meantime I winnow the flour and prepare the filling. All the filling’s ingredients are mixed well with the minced meat. By browsing through various recipes on Internet I found out that using bamboo sticks is the best for this action – much easier than by using spoon or fork.

I put the dough in a bowl and add the yeast and the water on 3-4 steps, while constantly stir the mixture. Afterwards I start to knead by hand while I get a nice ball of not very soft dough. I let it rise (our double its volume). Depending on the room temperature, it takes different time to do it, but usually an hour and a half is enough.

2. Shaping the dumplings

I cut the dough into 2 similar pieces. Out of each, I make a roll, which I respectively cut into 6 parts. This way I get to 12 dumplings.

Each small ball is rolled out to slim circle, not thicker than 2 mm. Be aware to roll from outside in, so that you make it thicker in the middle.

And here in my opinion is the most complicated part in preparing the dumplings – their shaping. Take a circle in your palm and place one teaspoon of the filling in the middle.

“Glue”the periphery of the circle together, using the forefinger of the other hand, until you make a small pocket of dough. The pictures will show the desired result better.

I have watched a lot of online videos, but I definitely need more practice. I still think that Chinese people make perfectly shaped dumplings as if this skill is in their blood. The good thing is that the shape does not alter the taste. These are not the most perfectly-shaped dumplings, but are the ones with the most perfect taste for my family.

3. Cooking

After I form the dumplings, I put them in the steamer. Mine is a small one, with two levels. I cover the bottom of each one with cabbage leaves. You can also buy a special paper for this, but I don’t think it is worth paying for such, when cabbage does perfectly the job. If you have used Chinese cabbage for the filling, you can also use its leaves for covering the inside of the steamer.

I would like to point out that I have prepared dumplings with regular cabbage, but it leaves a stronger aftertaste in the process of cooking, while the Chinese cabbage is with more balanced aroma and taste.

The steaming takes approximately 20 minutes. Do not open the steamer immediately, but 5 minutes after you take it out from the fire.

With this, our Bulgarian-Chinese dumplings are ready. They go perfectly with soy sauce. I hope you like them!

Bon apeti :)胃口好

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