If you saw my last dumpling post – you learned that I spent time in China and love everything about it. During my time in QingDao, the host family I stayed with was incredible. They were so kind and loving and made me feel at home. The grandma would come over every morning after the parents left for work and make me breakfast – the first week I was there she made me eggs and bacon to make me feel at home – it was the sweetest gesture! Another time, we went to their friend’s house and along with traditional Chinese dishes, they bought everything to make pizza and asked me to help them make an American pizza – it was an experience in my life I will always cherish and remember. Almost every night we would have dinner together and they would teach me how to cook. When they learned how much I loved dumplings, they wanted to teach me how to make them. They set up an entire night at their friends house where we went and made dumplings for a few hours and they walked me through each step of the process. They were the best dumplings I have ever had and was so glad to know how recreate them at home! It has been a few years and my dumpling skills have definitely not been used in a while! I used to be able to fold them and make them look exceptionally beautiful, now I am lucky if I can get them closed without filling coming out. Anyways, the filling for these dumplings comes from the recipe I made with my host family in China – now traditionally dumplings are steamed rather than pan fried, but my husband prefers them so we compromised! I steamed a few for me and pan fried the rest for him. Skip the takeout gyoza and make these instead at home – you will be very happy you did.
- 3/4 Lb Ground Pork
- 5 Green Onions, Diced
- 1 1/2 Cups Cabbage, Chopped
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 3 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Minced Ginger
- Dumpling Wrappers (You can find these at your local Asian Grocery Store, grab the circular ones for these!)
- 4 Tbsp Oil
- Makes: 35-40 Dumplings
- Prep Time: 20 Minutes
- Cook Time: 25 Minutes
- Total Time: 45 Minutes
To Make:
- In a mixing bowl, combine the ground pork, green onions, cabbage, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp minced garlic, 3 tbsp rice vinegar, and 1 tbsp ginger and combined well.
- Take about 1-2 tbsp of the ground pork mixture and form in to a ball (you can skip this step and put the ground pork directly in to the wonton wrappers, but I recommend this step if you are a dumpling newbie!). Continue this step until all the ground pork has been formed in to balls.
- Grab a small bowl of warm water – you will need this to seal the dumplings. Now that we have everything in place, we can assemble the dumplings.
- Take a dumpling wrapper and place 1 ground pork ball in the center. Dip your finger in the water and rub it across one half of the dumpling wrapper – you may need to repeatedly dunk your finger in the water to have enough to trace one side of the dumpling wrapper.
- Fold it in half over the ground pork and gently seal the wrapper.
- Repeat steps 4-5 until all the dumplings have been made.
- Heat a large pan over medium heat and add in the oil – once hot add a single layer of the dumplings (you may need to do this in batches, you do not want to overcrowd the pan so the dumplings will cook evenly). Cook the bottom of the dumplings for 6-8 minutes until golden brown.
- Turn the dumplings onto their side and continue cooking for another 6-8 minutes then flip to the other side and cook for another 6-8 minutes until all sides are golden brown.
- Remove from the heat and transfer to a plate – serve with soy sauce to dip!
