Delectable dumplings

Back in January, I blogged about a very special lesson in making Chinese dumplings. Up till tonight, though, I hadn't attempted to make dumplings myself. I have to confess to feeling rather intimidated by the prospect of trying to make dumpling wrappers from scratch. Yan made it look easy, but I'm sure it isn't! Soooo ... this week I decided to cut corners a bit. I bought a packet of wonton skins from a local Asian grocery shop:

and gathered all the other ingredients, and made dumplings!

For the filling, I combined:

300 grams minced pork
about three stalks of celery, chopped finely
four spring onions [scallions], chopped finely
one leek, chopped finely
about two cubic centimetres of fresh ginger, chopped finely
a couple of tablespoons of tamari [soy sauce]
some freshly ground black pepper

This was just the right quantity to fill the 40 wonton skins, by placing about a teaspoon of filling in the centre of each skin, then dampening the edges and sealing them. We then brought a large pot of water to the boil, and boiled them in small batches till they floated (about five minutes).

The 40 dumplings fed three people for dinner, and we ate them with tamari. Very nice.

Thanks to Andrew for the excellent chopping, and thanks to Rachel for being a willing and courageous taste tester!

Postscript: Wednesday 22 January 2014

The second and subsequent times I've made this dish (yes, we're having it again tonight) I used gow gee wrappers instead of wonton skins:

They're similar to wonton skins, but are round

instead of square, and seem slightly thicker

This made the mixture easier to work with, and made

the dumplings a little more aesthetically pleasing!