I love dumplings- I always have store bought frozen dumplings at home as an emergency meal, but when I have hours I can spare on the weekend, I make sure to make them from scratch.

I love making pork and chive dumplings. Pork meat is always savory and fatty- and makes the best filling. I love using chives- these long beautiful green strands are similar to green onions- but its milder and have a great peppery taste to balance the fatty pork. If you can’t find the Chinese or the Korean kind- go ahead and use green onions.

Chop chop chop

About 2 cups will do.

Add the pork, chives, and egg and combine.

Add soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper.

Secret sauce- add a dab of fish sauce. This adds depth and extra flavor.

Combine and let the flavors marinate.

I would prefer to make my own wrappers, but due to time, I decided the store bought ones will do. This is a great brand.

Keep the wrappers under damp towels once opened to keep the wrappers nice and moist.

Get a station together for assembly.

Get 1 teaspoon of filling into the wrapper in your hands. With other finger, wet the edges of the wrappers with water. This will be a sealant to close up the little package of porky goodness. Here is one technique that I use to package up the dumplings.

Pinch at the middle to start.

Then from the center, start making “pleats” from center to right.

Make little pleats to seals the dumplings. This is purely decorative. As long as you have all the sides sealed to keep all the meaty goodness, you have done your job!

Pinch and make pleats.

Now go back to the center, and do the pleats on the opposite side,

And finally seal the edges.

Make sure all the edges are sealed.

Pretty dumpling!

Repeat the process until you run out of meat or wrappers. I promise, it seems complicated but after few, it’ll come naturally.

Ok- couple of more to go.

I’m telling you- it ain’t an easy job. This is probably good for a very hungry person.

So many to go. It’s a lot of work- but I’ll promise it’ll be worth it.

Still admiring little purses of meat. So cute.

Now- for the dipping sauce. If you are familiar with famous Chinese dumpling houses- they use dark vinegar that resemble a soy sauce as the base of the sauce. This is the best brand I found so far.

If you have access to an Asian grocery store and they have this on stock- get it. Or not, I hope Amazon has it online. This is a game changer. So good.

Get a sauce cup together- start with 1 teaspoon of grated ginger.

Add the dark vinegar to the gingner.

And get your non-stick fry fan oiled and hot.

Get the dumplings, and arrange them once the oil is nice and hot in the pan.

Let the dumplings mingle in hot oil until the bottom of the dumpling is nice and golden. REMEMBER- the meat inside is still RAW!

Keep the dumplings in close watch-make sure the bottom is getting brown and crisp – do not burn the underside!

Once the bottom is nice and golden then add 3-5 tablespoons of water into the hot oil pan. The oil will protest and cause a huge uproar. Quiet the burning oil down and cover the dumplings with a lid.

Now- this is the secret technique- even though you have “browned” the bottom, you will use the steam method to cook the rest of the meat inside the dumpling, while giving the wrappers a nice translucent shine.

Keep an eye out, in low heat- the steam will cook the rest of the meat of the dumplings.

After about 8-10 minutes – you’ll definitely smell the goodness- and when the insides are cooked, it is ready. Take the lid out, and evaporate all the liquid from the pan.

You’ll see that the bottom yummy browned bits are intact- and the rest of the dumpling skin glistening and shrunk into the meat center.

I love inverting the pan into a plate…wait for it…

For presentation- the bottom browned bits are nice and crispy- while the underside is nice and soft.

Perfect textures- crunchy on the top and soft and savory on the bottom

I couldn’t stop taking photos. It’s beautiful.

Ready to eat!

Perfect texture.

Time to dit it in the sauce.

Recipe:

For the dumpling:

Ground Pork- 2lbs.

Chinese chives- 2 cups – or substitute with green onions

Soy sauce – 1/4 cup

Sesame oil – 3 tbs

Fish Sauce – 1 tbs

Egg- 1

Dumpling skin -1 packet- store bought

Salt- 2 pinches

Cup of water for assembling the dumplings.

For the dipping sauce:

Grated ginger – 2tbs

Chinese black vinegar – 1/4 cup

Soy sauce – 3 tbs

Sesame oil – 2 tbs

Directions:

Combine the pork, soy sauce, seasame oil, fish sauce, and combine.

Chop the chives and combine with pork mixture. If you don’t have access to Chinese chives, use green onions as substitute.

Add egg and combine the pork mixture with the chives.

Let the mixture marinade. Set aside.

Make sauce– grate about 2 teaspoons of ginger. Combine with dark vinegar and soy sauce. Add seasame oil to season. Set aside.

Unwrap the store bought wrappers. Keep it under damp towel to keep the skins moist.

Take one wrapper and wet the edges of the wrappers with water. Use your fingers to dip into the water, and run it along the edges of the wrappers.

Take 1 teaspoon of pork and chive mixture and place it into the center. Use dumpling folding techniques to enclose the meat sealed into the wrappers. There are a lot of videos online for different techniques.

Assemble and place the assembled dumplings on a parchment paper on a plate.

Heat the non-stick pan

Add oil and make sure the pan is hot. Add the assembled dumplings into the hot oiled pan- place the dumplings down on the hot oil pan on the bottom side. Let it cook until the bottom is nice and brown.

Once the bottom of the dumplings are brown and crisp- add 3- 5 tbs of water. Turn down heat to medium and close lid immediately so the steam will be captured inside the pan and start cooking the raw pork inside the dumplings.

After 8-10 minutes, and until you see the meat and the skin of the dumplings cooked through, lift up the pan. Let the leftover liquids evaporate. Turn off the heat.

Now- here is the fun part. Take a large round plate that will catch all the dumplings inside, and invert the contents into the plate. Think of it as an upside dumpling dish. The bottom crisp and browned bottom will be on top- while the steamed soft underside (or the upside) will be on the bottom.

Dip the dumpling into the sauce, and enjoy. There is nothing so simple and so luxurious with this dish.

And the best thing? Ingredients were only about $7 dollars for a family meal- with extra dumplings for another five meals. Even though it is the best fresh- keeping these frozen is way better than buying than processed manufactured dumplings.

This recipe will make lots of dumplings. About 60 or until the wrapper or the meat runs out. Serves many.