During Mom’s visit we joined some of our friends in Puxi for a dumpling making class. The class took place in a simple glass room/kitchen in the French Concession. The ceiling, littered with fallen leaves from sagging tree branches overhead, allowed in soft, natural light. We worked on stainless table tops, and washed our hands in an outdoor sink, next to which sat a giant can of Raid. Something you would NOT see in the U.S. Oh, China, you are really funny sometimes! Our instructor was soft spoken and friendly, and ever so patient with our lack of skill working with the dumpling dough. The class was a super fun experience, and in the end we got to eat (well, I’ll be honest, devour) our dumplings! Yum!
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Frank and Margaret, rocking their aprons…
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Our instructor explaining how to make dumpling dough….jpg "dumplingblog05")
First, make a pile of wheat flour (100g) on your working surface. Make a crater in the flour and add 50g of warm water. .jpg "dumplingblog06")
Next, pause momentarily to take a photo of a loved one (just kidding!).jpg "dumplingblog07")
Next, mix the flour and water into a smooth dough ball….jpg "dumplingblog08")
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Then, roll the dough out flat..jpg "dumplingblog10")
Roll the dough up into a little snake-like shape and cover with plastic wrap..jpg "dumplingblog11")
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Now it’s time to mix the filling. Start with 100g of minced pork….jpg "dumplingblog13")
Add in a few tsp of finely diced green onions….jpg "dumplingblog14")
Also add approximately 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp of black pepper, 1 tsp of freshly grated ginger, a splash of rice wine (NOT rice wine vinegar), a splash of soy sauce, and a splash of sesame oil. Mix ingredients together thoroughly….jpg "dumplingblog15")
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Next, return to your dumpling dough. Divide the dough into 10-12 equal pieces… .jpg "dumplingblog17")
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Sprinkle a little flour along the tops of the dough pieces and pat gently. Remove one dough piece and cover the remaining with plastic wrap….jpg "dumplingblog19")
Roll the dough piece into a thin round. It helps if you flatten it with your hand first….jpg "dumplingblog20")
Now the rest becomes quite tricky to explain, as creating the shapes of the dumplings took multiple steps. Honestly, at this point you can just throw your pork filling in to your flattened dough piece and create a little bundle by bringing the edges up to the top and squeezing them together.
We learned to make three different dumplings: fish, four happiness, and hat shaped..jpg "dumplingblog21")
My fish in progress….jpg "dumplingblog22")
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My first completed fish dumpling….jpg "dumplingblog25")
Isaac making the 4 happiness dumpling….jpg "dumplingblog26")
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Each opening in the dumpling is filled with something different: minced egg yolk, finely diced carrots, finely diced green bell pepper, and finely diced fungus (as our teacher called the mushrooms). Yes, I know mushrooms are fungus, but fungus is just not an appetizing word!).jpg "dumplingblog28")
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Margaret was a natural!.jpg "dumplingblog30")
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My 4 happiness dumpling, sans fungus….jpg "dumplingblog32")
Isaac making the hat shaped dumpling….jpg "dumplingblog33")
My delicious dumplings, before and after steaming….jpg "dumplingblog34")
The dumplings should be loaded into the steamers (on top of rounds of waxed paper, for easier removal) and steamed for 8-10 minutes. They are traditionally eaten dipped in vinegar and soy sauce.
Mmmm!!!.jpg "dumplingblog35")
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