My favorite food to make, eat, share, and read about. I started making dumplings over 10 years ago after finding a picture of wontons in Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook. I didn’t understand the recipe for the first 10 times or more that I made it, I would cook the filling first, then let it cool before filling the wonton wrapper, and then frying or steaming the dumplings. It was still good enough that I would spend most of a Saturday afternoon when I was in high school making a bunch of these dumplings. Years later, I finally re-read the recipe and noticed that it never specified to cook the pork beforehand. I had no idea that the pork would cook all the way after being wrapped up in the wrapper and steamed or fried… I was so wrong.
Anyway after years of making all kinds of dumplings, here is my go-to dumpling to keep in my freezer.
Pork and shrimp dumplings
Ingredients
- 1 cup shrimp chopped
- 1 package ground pork
- 1/2 cup shitake mushrooms chopped
- 1 cups nappa cabbage
- 2 green onions sliced thin
- 1 tablespoon sake
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 teaspoons white pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 package store bought dumpling wrappers
Directions
- Step 1 Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Step 2 Get a small bowl full of water and wet your finger to wet the outside edges of the wonton wrapper. Using a spoon, add a small spoonful (about a tablespoon) of the filling in the middle of the wrapper.
- Step 3 Fold the wrapper corner to corner making a triangle and press the edges together closing in the filling. Then take the two furthest edges and bring them together (it ends up looking like a whole chicken).
- Step 4 Repeat this until your filling (or wrappers) are gone.
- Step 5 To cook the dumplings, add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and heat. Add in the dumplings and cook until the bottom of the dumplings are brown and crispy. Add about a ½ cup of water to the pan and cover. Steam the dumplings for about 7 minutes before removing the lid and cooking until all of the water is evaporated and the bottom of the dumplings are crispy.
- Step 6 Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
To freeze the dumplings, set them on a tray in a single layer in the freezer for at least an hour, then you can pile them up in a freezer bag. If you do not freeze them on a tray first, then they will stick together in the freezer bag.