Today my sister and me made Dumplings. My oh my, hard work indeed.
As foodies, we usually watch videos, mostly on YouTube, and anything that catches our attention we try to do it, if we have the means to do it of course. Dumplings have been one of those things that simply fascinates us to the point of saving to buy the ingredients and being able to enjoy them at least once a month!
Unlike my sister, I had already tried them only once, but not dumplings but gyozas, which my brother bought in the Chinese market in Caracas many years ago. So when we watched some videos together we were, dumpling = gyoza? Basically yes, the difference is in the filling preference and the way they are folded.
Dumplings are a kind of empanadas originating in the province of Canton, in southern China; its original name is dim sum and it means 'small bite that touches the heart'. And wow, it does touch the heart. It is a feeling quite similar to the one you feel when you eat something that reminds you of something very special, only in this case, it is simply the pleasure of eating something delicious.
The dough is quite basic, just warm water, in some cases the recipes call for them hot, wheat flour and a little bit of salt. There are others who ask for an ASH which is baking soda (something like that). The filling, which can be beef, pork, chicken, seafood or vegetables, we made it from pork, which is the one we like the most. So early this morning we started.
My sister was upset because the dough was to dry (according to her), so, every 30 minutes she checked it to make sure that it was good. On the other hand, I was in charge of the filling this time. We had bought pork, but it was one piece, and of course I had to ground it myself. I cleaned it and took all the fatty bits and minced very small and took the cleaver and started to CHOP CHOP CHOP. When that was ready y added carrots, green onions, chili and cabbage. Also salt, soy sauce (dark because that's what's in our pantry) ginger powder, garlic powder and lemon juice.
The rest was the hardest part: shaping the wrappers. My sister always does that part because she likes to and yesterday I didn't have the strenght to force her to let me help her. But it ws already lunch time and mom and I where starving so this time she let me fill the wrappers has they where comming o ut of her hands.
As I was filling them up, I place them in the pan where we where going to cook them and from that point all we had to do was roll, fill and place until there was nothing left. She remembered that although we where making the pan-fried version of dumplings, she saw on a video that at one point, you need to pour some water with starch I believe, and let them cook though with steem, but she uses veggie stock instead to enhance the flavour. Haha we both forgot to take out of the fridge the one we had already made weeks ago! However, no harm done, we could defrost it in the stove and that's that!
Here is what came out:
The crunch on every bit it's just plain awsome!
I could have eaten the entire plate by myself! But sharing is caring, right? Hahaha bye for now! And blessings to all of you!!
