Dumplings for Days!

It’s Dumpling Week in Portland, now through Feb 13th! Appropriately, today, Feb 8th, kicks off a 15-day celebration of Chinese New Year, during which we eat dumplings to symbolize wealth and good fortune in the coming year. (And also because they’re delicious.) You could try to hit every participating restaurant on the list – earning stickers for your Dumpling Passport – or you could make your very own dumplings at home.

Ingredients:
½ lb ground pork
¼ lb Napa cabbage or bok choy, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ tsp sesame oil
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 pkg dumpling skins (circular)
bowl of lukewarm water

You can usually find dumpling skins (sometimes called gyoza wrappers) in the produce section of your local grocery store. If not, try an Asian food store, where they may be frozen. Make sure they’re round and not square.

Makes about 40 dumplings

Steps:
1. Combine all ingredients (except dumpling skins and water) in a large bowl until completely mixed.

2. If your dumpling skins are frozen, wrap them in a damp towel and microwave for 30 seconds. Keep covered while wrapping so they don’t dry out.

3. Wrap dumplings:

Place 1 dumpling skin in your palm and put about ½ Tbsp of filling in the middle.
Dip a finger in the water and trace a circle around the outer edge of the dumpling skin. Not too wet!
Fold the skin in half around the filling and pinch the edges to create a seal.
Crimp the edges to create a purse-like shape (see photo).
Repeat until you’ve used all the skins or all the filling.

4. Fill a large stockpot halfway with water and bring to a boil.

5. Put dumplings in boiling water (about 15 at a time). Bring to boil again, then pour ½ cup cold water in. Repeat.

6. Upon third boil, if dumplings are floating, they’re done!

7. Serve with soy sauce for dipping.

Gluten-free or paleo modifications:
Having special dietary needs doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy Dumpling Week (or dumplings ever)! Some simple substitutions will do the trick.

Instead of dumpling skins, use Napa cabbage (it’s a softer variety than regular cabbage) and cut off the bottom, hardier halves of the leaves. Steam the upper leaves for 5-7 minutes until they’re wilted, then wrap the meat filling in them kind of like a burrito (fold one end up, then each side over, then roll it up). You’ll want to cook these in a steamer rather than boiling, 8-10 minutes or until meat is cooked through.

For paleo eaters, sub coconut aminos for soy sauce and your preferred cooking fat for vegetable oil. Sesame oil should be fine, as it’s such a small amount, but if you’re super strict, omitting it won’t ruin the flavor – I promise!