…Pauline said to me. I must admit I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was honored and happy that she was willing to share this recipe her mother cooks for every Chinese new year celebration.
So when we got together to make those dumplings « de rêve » to celebrate the year of the Cat AND the year of the rabbit, I took a great pleasure watching Pauline going through her memories of her mom’s recipe, adding just the right pinches of all the appropriate seasonings that would turn her « homemade fried pork dumplings » into the dumplings we will now dream about…
Pauline totally changed the prejudiced views I held on fried dumplings.
1) I thought they were just meat and…meat
But they turn out to be meat and a handful of cabbage, a spoonful of fresh ground ginger, a spoonful of thinly sliced green onions, a spoonful of ground dried shrimps, and pinches of salt, sugar, pepper, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil. A real bouquet :
2) I thought they would look like small shapeless bags…
Again, talent lies in the detail :
3)…and deep fried
Cooking proper homemade fried pork dumplings is very subtle. It all starts with 30-sec of frying on the « flat side of the dumplings ». Then just add a little bit of water and cover to let the steam cook the filling. Then leave the water out and fry again for 30sec. The dumplings then are cooked inside, melting and crusty just on the flat side…
Dip in soy sauce to which you can add thinly sliced green onions and chili pepper.
A few indications :
- The envelops for dumplings can be purchased in the frozen department of Asian groceries
- The ingredients are hand-mixed, it slightly changes the texture compared to a machine-mixed filling
- Handfuls, spoonfuls and pinches mentioned above are appropriate for 400g of chopped meat
- The recipe came with a way to keep the kids’ hands full :