水餃 (Taiwanese Dumplings)

I have been craving good home cooked Taiwanese food. Maybe it is from missing family. Maybe it is from wanting a change from ooey gooey cheesey comfort foods. Maybe it is because Taiwanese food is just so good. Fortunately I have inspiration and help this weekend. Thank you Stella and Kyle! 

Napa Cabbage. Ginger. Green Onion. Chives.

Skill.

Yum.

So of course nothing is measured out. We made it the old school way, by sight, feel, and smell (can't taste it since there's raw meat). If you're looking for a recipe, heads up, this one doesn't provide nitty gritty details (like measurements).... We started out with about 2lb ground pork and divided it up in thirds to make three batches of dumplings. For a binder, we beat two extra-large eggs and divided that in thirds as well between the batches. Below are the ingredients in each batch. Once the ingredients are all mixed together in a large bowl and seasoned, start your pot of boiling water. Note, we used 80 dumpling wrappers but probably could have used another 80 because we had a decent amount of leftover filling. Place a heaping teaspoonful of the meat mixture in the center of each wrap. Using your finger, wet the edges of the wrap with water and fold in half creating a half-moon. Pleat towards the middle,on one side, pressing the edges firmly to seal. Continue until you run out of wrappers or you run out of filling! At this point, you can boil the dumplings and eat immediately or freeze them uncooked on a tray and then store in Ziploc bags. We froze two trays and ate the rest. Here's the tip for boiling dumplings. Add them one by one (but not too crowded) into boiling pot of water. When they start to float and boiling resumes, add a cup of cold water. Do this three times. Then remove the cooked dumplings with a slotted spoon, or strainer, or skimmer and spread out on a cookie sheet or large plate so they don't stick together. Enjoy!

Zucchini Dumplings

- ground pork 

- finely grated zucchini (water wrung out in a dish towel)

- minced garlic
- beaten egg

- soy sauce

- sesame oil

- sea salt

Shrimp Dumplings

- ground pork

- chopped raw shrimp

- finely chopped chives
- beaten egg

- minced garlic

- sesame oil

- sea salt

Napa Cabbage Dumplings

- ground pork

- shredded napa cabbage

- chopped green onion
- beaten egg

- minced ginger

- sesame oil

- soy sauce

- sea salt