Pork Dumplings

Pork Dumplings
Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
4(929)
Notes
Read community notes

This recipe for pork-and-chive dumplings comes from the chef Helen You, who learned to make dumplings from her mother in Tianjin, China. She serves these classic boiled dumplings, along with 100 other varieties, at her restaurant, Dumpling Galaxy, in Flushing, Queens. The filling is a simple mix of ground pork, seasoned with grated ginger, soy and garlic chives, and it works best with slightly fatty ground meat (about 30 percent fat, if your butcher asks). It's traditional to splash the meat with shaoxing, the Chinese rice wine, but You prefers to use sherry. —Tejal Rao

Featured in: Pork-and-Chive Dumplings That Offer a Taste of Home

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Ingredients

Yield:24 dumplings

    For the Dough

    • 2cups all-purpose flour
    • teaspoon kosher salt
    • ¾cup lukewarm water
    • 1egg white

    For the Filling

    • 1pound ground pork
    • 2tablespoons sherry
    • 1tablespoon grated ginger
    • 2teaspoons soy sauce
    • ½teaspoon kosher salt
    • 2ounces finely chopped garlic chives
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (24 servings)

91 calories; 4 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 86 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    To begin the dough, put the flour and salt in a large bowl. Use your fingers to stir in the water and egg white, until the dough comes together as a shaggy ball. Move the dough to a flour-dusted work surface, and knead it, dusting with more flour to keep it from sticking, until it is smooth to the touch, with no cracks or pockets of flour. Cover the dough, and let it rest at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Knead the dough about 10 times, or until it forms a firm ball as smooth as satin. Use a dough scraper or a flour-dusted knife to cut it into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a log, and cut it into 6 equal pieces (for a total of 24 small pieces). Flatten the pieces with your hands, and roll each one into a 3-to-4-inch round wrapper. As you work, cover the dough with a lightly moistened towel to keep it from drying out.

  3. Step 3

    To prepare the filling, place the ingredients in a mixing bowl, and use your hands to combine them until they are well blended. Place a rounded tablespoon of the filling at the center of each wrapper, and gently squeeze the edges shut. As you work, push out any air bubbles and fix any tears. When ready to eat, bring a large pot of water to boil. Boil the dumplings 6 at a time, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until they float to the surface and the wrappers turn puffy and translucent. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a plate and serve immediately.

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4 out of 5
929 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

I am still looking for a really good dumpling recipe. Agree with other posters, these are very basic. Next time I would double the ginger, at least. We used bought wrappers and tried them steamed, boiled and fried: the best were the guotie (potsticker) style. Fry in a deep skillet to brown the bottoms, then add half cup water and cover to cook through.

What did you use as a dipping sauce? Jan

When I make batches of dumplings I usually add more vegetables to the ground pork mix. Grate carrots, Chinese celery chopped fine is a wonderful addition, add finely chopped cabbage. I also add sesame oil and lots of ginger. Another trick a friend's dad taught me is to take one teaspoon of the meat mixture and cook it to test the seasonings and get them just right. Everyone wants to be a tester in the kitchen.

These are lovely! They're fun to make as an activity w/ another person. The filling can be switched up to beef or ground chicken, I love to add some kumquat zest as well. The recipe doesn't specify how thin you can (and should) make the dough- it's very elastic and strong, and I like to use a heavy marble rolling pin to stretch it out very thin w/out tearing. I like to fry the bottoms in sesame oil before adding h20 & covering to steam, then using the glutinous water to smooth out a sauce.

These are the uber dumpling and there are a million different iterations that can be tried at home. You can add fresh and dried shrimp like they do in Taiwan, baby celery (so good) like in Zhejiang, switch to lamb and add coriander like in Shaanxi, add sweet corn for crunch, or even snails! They are all delicious. Use this recipe as a template. I like them dipped in Shanxi black vinegar and soy sauce but that’s just me. And I also prefer dousing the meat with dry sherry to Shaoxing wine.

I assume the garlic chive is the Chinese chives, without flowers. In my experience, it is most flavorful if stir fried in oil before adding it to the pork mix.

Delicious this is a fav for my family every time I make it. Suggestions: 1.5 tbsp ginger 1 tsp salt Dipping sauce: 2 parts soy sauce to 1 part rice vinegar Infuse with garlic, ginger, and red chili flakes by cooking it slowly in a small pot

My first attempt, and I used veal instead of pork simply because I couldn't find pork. I used green onion stems and some chopped garlic because where I am (French countryside) Chinese chives are not available and winter chives are pretty bland. They were absolutely delicious.

Also, check you tube for ‘how to fold dumplings’ videos for extra fun.

... something fattier and juicier to supplement the pork like pancetta/bacon or mushroom or broth it find a fattier ground pork Overall the amount of dough and filling could have made more like 30 dumplings. They should have been smaller so that they don’t overcook while just trying to cook the meat through. Don’t crimp the edges like empanadas because they become too thick and chewy. Add a little spice to the filling. 1/4 teaspoon of hot pepper flakes and 1/4 teaspoon of hot paprika.

saute' the raw dumpling in oil (toasted sesame is super yum) then once browned on the bottom add a bit of water to steam (covered) until cooked through for a few minutes

i reduced the soy sauce to 1.5 tbsp. and added 1.5 tsp. of oyster sauce, 1 tbsp. of oil, 1tbsp. water, 1 egg, 1/2 cup of diced scallion, and 2 cloves of garlic, minced. delicious and very flavorful.

I doubled the ginger, added 10 garlic cloves, a cup of minced cabbage, a splash of fish sauce. Used a pasta machine for the excellant dough recipe and pan fried until the bottoms were crispy brown and then finished off with a steam. Dipped in a combo of low sodium tamari, rice vinegar and chili oil. Most excellant!

A delightful recipe! This was my first attempt at Chinese dumplings. I was worried they would fall apart during boiling ... wrong! Next time I will work on rolling out the dough a bit thinner and perhaps tweaking the dough-to-pork ratio (more pork). I can also see varying the filling in infinite ways. Really fantastic and so scrumptious. Thanks Tejal!

I have made similar dumplings with friends from Beijing. Their dough has yeast in it. As you cut the logs, roll them so each piece is off-round. Makes it easier to form a small disk. They use small stone rolling pins to form the wrappers very quickly. You can find them online. The folding process is difficult to explain without photos.

The hydration of this dough is way off, with the original recipe you'll get a shaggy dough, very difficult to handle. For these doughs I usually aim at 50% hydration. Use 1/2 cup of water (~ 120 gr), one egg white (~ 30 gr) for 2 cups of flour (~ 280 gr). That leaves the dough hydration at approx. 150/280 = 53%.

For the dipping sauce: 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 2 tablespoons finely sliced scallions, and garlic chili sauce to taste. Never fails!

Where is the ingredients for the dip?

I’m curious the best way to pre-make the wrappers. Is it best to just let the dough rise for extra time, or roll out the wrappers and store them in the fridge? Any tips on that?

Pretty good - went into the air fryer just fine - but needed more zip. Next time I'll increase the ginger.

Easy dough & filling to prepare but rolling out all those little kinda-sorta circles was a pain. I doubled the filling & the 2nd day made a dumpling pie: Carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms sauteed in butter. Pile 'em in a casserole, put the filling in, smooth it over the vegies, add more vegies on top, then a baking powder crust (I did top and bottom crust) from the NYTimes Guinness Pie. 350 oven for one hour. Served with Sweet chili sauce - just a bit. My family was ecstatic. Pork dumpling pie!

Doubled ginger and added four chopped scallions in as well, came out very flavorful.

Many years ago our family hosted a Chinese woman from Beijing and she made practically the same dumplings as this recipe. I observed her making the dumplings and was surprised they were made from only flour and water. Until she and I went to the grocery store I did not know you could get ground pork. My ten year old son would tell people that they were so good that he ate 100 dumplings. Now I can't wait to try this myself.

Tasty and fun. Next time I would cut each log into more pieces, maybe 8 or 10 instead of the 6 specified in the recipe, then roll each wrapper into a thinner 3” disk. As it was dumpling wrappers were either too big or too thick.

These dumplings were delicious. Next time, I’ll use the same measurements called in the recipe to make 30 dumplings rather than the 24 instructed. Following this recipe, I ended up with leftover pork and thick dough. I also fried mine first then added a 1/2 cup of water to the pan to steam. Great taste but proportions were off.

Wrap dumplings -- dip finger in H20, wet 1/2 (A) or entire edge (B). Add small spoon of filling. Bring up the sides and pinch center of wrapper closed. If filling is trying to escape push it back in. Then press the edges closed by either: A. squeezing one side together at a time, using index and thumb to sandwich each side together. Curve dumpling as you do this to form a crescent shape B. 2-4 pleats on each side, pleating towards the center. Only use one side of the wrapper to make pleats

I doubled the ginger, added 10 garlic cloves, a cup of minced cabbage, a splash of fish sauce. Used a pasta machine for the excellant dough recipe and pan fried until the bottoms were crispy brown and then finished off with a steam. Dipped in a combo of low sodium tamari, rice vinegar and chili oil. Most excellant!

Instead of boiling the dumplings in hot water, try to steam&deep fry them in a pan. They turn out to be crispy and much more delicious! Add approx. 1 tbsp of oil to a pan and put some (4-6) dumplings in it. Place it over a high heat. Add approx. 1/2 cup of water - make sure that the dumplings are half-submerged. Cover the pan and let the steam do the job. When there is no more water left, add another tbsp of oil and fry both sides of the dumplings for 2-2 mins.

Delicious this is a fav for my family every time I make it. Suggestions: 1.5 tbsp ginger 1 tsp salt Dipping sauce: 2 parts soy sauce to 1 part rice vinegar Infuse with garlic, ginger, and red chili flakes by cooking it slowly in a small pot

One helpful trick I was taught is to work some water into the filling. You add small amounts, say 3 or 4 tablespoon to 400gm mince meat (you can experiment), and slowly add/mash it into the dumpling filling before filling. It really makes a difference. Also add something with a little crunch, like small-diced water chestnuts (I use tinned)

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Credits

Adapted from Helen You, Dumpling Galaxy, Flushing, N.Y.

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