Chinese Dumplings

 Alex suggested we make Chinese Dumplings to celebrate Winter Solstice. It was fun!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound (450 grams) ground pork
• 1/2 pound (250 grams) shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon ginger,  grated
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (or rice wine or dry sherry)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 pound (450 grams) napa cabbage (we used about 8 ounces regular cabbage)
  
• 4 green onions, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 package frozen dumpling wrappers, thawed (about 48 in pack)
  

Instructions:

Make filling:

1. Mix together ground pork, shrimp, ginger, light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, salt, and  pepper in a large bowl. 
2. Stir until the ingredients are well combined and form a sticky paste so the filling stays together when you wrap dumplings. 
3. Dice the cabbage into very small cubes (maybe slice into strips 1/8" strips, turn, and slice into 1/8" cubes). Set aside.
4. Sprinkle 2 pinches of salt onto the cabbage and mix well with your hands. 
5. Allow this to sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Use a few layers of clean dish towel to squeeze out extra water. (We skipped this step.)
   
6. Just before wrapping dumplings, add the napa cabbage, green onion, and sesame oil into the pork mixture. Stir to mix in well.
   
   
   
   

Stuff wrappers:

1. Work on the dumplings one by one.
2. Scoop about 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling and place it in the center of the wrapper such that you can pinch to close side. (We used a small cookie scoop for 3" wrappers.) 
3. Dip your finger into a small bowl of water, and wet the outer edge of the dumpling wrapper. 
4. Fold both sides into a half-moon shape and pinch the middle points together. Hold the dumpling with one hand and start sealing the edges into pleats with the other hand on rights side, then on left side.
   
5. Once you have sealed the dumpling, firmly press the pleated side with your fingers to make sure the dumpling is well sealed.
   (If you put in too much filling and have trouble sealing the dumpling, remove extra filling and fold the dumpling again.)
6. Place dumplings on a cutting board or pan about a finger width apart.

Cook dumplings:

1. Lightly spray the steamer basket of an Instant Pot with cooking spray.
   (Joanne prefers to boil her dumplings, so she boiled half of them.)
   
2. Pour 1.5 cups of water into inner pan of Instant Pot.
3. Place rack in inner pot, and place steamer basket on rack.
4. Place dumplings into steamer so they do not touch each other.
   
5. Using Steam setting, steam for 6 minutes.
   
   
   


6. Check that inside temperature reaches 165 degrees. 
7. Serve! (I mixed 1 tablespoon soy sauce  with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar for a simple dipping sauce)
   

Carole's Notes:

We all liked these! We filled ~46 dumplings, and froze about half of the filling for another time.

The recipe is lightly adapted from https://omnivorescookbook.com/pork-dumplings/