New Year's Dumplings

Olivia Xiao

Each New Year’s celebration has its unique food traditions. While some eat grapes or black eyed peas at midnight, dumplings are eaten on New Year’s in Chinese culture for good fortune and prosperity. This year, my family and I continued our tradition of cooking dumplings together. Growing up, I would watch my family members, especially my grandparents, make dumplings from scratch. My favorite part was watching my grandpa knead the dough and speedily roll it out into perfect little discs. From the rhythmic kneading of the dough to the careful wrapping of the filling, making dumplings is not just meal preparation, it is a fun activity that brings my family together and creates a way to bond with others. While this recipe for pork and shrimp dumplings has several steps, it's worth trying because it yields delicious results and lasting memories.

Total Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

2 cups flour

1 tbsp cooking oil

¼ tsp salt

½ cup Water

For the Filling:

¾ pounds of ground pork

½ cup of shrimp

½ cup of mushrooms

1 green onion

2 eggs

1.5 tbsp oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

½ tbsp peppercorns

¼ tbsp white pepper

½ tsp salt

For the Sauce:

5 tbsp vinegar

3 tbsp water

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp chili oil

1 tbsp honey

½ tsp salt

Begin by making the dough. Mix the flour and water until it clumps together into a ball of dough. Let the dough rest so it can soften while preparing your filling.

The dough ball should be soft and smooth

Meanwhile, put the pork, green onion, and shrimp into a blender and blend until smooth. Add in chopped mushrooms and spices.

In a pan, fry the peppercorns in oil so that it takes on its flavor. Take the peppercorns out and scramble the eggs in the oil. Then, mix it with the rest of the filling. Put the filling in the refrigerator and start working on the dough.

Cut the ball in half, and take one half and form it into a cylinder. Cut into one inch pieces and roll the pieces into balls. Flatten each so it looks like a pancake. Then, use a rolling pin to further flatten the disc by rotating and rolling the dough at the same time. Once it gets to approximately the size of your palm, stop rolling.

Make uniform cuts for neat dumpling wrappers

Then, take around one tablespoon of filling and put it in the center of the wrapper. Fold and pinch the center of the wrapper first, then make your way to the sides. Check to make sure there are no gaps where the filling can leak through. Repeat until all the ingredients are used.

Boil a large pot of water, and add the dumplings in. Add a cup of water and wait for the water to boil again. Do this two more times, and the dumplings are ready. To make the sauce, mix all the ingredients listed together until thoroughly combined. Enjoy!