Dumpling Making Session

 
I did something really meaningful today. ;D (oops, does it means that I am doing unmeaningful things every other days.) :P  I had a dumpling making session with my group of  “aunty” friends today. :D Well at least that’s what the kids addressed us as …. “AUNTY!!!!”  And I couldn’t agree more, I am really getting old.

When I reached Hai Yun’s place, the ingredients has just been made and they were just starting to wrap the ingredients with dumpling wraps.

Ingredients used:
- Dumpling wraps
- Minced meat
- Cabbage
- 韭菜
- Sesame Oil
- Soya Sauce
- Balm
- Small amount of ginger
- Corn flour

This is the mixture using cabbage.

 
And this is the mixture with  韭菜.


I prefer the one with cabbage as I doesn’t really like the taste of 韭菜.

Busy with the wrapping which is the most time consuming.


See this lady in white, she is our friend aka teacher for today. She is really good in making dumplings!

The steps for making dumplings:

Scope the ingredients onto the dumpling wraps. Take note not to put too much filings, as it would be broken easily during boiling.

 
Fold the sides together, crimping (pressing together) with your fingers to seal the contents inside.
To do this, first fold it in half and press together the top of the edge. Then press each side together, while crimping it. Note, it is important to press the sides tight to prevent the ingredients from ‘spilling” out during boiling.

 
Our first tray of dumpling. The one I made was so horrible looking, that the rest kept laughing at it. :(


The is the hot boiled dumpling freshly out of the pot which I liked best as compared to steaming and pan frying method.

 
The sauce that goes with the dumplings consisting of small amount of light soya sauce, black vinegar and finely chopped garlic.

 
The kids were famished by the time the first tray of dumplings is ready and couldn’t wait to dig into it.
   
This is the 2nd method of cooking the dumplings which is steaming.

 
Much much better looking dumplings done by us.

 
Yeah, CLEAN AND CLEAR!!!!! We managed to finish our dumpling warping tasks. Phew….
 
And not forgetting the kids…. Of course, they were busy too by keeping themselves occupied with games while we are hard at work.


Noticed that Jayden isn’t around in my pictures? The poor thing is running a fever and I told him to go home to rest.
 
This is the third method which is pan frying. D love it so much, that he is full of praises for it.

Tips from our teacher

- While wrapping, don't put too much filling into the dumpling wrap as they can be broken easily while cooking, which will make them a lot less flavorful.

- There are other variations of the filling which you can experiment with : pork and celery,  chicken and mushroom, mince meats with carrots and chopped chestnuts are some popular kinds of filling and hotdog is also a good ingredients to include for kids.  

- Keep the water at a gentle boil, to minimise the dumplings breaking .

- You can steam the dumplings instead of boiling them.

- You can fry the dumplings, but it's a good idea to do it with the ones that are already steamed. Otherwise, it's difficult to fully cook the meat in the middle of the dumplings without burning the outside.