Pork and Vegan Dumplings!

Wednesday, January 8

Today we made dumplings, an adventure that i have previously taken with my mentor and professor for this course but this time around seemed much more fun.

to make the dumpling wrapping we made dough:
>3 cups of all purpose flour
>1/4 teaspoon of salt
>1 1/4 cups of water
After kneading the ingredients we allowed the dough to set for about 15 minuets. Meanwhile we began making the fillings:

Pork Dumplings:
>1 cup ground pork
>1 tablespoon of Soy sauce
>1 teaspoon of salt
>1 tablespoon of Rice Wine
>1 clove of garlic finely minced
>2 slices of ginger finely minced
>3 tablespoons of sesame oil
>1 1/2 cups of shredded Napa cabbage
>1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
>1/2 cup of green onion finely minced
after combining the ingredients we worked them by hand until evenly mixed.

Vegan Dumplings:
>1 tablespoon ginger finely minced
>1 cup green onion finely minced
>1 cup sliced mushroom
>1 tablespoon white pepper
>1/4 cup chopped cilantro
>1 cup shredded Napa cabbage
>1 cup shredded carrot
>1 cup chives
>1 tablespoon sesame oil
>1/4 teaspoon salt
>1 tablespoon canola oil
after combining the ingredients were kneaded until even mixed.

Then we retrieved the dough and made 60 balls of even proportion and worked them into discs about 4 inches in diameter. Then we used a table spoon to guess-timate the amount of filling for each dumpling usually leaving a finger's width amount of dough around the edge of the disc. then we applied a small amount of water via index finger to half of the edge then folded and sealed the disc in half. Thus making a dumpling. we repeated this process until all usable dough discs were used. After making the dumplings we proceeded to boil them for roughly seven minuets.

I enjoyed every part of the dumpling preparation and my only difficulty was making suitable dumpling discs. I loved the end result because every dumpling is different adding a personal touch from whoever made it. Dumplings were traditionally eaten to invoke wealth due to their shape which was that of a half moon, a lucky symbol in Chinese culture, and the shape of currency at the time of creation. The only food item that comes to mind that bears some similarity to the Chinese dumpling is the German pretzel which is and old religious symbol of a kind of good will or maybe a symbol for Christ himself.