One of my favorite ways to entertain is to serve a full menu of pick-up appetizers. I find it’s a great way to make sure there is something for everyone!
Dumplings are great for party food and they have become a birthday tradition around our house. My husband loves them, and a few years ago he gave me a three tiered bamboo steamer as a Christmas present, or what he calls, “the gift that keeps on giving”.
This pork dumpling recipe is one of our favorites, it makes a ton so it’s great for a crowd. Don’t be intimidated by the number of ingredients, most everything gets tossed together and combined for the filling. The hardest part is assembling the dumplings, but I assure you – even the not so perfect looking dumplings taste just as delicious!
I like to make the dumplings ahead of time and store them in the frezer on parchment lined sheet pans, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Right before guests arrive I fire up the stove and steam them batch by batch. Easy entertaining!
Equipment
- bamboo steamer
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground pork
- 1 cup cabbage shredded or sliced thin; plus extra leaves for lining steamer
- 5 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp chili paste
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch plus extra for dusting wrappers
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 cup scallions (green onions) white and green portion
- 1/4 cup shallots finely chopped
- 2 egg whites
- 50-60 dumpling or wonton wrappers thawed
- water for sealing dumpling wrappers
- soy sauce for dipping
- peanut sauce for dipping
Instructions
Assembling the dumplings:
- In a large bowl mix together ground pork, shredded cabbage, soy sauce, chili paste, sesame oil, rice vinegar, 1T corn starch, ginger, fish sauce, scallions, shallots, and egg whites.
- Lightly dust a full sized sheet pan with corn starch and set aside. Fill a small bowl or cup with water and set next to your work surface with a small pastry brush.
- Spread one layer of wonton wrappers out on your work surface and place a scoop of pork filling in the center of each wrapper. I like to use a small spring loaded scoop to speed up the process, but a spoon will work fine. Dip your pastry brush in water and paint around the edges of each pork dollop to moisten the edges of each wonton wrapper.
- One at a time pick up the dumpling and pinch the edges of the wrapper together to only leave a small opening at the top and create a “beggars purse”. Once the sides of the wonton wrapper are folded and formed around the pork filling place the assembled dumpling on the corn starch dusted sheet pan. Repeat until all dumplings are assembled and resting on the sheet pan ready to be steamed.
- At this point the dumplings can be covered and frozen for steaming at a later date. Because the batch makes 4-5 dozen dumplings it’s a great recipe to split at this step and freeze half to enjoy another day.
Steaming the dumplings:
- Fill your base pot with a couple inches of water and bring to a boil.
- Line the bamboo steamer with cabbage leaves and place the steamer on top of the pot of boiling water. Leave for 3-4 minutes, enough time for the cabbage to wilt a bit for easier placement of dumplings.
- Place dumplings directly on the cabbage leaves to prevent sticking and making sure not to over crowd the steamer. Cover with the steamer top and steam for 7-10 minutes until pork is cooked fully through.
- Continue steaming in batches until all dumplings are cooked. You may have to replace the cabbage liners half way through if they become too small to cover the surface of the bamboo steamer. Serve immediately with soy sauce and peanut sauce for dipping.
- Enjoy!
Notes
I love seeing photos when you make my recipes! Make sure to tag me @katyscookin on Instagram when you make these dumplings. Thanks for stopping by!
Leave a Reply