Lunar New Year pork and prawn dumplings
Ching-He Huang’s Lunar New Year prawn and pork dumpling recipe serves six people with five dumplings each.
Ingredients
For the dumpling filling
- 360g/12oz organic pork mince
- 1 tbsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry)
- 1 pinch flaky sea salt
- 1 pinch soft brown sugar
- ½ tsp bouillon or vegetable stock powder
- ½ tsp toasted sesame oil
- ½ tsp white pepper
- 200g/7oz defrosted tiger prawns, washed, deveined and chopped to 1cm/½ in chunks
- 2 tbsp Chinese garlic chives or spring onions, finely chopped
- 30 shop-bought frozen gyoza dumpling wrappers, defrosted (See Recipe Tip)
For the fragrant spicy Sichuan sauce
- 2 tbsp grated garlic
- 2 tbsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
- 2 tbsp finely chopped red chillies with seeds
- 1 tbsp chopped coriander stems
- 1 tsp ground Sichuan pepper
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp clear rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp groundnut oil
- 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
To garnish
- watercress leaves, or pea shoots
- micro coriander or micro chives
- edible flowers
Method
To make the dumpling filling, mix the minced pork with the ginger, rice wine, salt, sugar, bouillon (or vegetable stock powder), sesame oil and white pepper.
Using your hand, squeeze the mixture through your fingers a few times so that all the ingredients are well combined. Then, taking the mixture in your hand, throw it into the bowl. Repeat this process a few times. You will notice the mixture starts to form into a ball. (This throwing process will give the filling more texture when cooked.)
Add the prawns and chives (or spring onions). Again, using your hand, mix the mince, prawns and chives together thoroughly. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for around 1 hour.
After 1 hour, remove the dumpling filling from the fridge and pour away any excess water. Place one gyoza dumpling wrapper between your palm and fingers, and put 2 generous teaspoons of filling in the middle.
Dip your finger in cold water, run through the edges of the wrapper, gently bring one half of the dumpling sheet over the other half to meet and gently squeeze the edges. To make the dumpling more decorative, add some folds around the edges. Continue until the remaining 29 dumpling sheets are filled. Place on a floured tray and set aside. You can also place them in Tupperware and freeze until ready to use and cook straight from frozen.
In a large stainless-steel wok or saucepan, add 1.5 litres/2¾ pint of water and bring to a gentle rolling boil. Drop in 8–10 dumplings and cook for 3 minutes, or until the dumpling skin has turned translucent in colour, and they are floating on the surface. Test one and if its cooked so are the rest. Spoon out using a slotted spoon and transfer to serving plates. Repeat with the remaining dumplings until they are all are cooked.
To make the fragrant spicy Sichuan sauce, combine all the ingredients together in a heatproof bowl or plate (except the groundnut oil and toasted sesame oil).
Add the two oils to a small saucepan and heat until you start to see a little smoke rising off the surface. Turn the heat to low and pour over the sauce ingredients. Mix well.
To serve, transfer the dumplings to a hot serving dish and drizzle over the fragrant dumpling sauce. Garnish the dish with watercress leaves (or pea shoots), micro coriander (or micro chives) and edible flowers. Eat immediately.
Recipe Tips
If using fresh gyoza dumpling wrappers you can use them straight away - just keep a damp cloth to cover between use to prevent them from drying out. If using frozen wrappers, place in fridge the night before to allow it to defrost.
