Mama Chang's Pork and Chive Dumplings

For the blogger potluck, some of the girls requested that I make Mama Chang's Pork and Chive Dumplings, which is one of Myers + Chang's most popular dishes.  I learned to make this at the first of many cooking classes with Chef Matt Barros at Myers + Chang.  I've only made these dumplings once for Project Food Blog, which was a bit stressful, so I was looking forward to making these again in a more relaxed manner for the potluck dinner.

First, I gathered all of the ingredients for my pork and chive dumpling filling:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
• 6-8 large Napa cabbage leaves
• 1/2 bunch of garlic chive (I substituted with regular chives)
• 2 teaspoons sesame seed oil
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce

I washed and dried the cabbage leaves.  Bret chopped them up and placed them in a bowl with a few generous pinches of salt.  The point of this is to draw out as much of the moisture out of the cabbage as possible.  We set the cabbage aside for ten minutes while I prepared the dumpling sauce, which consisted of four liquid ingredients, along with some chopped ginger:

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon black Chiangking vinegar (I substituted with balsamic vinegar)
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha chili sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame seed oil
• 2 tablespoons rough chopped ginger

I whisked together all of the liquid ingredients, while Bret chopped up the ginger.

I added the ginger to the sauce, gave it a mix, and set it aside.

By this time, the cabbage was ready.  Bret put the cabbage in a cheesecloth to squeeze out the extra moisture.

I put all of the dry dumpling ingredients in a large bowl  - the pork, chopped ginger, chopped Napa cabbage leaves, and chives.  I also added a few pinches of fresh-cracked black peppercorns.

I added the liquid ingredients - the sesame seed oil and the soy sauce - and mixed everything together by hand.  I mixed it just enough to combine the filling ingredients without overworking the meat.

Bret and I then got to work filling the dumpling wrappers with a half tablespoon of pork filling, sealing it with water and pinching the dumpling together.  The ingredients call for round dumpling wrappers but I couldn't find any at my Whole Foods so I went with square ones.

This recipe makes a lot of dumplings.  I packaged up thirty of them for the potluck and left Bret with some to cook on his own while I was gone.  I had some extra filling leftover so I also rolled some mini Asian meatballs for Bret to cook with his dumplings.

When I got to Megan's place, I warmed up a skillet on her stove with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.  I browned the dumplings on one side and then steamed it with a few tablespoons of water.  I had some trouble adjusting to Megan's stove so the first batch came out more brown than I'd like but the next two batches came out a perfect golden brown.

My dumplings were a big hit and I was thrilled when everyone wanted to take leftovers home!

Have you ever made dumplings before?  Do you like to steam or pan-fry them?

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