I love dumplings. So so much. They are up there with my most favourite foods ever. Which is probably still a long list as I don’t like playing favourites with food… it’s all so good. I would normally serve these as an entree or nibble for friends or have them for dinner with a pile of steamed broccolini on the side because you know, health. The filling is juicy and flavoursome and the contrast between the crunchy underside of the dumpling and the soft chewy top is what eating is all about. The vinegary carrots add something a bit different to the garnish and some crunch.

I’m a bit fussy with dumplings. I don’t really like the deep fried kind; I’m all about steamed or pot stickers. Boiled are good too especially if slathered in chilli oil afterwards. I also like my filling to have lots of zingy flavour and texture. I want to be able to see what I’m eating. That’s why I like to keep the prawns a little chunky. The water chestnuts also keep their crunch which is a welcome texture amongst the mince and prawns.

Now this recipe does require you to pour boiling water into a pan that contains hot oil. This will cause spitting so please be sensible and safe when you’re doing this. Stand with your arm fully extended and pour the water straight from the kettle into the side of the pan. Avoid the spitting oil! If I can teach a bunch of year 10 students to do this and not have a single one hurt themselves then you will all be capable too, but forewarned is forearmed and all that jazz. I usually cook approximately 20 of these and freeze the rest in layers in a tupperware container, I separate the layers with baking paper. You can cook the frozen ones in exactly the same fashion, no need to defrost first.

Feel free to make your own dumpling wrappers I sometimes do and they are fantastic, it just makes things more time consuming. Click here for a good recipe. Sometimes I just eat dumplings with a huge serve of steamed green veg (with the below dipping sauce drizzled over) for dinner. It’s easy and so good.

Thank you to Elyse Hamilton for the pictures in this post!

Makes 70 dumplings approx

Ingredients

Dumpling wrappers (approx 70) I prefer the white round ones

2 Tbs Rice bran or coconut oil to cook in

Dumpling filling

500g pork mince

200g prawn meat chopped into 5mm chunks

220g water chestnuts finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger

3 finely sliced spring onions

1/2 chilli, finely diced

1/2 tsp dry chilli flakes

1 Tbs soy

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

few drops sesame oil

3 Tbs finely chopped coriander

Garnish

3 tbs roughly chopped coriander

1/2 tsp sesame seeds

1 spring onion finely diced

1/2 chilli sliced

Dipping sauce

1 Tbs Soy

3 Tbs black vinegar

1/4 tsp sesame oil

Pickled carrot

1/2 Carrot (spiralized or grated)

2 Tsp rice wine vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sesame oil

Directions

Make the dumplings: Place all the dumpling filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix until well combined. Place baking paper on a large tray and lay out the wrappers (12 at a time usually works well). Place a teaspoon of the filling in the centre of each wrapper. Brush the edges with some water then pick up the dumpling and press the edges together to make a semi circle. Pinch and fold the edge to seal (see image below). Then place the dumplings on baking with the sealed edge facing up, flattening the base of the dumpling. Repeat until you have made all your dumplings. If freezing some place the ones to be frozen on baking paper directly into tupperware. Make sure they do not rest on each other as it will be impossible for you to break them apart later!

Pickle the carrots: Place spiralized carrot in a bowl and add the other ingredients, toss to combine and set aside.

Make the dressing/dipping sauce: Combine soy, black vinegar and the sesame oil in a small bowl and set aside.

Cook the dumplings: Put a large pan on a high heat and add oil. Let the oil get very hot before adding the dumplings, flattened bottom facing down, sealed edge facing up. Don’t let them touch. Do not move the dumplings, cook on high heat until the bottoms are caramelised and golden (a few minutes).Then slowly and carefully add enough boiling water to the pan to come half way up the dumplings. Place a lid on the pan and cook until the water has evaporated, and the bottoms have become very crispy again.

Remove from the pan and place in a bowl scattered with the coriander, spring onion, chilli, sesame seeds and pickled carrots. Serve with the dressing on the side.

HH. x