My inspiration for this recipe came from the famous dish we all know as Chinese wonton dumplings in hot chilli oil. I wanted to make a pork-based dumpling that my Mom would enjoy, so I used a Japanese stock seasoning called ‘dashi’. Traditional homemade dashi consists of water, kombu (dried kelp) and bonito fish flakes.
However, for this recipe, I highly suggest using powdered dashi (flavour is more concentrated and keeps the filling at a nice consistency); there are a variety of flavours that you can use, but I mainly used mushroom dashi for its umami component.
The dumplings and hot chilli oil are fairly simple to execute, but it takes some time to make them- so I suggest picking a day that you can dedicate some time to and have fun with it and challenge yourself to different dumpling shapes!
Succulent Chinese Pork Dumplings With Hot Chili Oil
Ingredients
Dumpling Filling Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds ground pork (minced pork)
- 1 tablespoon garlic - minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger - minced
- 1 ½ tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- ¼ cup yellow onion - minced
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2-1 tablespoon salt
- 1 pack wonton wrappers - square
- 1 medium egg
Garnish Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons garlic - chips, thinly sliced
- 2 sprigs green onions (scallions or green shallots) - chopped
- 1 medium red pepper (red capsicum) - Korean, sliced
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds - toasted
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine all of your ingredients for the filling together (except the egg). Once the filling is made, cover it and store it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to an hour.
- In the meantime, leave the pack of wonton wrappers out to thaw until it’s pliable. Take your egg as well and mix it with 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl; that’ll be your egg wash which will help seal the wrappers together.
- Take the meat mixture out of the refrigerator after it’s been chilled and set up the table you’re going to be working on with a spoon, your egg wash, and a tray to place the dumplings.
- Scoop a tablespoon of the filling and put it on the centre of the wonton wrapper. With a finger, seal the edges of the wrapper with the egg wash.
- Fold the wrapper in half (one corner of the wrapper meets the other corner to make a triangle) and pinch the edges together; you want to make sure to remove any air pockets as well.
- After the edges are tightly secured, take the bottom corners of the dumpling, and you’re going to overlap them like the first photo; this will help round out the filling and create a very appealing shape! (I call it a boat because it holds the hot oil nicely; also, use egg wash to seal the corners together).
- Once you feel that you’ve made a handful of dumplings, you then have the option of steaming them or searing them first on a frying pan and then steaming them Gyoza style (creates a crispy bottom while the rest of the dumpling is tender).
- When the dumplings are fully cooked, transfer them into a large bowl and slowly incorporate the hot chilli oil and soy sauce (depending on how spicy and salty you like to eat). Add in the garlic chips, toasted sesame oil, scallions, and Korean red peppers as well.
- If the seasoning is at par with your liking, plate the dumplings on a nice platter and serve it while it’s still warm!