Handmade Dumplings

Ingredients

• Rolling pin
• Flour
• Cold water
• Pot with a diameter of over 30cm
• Chinese sesame oil

Steps

1. ### Making the dumpling wrappers
2. Add all the flour to the bowl
3. Add the Chinese sesame oil
4. Hole in the center of the flour
5. Add water in 4-5 batches and mix. When crumbly dry dough appears
6. Stop adding water. Press the dough firmly by hand
7. Press the dough until the flour on the sides of the bowl can be incorporated into it. The goal is 'clean dough and clean bowl'
8. Place the dough on the table and invert the bowl onto the table (at an ambient temperature of 25 degrees) to let the dough rest for about 45 minutes
9. After resting, roll the dough into a strip shape, gather it back into a ball, then roll into a strip again. Repeat this process 3 times
10. Roll into a strip shape, cut into 20 equally sized pieces of dough, and roll into balls about 3-3.5cm in diameter
11. Press the dough flat. Sprinkle flour on your hands, the table, the rolling pin, and the dough. This step prevents the dough from sticking
12. Roll the dough flat with a rolling pin to about 8cm in diameter and about 2mm thick, with the center roughly 1mm thicker than the edges
13. ### Preparing the filling
14. Debone the pork, keeping some fat, and cut into small pieces
15. Use a chef's knife (two are recommended) to mince the pork into a meat paste and place in a bowl
16. Finely mince scallions (green onions) and ginger, and mix into the meat bowl
17. Wash the chives (Chinese chives) and cut them short to below 3mm in length
18. Mix the chives with the meat paste. Add 2ml oyster sauce, 2ml light soy sauce, and 2ml sesame oil. Add one egg white and mix thoroughly by hand
19. Wait for 30 minutes before starting to wrap the dumplings
20. ### Wrapping the dumplings
21. Place a skin on your left hand. Ensure the filling side does not touch too much flour to prevent it from not sealing shut
22. Use a pair of chopsticks with your right hand to pick up roughly half the diameter of the skin worth of filling
23. Seal the dumpling by working around the rim of the skin. Press and pinch firmly. You don't need to make pleats for personal eating, just make sure the skin doesn't leak
24. ### Boiling the dumplings
25. Use a pot that can hold 20 dumplings, or boil them in batches
26. Bring the water to a boil. The water should be about 3/4 of the pot height
27. Turn the heat to medium-high and put in the dumplings after the water boils
28. Add 50ml of cold water to the edge of the pot after the dumplings first bubble (Repeat this step 2 times)
29. Add 50ml of cold water when the water boils the third time, then turn the heat to medium-low and wait for 60s before serving