Dum, dum, dum…
July 2nd, 2006 | by Loretta |Dumplings! A whole bag full of homemade dumplings fell out of our overstuffed freezer this morning when I was inserting frozen pizzas into our icebox.
Dumplings!
Yes, we make them at home when we have a surplus of Chinese chives (jiu cha, Mandarin.) I can’t remember how many weeks ago we made this batch, but they were wrapped and pleated by my brother and me.
While we could have turned them into potstickers by cooking them in boiling water and then pan-frying them, we decided to keep things simple tonight. Chez Mom made chicken stock and bought udon noodles that only needed to be heated through in boiling water. She also bought fish balls (they’re like meat balls, but made with fish paste instead) and chopped up some extra chives to add to the wonderful bowls of yumminess.
I was a little confused as to why my mom would have us eat noodles in soup for dinner when it’s a hot summer day. It was actually very pleasant to have for dinner. My decreased appetite was resuscitated by eating something that took less effort. But probably, the reason why I enjoyed it was it tasted really good.
I have some advice to offer when wrapping dumplings. It was my brother’s first time and my nth time (n > 0.) From my experience, I have developed a habit to have the same number of pleats on each dumpling that I wrap. Also, I press firmly after dampening the edge of the round dumpling wrappers with water. My brother, while I showed him how to pleat, did it a little differently than I did. With dumplings, pleats matter; the more even and relatively close together the pleats are, the better it holds and the more likely it’ll stay that way after cooking. Otherwise, the wrapped does not adhere well to the meat after cooking, leading to torn dumplings where the meat secedes from wrapper.
The Dumpling Man would never approve.
So please remember: pleat well.