Failsafe Chinese Dumplings and Chive Pancakes with Dipping Sauce

Dumplings were another dish that we sampled regularly while travelling in China. There was nothing like buying them straight from the street markets, the tastes and smells were an amazing experience. The locals were so quick to make them, it was like an art form. For me, inexperienced as I am, they were rather time consuming yet fun to make and totally worth the effort! While my parents were living in China, my mum had a number of opportunities to learn from the locals how to make dumplings, so I have enlisted her help. I could not have done it successfully without her. Thanks mum!

We tried cooking the dumpling 2 different ways. The first was the traditional way in a saucepan of boiling water, the second was steaming in the Varoma. I must say I prefered and found it easier to cook in the Varoma, I could walk away leave them to steam until the Thermomix beeped rather than having to stand and watch them boil in water on the stove.

Dough:
500g plain flour
350g boiling water

Place the flour into the Thermomix bowl, mix on speed 5 for 10 seconds to lighten and aerate it slightly. Add boiling water and mix on speed 5 for 6 seconds. Then set to closed lid position and knead on interval speed for 2 minutes. Transfer to the Thermomat or a bowl to rest for approx 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Using one part at a time, roll into a log and cut into 8 equal pieces. Take one piece and roll into a very thin round, using a rolling pin. I am not an expert getting it perfectly round with a rolling pin, here is a link to a youtube tutorial on how to do it, which I struggled with, so I cheated and got my perfect circle with a large glass!

I found keeping a slightly damp tea towel over the dough kept it from drying out.

Filling:
2 garlic cloves
2 spring onionssmall handful fresh chives
300g wombok
500g chicken mince

Place garlic, spring onions and chives into TM bowl, chop on speed 6 for 5 sec. Add wombok and chop on speed 4 for 3 seconds (don’t do it for too long or it will turn to purée quickly!). Add mince, mix to combine on reverse speed 4 for 20 sec, use spatula through the lid to help combine the ingredients.

Place a spoonful of the mince mixture into the middle of a circle and bring the edges together at the top and press firmly together, pleat one of the sides as you join them together.  Here is a video link on how to pleat the dumplings. Place in the Varoma dish and tray ready for steaming. Keep a little bit of space between them so they don’t stick.

Once the Varoma is full, fill the TM bowl with 900ml of water and steam the dumplings on Varoma temp for 15 min speed 2.

If you have any filling left over, (or have run out of puff from rolling, lol) another great way use up the meat is to cook it in the frying pan and add some udon rice noodles to it like I did with the Chinese Style Filled Steam Buns and Easy Chicken Noodles.

To cook the dumplings on the stove, bring a large pot of water to the boil. When boiling, add some of the dumplings (don’t over crowd the pot). They will sink to the bottom, then rise to the top. Add approx 1 cup of cold water when they rise to the surface. Continue boiling until the dumplings become translucent. Remove with a slotted spoon. Continue this same method until all are cooked in batches.

Dipping Sauce:
10 saffron threads
2 tablespoons of boiling water
2 tablespoons Rice malt syrup
1 tablespoon carob syrup
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 Shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon rock salt, ground

Place the saffron threads into a small bowl. Add the hot water and set aside for a few minutes. Mix the remaining dipping sauce ingredients together and stir well to combine. Add the saffron and water. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Chive Pancakes:
Dumpling Dough
Spray oil
3 eggs
Pinch of garlic salt
fresh chives, chopped

Using any of the left over dough that has been prepared exactly the same way as the dumplings, rolled out thinly in a small round circle.
Beat the eggs together with garlic salt.
Heat up a non stick frying pan, spray with oil. Brush one side of the dough with beaten egg, sprinkle with chives and place egg side down in the pan. Brush the top side with egg while it’s cooking and sprinkle with chives. Allow to cook for a few minutes until lightly browned and the egg is cooked, flip over and cook the other side. Once cooked on both sides, remove and keep warm until ready to serve.

Notes: You can buy carob syrup from Carobana,  Allergy Train and The Carob Kitchen have a list of suppliers around Australia, I have been lucky to find it at my local heath food shop. Cooking for Oscar has a recipe to make your own carob syrup as well.