Pork Soup Dumplings Recipes

SOUP DUMPLINGS (XIAOLONGBAO)

Steps:

• In a small pot, add the pork skin and pork bones and cover with cold water. Bring to a rolling boil, and immediately drain and rinse off the bones and the skin. This gets rid of any impurities. Rinse out the pot and put everything back in. Add 4 cups (950 ml) water, ginger, scallion and wine. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 2 hours.
• After 2 hours, turn off the heat, allow the soup to cool, and strain the liquid into a bowl. Once the liquid is completely cooled, cover and refrigerate overnight.
• In a mixing bowl, add the flour and the warm water 1 tablespoon at a time. Work and knead the dough for 15-20 minutes. The dough should be very soft and smooth. Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• Take your ground pork and put it in the food processor. Pulse for 30-60 seconds until the pork resembles paste. In a mixing bowl, add the pork and the rest of the ingredients except the aspic. Whip everything together thoroughly, for about 2 minutes. You want everything to be extremely well combined, and the pork should look like a light, airy paste. Gently fold in the diced aspic, and do not over-mix. Cover and transfer the filling to the refrigerator until ready to make the dumplings. If you're ready now, you can put it in the freezer for 15 minutes to allow it to firm up and make assembling the buns easier.
• Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and roll the dough into a long cylinder/cigar, about an inch in diameter. Cut the dough into small equal pieces weighing about 11 grams each (the dough chunks should be a size resembling that of gnocchi). Roll out each piece into a round disc about 3 - 3 ¼ inches diameter. Keep everything under a damp cloth.
• Prepare your bamboo steamer. You can line it with cheese cloth, napa cabbage leaves, or these lovely bamboo steamer discs, which can be found in some Chinese restaurant supply stores (if using these, you must brush the discs with oil first!).
• When all that is prepared, take out the filling. You'll be making each bun one at a time. Place about 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle of your dumpling skin. Pleat with as many folds as you can muster: 12-20 folds should do it. Make sure the top is sealed. If the filling ever gets too wet or hard to handle, put it in the freezer for another 15 minutes and start again.
• Place the buns in the lined steamer basket, about 2 inches apart.
• In a metal steamer pot or wok, boil water. If using a wok, put the water at a level so that when you put the bamboo steamer into the wok, the water rises about ½ inch up the bottom of the bamboo base. You never want the water to touch the dumplings inside, though, so make sure not to fill it too high!
• Once the water is boiling, put the bamboo steamer in the wok or steamer pot, cover with the bamboo steamer lid, and steam over high heat for 8 minutes. Immediately remove the bamboo steamer from the pot and serve.
• Ok, so there is definitely a proper way to enjoy these dumplings. Put away the soy sauce because it has no place on the table right now. What you want is Chinese black vinegar. Pour some out into a small, round dish or bowl, and top with some very thin matchsticks of ginger.
• Take out your two utensils-chopsticks and a Chinese soup spoon (a fork would just butcher these and the soup would dribble out all over the table. It would be a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions).
• Carefully, slowly peel the xiaolongbao off of the steamer basket and dip it into the vinegar. Gently transfer the dumpling to your soupspoon and take a tiny bite out of the skin on the side of the bun to make a little hole. Proceed to slurp the soup out of the bun (Carefully. It's HOT). Then, with a little more vinegar, finish the whole thing off in one bite.

PORK SOUP DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Make the wrappers: Combine the flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in a large bowl and create a well in the middle. Add 1/2 cup boiling water and mix it in with a spatula, then incorporate with your hands until you have a mealy, shaggy mixture. Mix in 1/2 cup cold water and bring everything together into a dough, then turn it out onto a work surface and knead, adding more flour if it gets too sticky to work with, until you have a smooth and slightly sticky dough, 7 to 10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and set aside for 30 minutes while you make the filling.
• Make the soup gelatin: Heat the chicken stock in a saucepan until hot, then add the soy sauce and gelatin powder. Whisk to combine. Pour into a shallow dish and chill until set, about 1 hour. Break up the gelatin by fluffing it with a fork. Set aside.
• Make the filling: Put the pork in a large bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the soy sauce, ginger, sambal oelek, sesame oil, rice vinegar and scallions. Mix with your hands (don't overmix), then set up your dumpling folding station.
• Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and dust with flour. To assemble the dumplings, divide the dough into 32 balls (keep them covered when you're not working with them). Roll out the balls into 3 1/2- to 4-inch circles, flouring the surface as needed. Put a wrapper in your non-dominant hand and make a cup. Place 1/2 tablespoon pork filling in the center and top with 1/2 tablespoon soup gelatin. Begin gathering and pleating the dumpling wrapper using your thumb and pointer finger. Work your way around the edge of the wrapper until you've gathered all the dough; your thumb stays in the same place - it's the pointer finger doing all the work. Twist it at the end, pinching everything in the center. Repeat with the remaining wrappers, filling and soup gelatin and place the dumplings on the sheet pan. (You can freeze the dumplings at this point and steam them directly from the freezer.)
• To steam the dumplings, line a bamboo steamer with cabbage leaves or parchment paper with a few holes cut out. Place a single layer of dumplings in the steamer, leaving a bit of room between them, then set the steamer over a pot of boiling water. Steam in batches until cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. (Alternately, line a plate with cabbage or parchment. Place in a pot of boiling water, making sure the water doesn't cover the plate; cook 8 to 10 minutes.)
• Let the dumplings cool slightly, then enjoy with a sauce of equal parts vinegar and soy sauce with sambal oelek to taste.

2-DAY CRAB AND PORK SOUP DUMPLINGS RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Make the pork broth: Add the pork necks and skin to a large pot. Cover with water by 2 inches and bring to a boil over high heat. Drain and rinse the necks and skin under cold water, then return to the pot.
• Add 4 cups of water, the ginger, scallions, rice wine, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 hours, skimming the surface occasionally.
• Strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer into a shallow baking dish and stir in the salt. Let cool to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight, until set.
• Make the chile oil: In a small pot, combine the star anise, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, and canola oil. Cook over low heat until small bubbles appear around the garlic cloves, about 10 minutes.
• Add the Sichuan red chile flakes and salt to a heat-proof jar. Strain the oil into the jar and stir to combine. Let cool, then cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• Make the filling: Add the ground pork, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, sugar, and water to a medium bowl and mix until evenly combined. If the filling feels too thick, add another tablespoon of water and stir until light and airy. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Make the dough: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, and warm water. Stir to combine, then turn out onto a floured surface. Knead for about 20 minutes, dusting with more flour as needed, until very soft and smooth. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Divide the dough in half and cover one portion with a damp towel. Roll the remaining portion into a 1-inch wide log, then cut into 12 pieces, rotating the log as you cut. Cover 11 pieces with the damp towel. Roll the remaining piece into a ball, then flatten with your palm. Dust with flour as needed to prevent sticking. Use a small rolling pin to roll the dough into a 3-inch round, then use the rolling pin to roll the edges thinner than the center, until the diameter of the wrapper is 3½-4 inches. Cover with the towel and repeat with the remaining dough.
• Fill the dumplings: Remove the chilled pork broth from the refrigerator and cut into ½-inch cubes.
• Scoop about 1 tablespoon of the filling on the center of a dumpling wrapper. Add about ½ teaspoon crab paste and 1 pork broth cube. Hold the dumpling in the palm of one hand and use the other to pleat the edges of the wrapper around the filling, pinching and twisting at the top to seal. Set on a baking sheet and repeat with the remaining filling and wrappers.
• Fill a large pot ⅓ of the way with water to a boil over high heat. Place a bamboo steamer basket on top and line with Napa cabbage leaves. Place the dumplings on top of the cabbage, leaving space for them to expand. Stack a second steamer basket on top and repeat to add more dumplings. Cover and steam for about 8 minutes, until the wrappers are slightly translucent and the filling is cooked through.
• Serve the dumplings with the chile oil, black vinegar, and ginger.
• Enjoy!

LAZY PORK DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Combine flour, salt, and water in a bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until dough comes together in a sticky ball. Sprinkle in more flour and knead by hand, adding more flour as needed, until soft and supple. Wrap in plastic and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Combine ground pork, garlic, ginger, green onions, and chives in bowl. Season with salt, pepper, gochugaru, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Mix together using two forks just until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Mix vinegar, soy sauce, and gochugaru into the chicken broth and set aside.
• Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll one piece into a rope about the thickness of your thumb. Using a rolling pin, flatten into a long, thin band about 3 inches wide, flouring only as needed. Dust the top with flour and flip over. Dip your fingers in some water and lightly brush the surface until slightly sticky.
• Use moistened fingers to line about 1/4 of the pork filling across the dough. Fold dough over the whole length, pressing it down over the meat. Trim off excess dough if desired. Dust a little more flour on top and roll over so seam side is on the bottom. Divide into 16 pieces using the edge of your hand, then a bench scraper to cut. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
• Heat oil in a pan over high heat. Cook dumplings in batches, seam-side up, until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Pour in a portion of the broth and bring to a boil. Cover and continue to boil until pork is no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Pour dumplings with broth into serving bowls.