These are surprisingly easy and impressive appetizers! Truly you can fill them with whatever you like, traditionally sweet bean paste or BBQ pork. I think carrot and ginger is a classic combination and pairs really nicely with the sweet and savory nature of the pork. They’re also great to make ahead of time and freeze for when you’re ready to eat. I enjoy them with a little soy sauce with vinegar and chili’s on the side.

INGREDIENTS

Dumpling Dough:

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup boiling water

Dumpling Filling:

1 lb. Woodland Ground Pork

1 Carrot

2 Chopped scallions

1-2 inches grated Ginger

4-5 cloves grated Garlic

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

5-6 Dashes Bourbon Barrel Aged Worcestershire Sauce

1 Tablespoon Cooking Wine

½ Tablespoon White Vinegar

½ Tablespoon Sugar

1 Tablespoon Sesame oil

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

DIRECTIONS

For the dough:

In a large mixing bowl, add flour and boiling water together and mix with a spoon or chopsticks until cool enough to handle. At this stage all of the flour should be hydrated and you should be able to form the dough into a loose ball with your hands.

On a clean work surface knead the warm dough for at least ten minutes, or until the dough is very smooth, and formed into a taught ball. Wrap your little dough ball tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least thirty minutes, but no more than 12 hours, it’s been through a lot! The sooner you use, the easier I’ve found it to be.

For the filling:

If you have a food processor, add everything in that and give it a few pulses until almost smooth. If not, add all the ingredients into a bowl and mash with your hands until almost smooth.

Shaping:

On a lightly floured work surface, cut the dough into two equal halves. Repeat this cutting into equal halves until you have 20-30 tablespoon size pieces. Keep them under plastic to prevent drying out, and use a little flour to prevent sticking.

Roll each piece into a ball and with a rolling pin or small dowel, roll out until thin enough to get around the filling but thick enough so that you could stretch it a bit if you needed to, because you will need to. (You can do this all at once or ahead of the filling step, just know they may stick together so take proactive measures, a little extra flour.)

Take the wrapping in the palm of your hand and fill it with about 1 tablespoon of the pork filling. Now, with your index fingers and your thumb, doing sort of a pinching crimping motion begin to crimp shut the dumpling. You may have to use your thumb to slightly gently coax the filling back into the dumpling. This step is going to take a little bit of practice so your first couple dumplings are going to be a little funky but that’s OK! If you find this method to be too hard just find a way to wrap the dumplings that works and is easiest for you. The goal of this step is just to seal the dumplings in a way so that they can seal to steam. Just make sure you seal them shut really well.

Then, using your index finger and your thumb making sort of a ring gently pinch seal the top of the dumpling and then give the top of the dumpling a gentle little twist and pinch to seal tight.

Place each dumpling on a lightly floured sheet tray so they don’t stick, and make sure they have space and are not touching one another. Wrap in plastic and freeze, or use immediately.

Cooking your dumplings:

Fill a pan with about a quarter inch of water. Place a vegetable steamer in the pan and line with parchment paper or cabbage leaf to prevent sticking. Don’t skip this step, you’ve gotten this far! Bring the water to a boil and steam 8-10 min watching to make sure they don’t burst. (10-12 if frozen). Once cooked, serve warm with soy sauce if desired.

Recipe by Mary Hackett

Salapao Thai Pork Dumplings