Boiled Dumplings (水餃) with Szechuan Red Oil Sauce

Dumplings are one of my favourite food. Pan fry, boiled, steamed, deep fry.... I love all forms of dumplings and can never have enough of them. Making them is not difficult at all, especially if using pre-made wrappers. All that is required is to chop some vegetables. marinade the meat and let the wrapping commence. 

Making your own wrapper is an entirely different story. My partner and I learned how to make dumplings from scratch and they really do taste different. The wrapper has more textured, or perhaps they taste better because it usually takes over 2 hours just to make a just a dozen... 

Wherever possible we would purchase free range belly pork at the butcher and has it minced fresh. The result is quite remarkable. Pre-minced meat usually is more watery which dampen the wrapper so they don't keep the shape as well. More importantly there is a different in taste and quality. I would recommend giving this a go.

The veg that goes in the dumplings is usually Chinese chives, which is widely available in Asian supermarkets and has a distinctive garlicky taste to it. Alternatively pak choi or cabbage is just as good although lacking the garlicky flavour. 

Now the marinade. The meat is usually marinaded in light soy, sesame oil, ground white pepper,  chicken powder and Shaoxing wine. Mix all the ingredients together until the meat becomes a little sticky before mixing in the Chinese chives or any kind of vegetable of your choice. 

Here are the 3 different ones I've made recently. The sauce that goes on top is Szechuan Red Oil Sauce. I don't always follow the exact recipe, especially the coriander bit as it doesn't always make it on to the shopping list!

Szechuan Red Oil Sauce

First you need to make some infused dark soy sauce:

100ml dark soy
100ml water

1 tsp of sugar

1 tsp of ground cumin

1 star anise 

2 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp of Shaoxing wine

1. Place everything but Shaoxing wine in the frying pan and bring to boil then let it cook on low heat for 10 minutes. 

2. Take it off the heat and mix in the Shaoxing wine.

Now the Szechuan Red Oil Sauce:

1 tbsp Szechuan pepper oil

1 tbsp of chilli oil (add more or less depending on personal taste)

1 tbsp of fresh coriander, chopped

1 tbsp of spring onion, chopped

1 tsp of sesame oil

2 tbsp of the infused dark soy sauce (as above)

1. Mix all everything but the spring onion and coriander together.

2. Add the spring onion and coriander just before serving.

3. Pour over the dumplings and enjoy.