Steamed Chinese Dumplings

These Chinese Dumplings are fantastic!  My regular foodie blog readers may have noticed that I went  a whole year without blogging.  Well, I made these Chinese Dumplings as a part of my Year-of-the-Horse Chinese New Year dinner party last year.

Steamed Chinese Dumplings

What's better than a dumpling?

'Think I'll make some now

It was fun and festive and delicious.  And then the attention of the Gods was on me and all my other horse friends and blogging has just been impossible.  Let me catch you up though!

Ingredients:

• One 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1/2 pound ground chicken or turkey
• 1 scallion, finely minced
• 2 tsp ginger, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp Chinese rice wine or sherry
• 1 Tbsp gluten free soy sauce (or the regular kind - whatever)
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

1. Squeeze out all excess liquid from thawed spinach.
2. In a bowl, mix together spinach, chicken, scallion, ginger, rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper.  Stir well until mixture holds together firmly.  Refrigerate while preparing dumpling wrappers (wrappers recipe below).
3. Place a small spoonful (about 2 tsp) of dumpling filling in center of dumpling wrapper.  Bring wrapper end together over center of filling and pinch.  Pinch ends of wrapper together on one end.  Carefully pinch wrapper together to enclose filling.  Repeat on other side of wrapper.
4. Place round piece of parchment paper in Chinese steamer.  Lightly oil parchment paper and place dumplings on top of parchment paper, making sure dumplings do not touch each other (otherwise, they will stick together when cooked).
5. Bring water to a boil in bottom of Chinese steamer.  Place steamer pan with dumplings over boiling water, cover, reduce heat to medium-low and steam for 12-15 minutes until cooked through.
6. Eat immediately, or let cool, and freeze.  To freeze, line a plate with plastic wrap.  Gently place cooked dumplings on plate.  Cover dumplings with plastic wrap and place in freezer.  After dumplings are frozen, store them in a container or Ziplock bag, and keep in the freezer.  To reheat, steam until hot.

Chinese Dumpling Wrappers

Ingredients:

• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1 cup fine rice flour
• 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 2 Tbsp light olive oil
• 12-14 Tbsp cold water
• glutinous or sweet rice flour

1. Whisk together tapioca starch, rice flour and xanthin gum in a bowl.  Add oil and 12 Tbsp of water.  Mix well, adding a little bit of water at a time if necessary to form a firm, but not dry, dough.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap while preparing dumpling filling.
2. When ready to make the dumpling wrappers, sprinkle a cutting board or pastry sheet with glutinous rice flour.  Form dough into a long log.  Cut dough into 24 even pieces.
3. Flatten each piece into a small round on floured cutting board.  Using a rolling pin, roll each round into a 2 1/2" to 3" circle, flipping the dough over, and turning the circle as you roll it out.  The dough is fragile, so roll it out carefully, and be sure to keep both sides floured so it doesn't stick to the rolling pin or cutting board.  Cover rolled dumpling wrappers with plastic wrap until all the wrappers are made.

These dumplings are a bit of a pain to make - but they're definitely worth it!  Be very careful with the wrappers as they're delicate.  And be very careful that they don't touch in the steamer!  These dumplings are excellent with shrimp instead of the poultry.  Boil and peel the shrimp and mince.  Enjoy!

Recipe from Jeanette's Healthy Living.