PORTLAND, Maine — Maine Restaurant Week is underway, with restaurants across the state offering special menu options and deals. This weekend, Camden Harbour Inn is offering a few specials. Chef Alfie Jerome Mossadeg, from Singapore’s Chef Palate Sensations Culinary School, will be teaching a class on the art of Singaporean / Chinese dumpling making.
Before teaching the class in Camden, he stopped by the 207 kitchen to share the recipe and show us how to make dumplings at home.
Ingredients
- 200 grams ground pork (lean fat ratio 7:3) or pork belly
- 10 large (1 cup) shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped into corn kernel-sized pieces.
- 1 cup (30 grams) shiitake mushrooms, dried, rehydrated and finely chopped.
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon ginger, minced.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 cup spring onion, chopped.
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons corn flour
- 1 egg
- 40 dumpling wrappers To make the filling.
- 3 and 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil total for frying the dumplings
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a large bowl, combine ground pork, Shaoxing wine, and light soy sauce. Mix well with a pair of chopsticks (or a fork). Add 4 tablespoons water to the mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, and stir until the water is fully combined. The mixture should feel sticky and a bit runny, but still thick enough to coat a spoon. Add shrimp, shiitake, ginger, salt, and white pepper, mix well. Add corn flour and egg.
- Right before you’re ready to wrap the dumplings, add green onion and sesame oil, mix well. To wrap potstickers * Prepare a small bowl of water. Place a piece of parchment paper on a working surface or dust a wooden board with flour.
- To wrap a potsticker, scoop about 1 teaspoon of the pork mixture and place in the center of the dumpling wrapper. Gently press the mixture into a round shape, making it easier to wrap. Wet your finger or a pair of chopsticks with water and gently brush water onto the edge of the wrapper (this will help the wrapper stick to itself when pressed together).
- Fold the wrapper into a half-moon shape, using your fingers to pinch the middle and press the two layers together. Use your left hand to hold the dumpling and your right hand to fold 2 to 3 pleats in the outer layer towards the midpoint and press it well to seal the filling inside.
- Switch so that you're holding the dumpling in your right hand and use your left hand to form more pleats in the same manner. Press the pleats again to seal the filling tightly. If you have trouble sealing the dumplings, reduce the filling inside until you can seal it easily. Place the potsticker on the parchment paper. Continue forming the rest of the potstickers in the same manner. Leave about a finger’s width between any two dumplings, so they won’t stick together.
- To cook the potstickers: Heat a tablespoon of oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, place potstickers in the skillet, pleat side up. Swirl 2 tablespoons water into the skillet, cover immediately, and turn the heat to medium.
- Cook covered until the water is evaporated and the potstickers are cooked through about 3 minutes. Remove the cover and flip one potsticker to see whether the bottom side is charred. If not, turn to medium-high heat and cook until the bottom side turns golden brown, about 1 minute. Transfer the potstickers to a plate.
- Serve immediately with dipping sauce.
DUMPLING DIPPING SAUCE
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon chili oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
SERVING INSTRUCTIONS
- Serve dumplings and sauce with 2 tablespoons of ginger slices, and 4 tablespoons of black vinegar in a small bowl, then drizzle vinegar over ginger slices.
- If the dipping sauce is not salty enough to your liking, you can add soy sauce to adjust the flavor, 1 teaspoon at a time.