tonight's midnight meal

hand-pleated dumplings under a lacy golden skirt

Name: hand-pleated dumplings under a lacy golden skirt
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 hr 15 min
Yield: 24 dumplings
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 450 g (1 lb) ground pork, from a slightly fatty cut; 200 g napa cabbage or garlic chives, finely chopped; 2 scallions, chopped; 1 thumb ginger, minced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1 Tbsp soy sauce; 1 Tbsp shaoxing wine; 1 tsp sesame oil; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp white pepper; 24 thin round dumpling wrappers; 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour; 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch; 1/3 cup cold water; a few drops vinegar, for the slurry; 2 tsp neutral oil, for the pan; 30 g coarsely ground dried chili flakes; 150 g peanut or canola oil; 1 scallion and 2 slices ginger, for infusing; 1 star anise, optional; 3 Tbsp soy sauce; 1/2 tsp black vinegar; 2 tsp sugar; toasted sesame seeds and sliced scallion, to finish

⏱ 1 hr 15 min🍽 4

Ingredients · tap to check

450 g (1 lb) ground pork, from a slightly fatty cut
200 g napa cabbage or garlic chives, finely chopped
2 scallions, chopped
1 thumb ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
24 thin round dumpling wrappers
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/3 cup cold water
a few drops vinegar, for the slurry
2 tsp neutral oil, for the pan
30 g coarsely ground dried chili flakes
150 g peanut or canola oil
1 scallion and 2 slices ginger, for infusing
1 star anise, optional
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp black vinegar
2 tsp sugar
toasted sesame seeds and sliced scallion, to finish

The Way

Salt the chopped cabbage or chives and leave 5 minutes, then squeeze the water out hard with your hands. Skip this and the filling turns slack and the wrappers split as they steam.
Mix the pork with the drained greens, scallion, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, salt and white pepper. Stir in one direction until it turns sticky and holds together.
Make the chili oil. Warm the 150 g of oil with the scallion, ginger and star anise until the aromatics go golden, then fish them out. Let the oil cool a little and pour it over the chili flakes in three stages, roughly at 180C, 150C and 120C. The first pour blooms the fragrance, the later ones pull the colour without scorching.
Watch what the oil actually does when it lands: it goes warm golden-amber with fine bubbles and a pale foam on top. The deep brick red develops over the next few minutes as the flakes settle. It does not turn crimson on contact.
Whisk the flour, cornstarch, cold water and few drops of vinegar into a thin slurry. The vinegar holds the gluten back so the finished skirt is thinner and snappier.
Pleat the dumplings, sealing each one along a damp edge. Set them flat-bottom down in an oiled non-stick pan over medium heat and fry until the bases are patchy gold.
Stir the slurry, pour it in until it comes about a third of the way up the dumplings, and clamp the lid on. Steam 8 to 10 minutes - the lid fogs completely, which is the point, and the wrappers go translucent enough to see the filling.
Take the lid off and keep cooking until every trace of water has gone and the starch left behind fries into a single brittle golden web joining the dumplings. Mix 6 Tbsp of the chili oil with the soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar and a little minced garlic, invert the whole sheet onto a plate, and spoon the dressing over. Sesame and scallion on top.

midnight tip. the skirt fails in one of two ways and both are about water. too much slurry and you get a thick gummy pancake instead of lace, so pour less than feels right. lift the lid too early and the remaining water never fries off, so the starch stays pale and soft - you want to hear the sound change from a steam hiss to a dry crackle before you touch it. and invert the pan onto the plate rather than lifting the dumplings out one by one, or the sheet tears.

Questions

can I use frozen dumplings?

yes, and this is the easiest way to eat well at midnight. do not thaw them - go straight from freezer to oiled pan, fry the bases, then pour in the slurry and add two or three minutes to the covered steam.

why three pours for the chili oil?

different compounds come out at different temperatures. the hottest pour releases the aroma, the middle one extracts the red pigment, and the coolest keeps the flakes from burning bitter. one single scalding pour gives you a darker, harsher oil.

what chili flakes should I buy?

coarsely ground sichuan erjingtiao is ideal - fragrant rather than fiercely hot. if you cannot find it, a mix of coarse and fine Korean gochugaru works well and is what most home kitchens here actually use.

my skirt came out thick and chewy.

too much starch in the slurry, or too much slurry in the pan. it should be barely cloudy water, not batter, and it should only come a third of the way up the dumplings. add the drops of vinegar too - they keep it thin.

hand-pleated dumplings under a lacy golden skirt

Ingredients · tap to check

The Way

Questions

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