Restaurant style, super tasty steamed pork and chive dumplings served with umami dumpling dipping sauce. So easy to make and so good.
My kind of crowd pleaser and premade frozen meal. Soft but not-falling-apart, juicy pork & chive fillings wrapped in thin Japanese gyoza wrappers. What more could you need, right?
Enjoy a little Chinese dimsum-like without ever leaving your house. No need to dress up and drive all the way to China town.
You can just wear your favorite sweat pants, pull over shirts and munch on these amazing homemade dumplings. With an awesome umami dumpling dipping sauce served on the side.
Cooking schedule
I highly recommend to do this on the weekend because it requires quite some times to finish from scratch. Here is a time guideline for making these steamed pork and chive dumplings:
- Friday:
- 7:00 pm: mix and marinade filling mixture.
- 7:30 pm: make dumpling dipping sauce.
- Saturday:
- 9:00 am: fold dumplings.
- 11:00 am: steam dumplings.
- 11: 30 am: serve.
How to fold dumplings
Time needed: 1 hour
Work with piece of gyoza at a time. Make sure to cover the rest of wrappers with a damp paper towel or put them in the fridge to prevent them from drying out.
Also, start with a little amount of fillings and increase it later when you feel more comfortable with the folding process.
It took me about 1 hour to finish folding 60-70 dumplings. So in order to keep the fillings from spoiling, I started working with ⅓ of the mixture and kept the rest refrigerated.
Keep finished dumplings in an air tight container to prevent them from drying out.
- Put a small amount of dumpling fillings (about 1 to 2 tsp) in the middle of gyoza.
- Dip your fingers in water or use a pastry brush to moisten (not soak) the edge of gyoza. Use your thumb and index fingers to lift the edges closest to you.
- Tightly pinch the edges together.
- Turn gyoza so the other edge stays closest to you. Use your index finger and lift the middle of that edge toward the middle.
- Carefully seal all the edges together tightly.
- Make sure to get rid of any air inside the dumpling. The gyoza should tightly wrap outside the fillings without any air space or water will get into it.
- The dumpling should be neat without any filling spilling out or breaking point on the gyoza wrapper.
How to steam dumplings
- Use a bamboo steamer or regular steamer.
- Line steamer with cabbage leaves or parchment papers (cut a few holes on them so the steaming can get through).
- Place dumplings at least 1 inch apart so they won't stick together after steaming.
- Use a spray bottle to lightly mist the dumplings outer part or use a pastry brush and lightly brush each dumpling with water before steaming.
- Make sure the water reaches boiling point before starting steaming process.
- While steaming, adjust the heat down to medium or medium high so the water is not boiling too hard. If not, water may touch the dumplings and cause them become soggy.
- It should take somewhere from 10 to 15 minutes to steam these pork and chive dumplings.
Substitution and storing suggestions
- Can I use this recipe to make different kinds of steamed dumplings?
- Yes, you can. You can transform this pork dumplings recipe into the famous pork and prawn or pork and shrimp dumplings. Just deduct the amount of ground pork called in the recipe and replace it with the same amount of roughly chopped prawn/shrimps.
- How long can these dumplings be kept for?
- These steamed pork and chive dumplings can be kept under refrigeration (uncooked) for up to 24 hours and freezing for up to 1 month.
- How can I thaw frozen dumplings?
- Put frozen dumplings on a tray with at least half an inch apart from one another then thaw in refrigerator over night. Because of food safety purpose, do not thaw frozen dumplings at room temperature.
- Once completely thaw, dumplings are good for up to 24 hours under refrigeration.
- How long can dumpling dipping sauce be good for?
- The dipping sauce can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Related recipes
- In this recipe, I called for store-bought gyoza skin wrappers. However, if you have extra time on your hands, you can always make Japanese gyoza wrappers yourself.
- Other Chinese style recipes that you might be interested in such as salt and pepper shrimps, salt and pepper chicken nuggets, or General Tso's chicken.
- Other recipe using steaming method: steamed coconut taro cake. This will also make an awesome dessert for these steamed pork and chive dumplings.
Did you make this recipe? If so please leave a rating and let me know how it went in the comment section. Also, don't forget to tag me #cookmorphosis @cookmorphosis on social media.
Steamed pork and chive dumplings
Equipment
- Steamer
Ingredients
- 60 gyoza wrappers
For fillings
- 1 lb ground pork
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp ginger peeled, minced
- ½ c chives chopped, plus extra for garlic
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- 2 tbsp fish sauce or soy sauce
- 2 medium egg yolks
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
For dumpling dipping sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp water
- 4 tsp light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp black vinegar or balsamic vinegar
- ¼ tsp sesame oil
- ½ tsp white part of green onion chopped
Instructions
For fillings
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix for 4-5 minutes.
- Heat a small frying pan with vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Take a small number of fillings (about 2 tbsp) to cook in a pan and do taste testing.
- Adjust seasoning if necessary with salt and pepper.
- Let the mixture rest and marinate in the fridge for at least 6 hours before cooking. It's better to do this step the night before (See cooking schedule for more information).
Folding
- Put a small number of dumpling fillings (about 1 to 2 tsp) in the middle of the gyoza.
- Dip your fingers in water or use a pastry brush to moisten (not soak) the edge of gyoza.
- Use your thumb and index fingers to lift the edges closest to you.
- Tightly pinch the edges together.
- Turn gyoza, so the other edge stays closest to you. Use your index finger and lift the middle of that edge toward the center.
- Carefully seal all the edges together tightly.
- Make sure to get rid of any air inside the dumpling. The gyoza should tightly wrap outside the fillings without any air space or water will get into it.
- The dumpling should be neat without filling spilling out or breaking points on the gyoza wrapper.
For steaming
- Set up a steamer. Make sure the water reaches boiling point before starting the steaming process.
- Line steamer with cabbage leaves or parchment papers (cut a few holes on them so the steaming can get through).
- Place dumplings at least 1 inch apart so they won’t stick together after steaming.
- Use a spray bottle to mist the dumpling lightly, or use a pastry brush and lightly brush each dumpling with water before steaming.
- Adjust the heat to medium or medium-high so the water is not boiling too hard. If not, water may touch the dumplings and cause them to become soggy.
- It should take 10 to 15 minutes to steam each batch of dumplings. Serve dumplings hot, garnish with chopped chives, and serve with dumpling dipping sauce on the side.
For dipping sauce
- Combine all ingredients (except onion) and mix well; right before serving, add chopped onion.
Notes
- Can I use this recipe to make different kinds of steamed dumplings?
- Yes, you can. You can transform this pork dumplings recipe into the famous pork and prawn or pork and shrimp dumplings. Just deduct the amount of ground pork called in the recipe and replace it with the same amount of roughly chopped prawn/shrimps.
- How long can these dumplings be kept?
- These steamed pork and chive dumplings can be kept under refrigeration (uncooked) for up to 24 hours and freezing for up to 1 month.
- How can I thaw frozen dumplings?
- Put frozen dumplings on a tray at least half an inch apart from one another, then thaw in refrigerator overnight, do not thaw frozen dumplings at room temperature.
- Once completely thawed, dumplings are good for up to 24 hours under refrigeration.
- How long can dumpling dipping sauce be good for?
- The dipping sauce can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Jacqueline
Absolutely delicious! My husband said I should have steamed half and fried half….he’s never satisfied. LOL!
Tu
Hi Jacqueline,
Thank you so much for trying out the recipe. I am glad that you love the recipe. Frying these dumplings is also an excellent idea; why I haven't thought of that? These for sure make great potstickers.