Chinese Dumplings

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• ½- ¾ cup cold water

Filling:

• 4-6 ounce ground pork
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp. Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tsp. fresh ginger, finely minced
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 green onion, finely minced
• 1 1/2 cups spinach, finely shredded
• 4 Tbsp. water chestnuts, finely diced

Dipping Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

Directions:

• Make the dough first. Stir the salt into the flour. Slowly stir in the cold water, adding as much as is necessary to form a smooth dough. Knead the dough into a smooth ball. Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
• While the dough is resting, prepare the filling ingredients. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, rice wine to the meat, stirring to combine the ingredients. Add the remaining ingredients, and mix well.

To make the dumplings:

• Uncover the dough and knead it into a smooth ball. Divide the dough into 25 pieces. Roll each piece out into a circle about 3-inches in diameter.
• Place 1 tablespoon of the filling into the middle of each wrapper. Wet the edges of the dumpling with water. Fold the dough over the filling into a half moon shape and pinch the edges to seal. Continue with the remainder of the dumplings.
• To cook, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the dumplings, giving them a gentle stir so they don’t stick together. Bring the water to a boil, and add 1 cup of cold water. Cover and repeat. When the dumplings come to a boil for a third time, they are ready. Drain and remove. Serve with dipping sauce.
• Make the dipping sauce by stirring together all ingredients in a small bowl.
• Tip: Left over dumplings can be warmed up by pan frying them in small amount of oil.