PORK DUMPLINGS (SIOMAI)

When we went to New York in 2008, we intentionally placed in our itinerary a trip to China Town. Our trip will never be complete without us trying out  fresh cooked noodle soup. Of course, we cannot compare the experience to the "not so polite" servers in Hongkong where they would grumble as they take your orders or the "not so sanitary" waiter where they will use one hand to carry four glasses (ehem - -fingers inside the glasses). And at NY China Town - -same mumbly person who served us made the experience as exotic, somehow.

Eating noodle soup is always good with an accompanying steamed dumpling as a side dish. For me, i prefer the steamed pork siomai cooked in wooden boxes.  I guess the  combination of  anise in the water  and the steam flavor from the box, made me think of Philippines, where this type of food is accessible for us from our own kitchen.

One thing I love about Walmart is access  to fresh produce and meat.I always visit the market specials aisle early in the morning (around 7am) as this usually dictates what I will serve to the family. Today, I got lucky as I saw  a 3lb ground pork at a a sale price (less $4). So dumpling it is. NICE!

Unfortunately, cooking asian dishes needs to be planned ahead of time. It's not that Walmart doesn't have the ingredients available but I prefer to use the  spices I know that will bring out the right flavor I am craving for.

Today,  I will use this wanton wrapper (located at vegetable cooler aisle) . I tried this in the past and it is actually thicker compared to the asian brand. But since I am using the baked method, the sides will  end up crispy. No biggie!

So here's how:

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb ground pork
1 package wanton wrapper
1 egg
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
vegetable/chicken flavor

Estimate Cost: $7-9 (serves 5-6)

STEP 1:
Combine all ingredients

STEP 2: Place  1tsp pork mixture inside wanton wrapper

There are various ways to wrap the dumplings. The package instruction states you need to fold the wanton wrapper in a triangular mold. That is fine. But for me, I find this technique ore user friendly. Here's how:

Using your left hand, put your thumb and  third finger together, forming a circle




 


 Place the wanton wrapper in between the circle / space between your fingers















Using a spoon,place 1 tsp of ground meat inside the wanton wrapper.

To even the edges,  press the back of the spoon at the top of the meat.











STEP  3: Arrange the dumplings  in a pan . Drizzle lightly with olive oil

NOTE: "Steaming" is another method to cook dumplings. To do this, either use a wooden steamer bought in a chinese store or standard steamer 











STEP 4: Bake for 30 minutes at 350 F
















Since I used the baked method, I made sure that the wrappers turned into golden brown (for crisp result)













STEP 5: Serve with  soysauce and lemon juice