My very first dumpling, Zhengjiao

It is just been over two months since I came to Shanghai, but I have tried a lot of dumplings and steamed buns from various street vendors. I often go to Babi Mantou for their pork steamed buns, and though it has added a layer around my hips, I continue to eat dumplings.

Today I decided to make dumplings on my own because I have my own bamboo steamer from my trip to the HEC.

I wanted to keep it simple and searched for Wonton dumpling recipes. I have found one from Andrea Nguyen and tweaked it up a bit to suit my taste.

You can use the ready made Wonton wrappers of make it yourself from scratch.

To make thin skin dumpling wrappers add half a cup of just boiled water to two cups of all purpose flour. With a wooden spoon bring the dough together, adding more water if needed, to make it a soft dough.

Place the dough in a ziplock bag and rest it for an hour.

After the resting time, knead the dough on lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into four and flatten to a rectangle shape. Cut into squares of 10 X 10 cms.

Filling

 1 cup chopped mushrooms

half a cup chopped greens

half a cup chopped bamboo shoots

1 tablespoon chopped chillies

1 table spoon chopped cilantro

salt to taste

1 teaspoon light soy sauce

half a cup chopped scallions

oil to sautee

Chilli sauce

Rice Vinegar

Heat about a teaspoon of oil and fry all the ingredients except chilli sauce. When the bamboo is cooked remove from fire.

Place a wrapper in the palm of your hand and place a teaspoon of the mixture in the centre of the wrapper. Bring the sides together  and press firmly to form a triangle.

Now bring the two corners of the triangle together overlapping slughtly to form the ´Nurses Cap´shape.

Boil water in a wok or a sauce pan. Line a bamboo steamer with parchment paper or a wet towel and place the filled wontons in the steamer. Steam for 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile add a tablespoon each of  Chilli sauce and rice vinegar to the remaining filling and warm it.

Add the steamed dumplings to the Chilli sauce mixture and serve immediately.