Pandagrub Lunar New Year Edition

 This week on pandagrub we are going to be celebrating the Lunar New Year! We are making homemade dumplings. In Korea, dumplings are called mandoo. In Japan, dumplings are called gyoza, and in China, dumplings are called jiaozi.  In our house, we call them mandoo because our main dumpling maker (my mom) is Korean.

 The panda in the picture above is named Pei Pei. Pei Pei is sitting with the ingredients for the dumplings. This recipe is my mom's recipe that she keeps in her head so she doesn't have precise measurements.  She just eyeballs it.  The ingredients for the dumplings are:
1 lb. ground beef or chicken or pork
1 18 oz. container of firm tofu
1/2 head of cabbage (blanched first and then finely chopped)
1 bunch of scallions
2 eggs
2 TBS chopped garlic
salt
pepper

Here is the most important ingredient for the dumplings: 3 10 oz. packages of Nanka Seimen Golden Dragon Gyoza Skin. Make sure you get the round ones. Make sure to defrost.You must use these. These dumpling skins are not too thick but not too thin.

This recipe makes about 150 dumplings. 

My mom likes to put the dumplings on a saran wrap lined baking sheet.  (Make sure that they don't touch each other.)  She then puts the baking sheet in the freezer.  Once the dumplings are frozen solid, you can put them in a plastic ziploc bag and store them in the freezer.  If you don't freeze them individually on the baking sheet first and you just put them straight into the ziploc bag, you will just get a giant ball of frozen dumpling -- and Pei Pei will be very disappointed.  

 Mix  everything but the dumpling skins together. Fill a bowl up with water and then gather your defrosted dumpling skins.

First add about one or two tsp of the dumpling filling into the middle of the dumpling wrapper.

 Put your finger in the water and then spread the water from you fingertip onto the edges of the dumpling skin. Fold the dumpling skin in half and make pleats across the top. These are the kind my mom makes. These are too hard for me.  

 An easier way to fold dumplings is to fold them half way across, and the wet your finger again and put the two edges of the dumpling skin together. (I fold these much better.)

 The dumplings are ready to be frozen!  Make sure they aren't touching each other.

In the picture above is some of the dumplings that have been fried. Pei Pei is ready to eat them.

 Yum! These look good and taste even better!

 Here's Pei Pei jumping in front of a painting that is an abstract version of the Chinese character for the word dragon (龍). My Grandpa painted this picture.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!