Mom's best dumpling 餃子 (northern style)

Seriously, no one can beat my mom's dumplings! They are so good and the pictures are proofs! I can eat at least 15 of them each time and I'm never tired of them! They are super healthy and filling, consisting of minced pork, wax beans, ginger, cilandro and a dried salty vegetable (津菜) made from the root of choy sum.

First, finely dice the ginger, cilandro stems, and the beans. Then mix them into the minced pork (1 pound) with an egg and add 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Beat the mixture with chopsticks until it becomes sticky and binded together. For the dumpling wraps, my mom buys them fresh from the wet market and if you want to keep them in the fridge for a few days, make sure you have some dry paper towel and keep them in a zip lock bag to prevent drying.

Now, here's the fun part!! I love doing this with my mom as we always compete on who has the best looking dumplings! The pictures below are simple illustrations on how to wrap dumplings properly (takes some practicing but don't worry if you can't make them look the same as they will still taste good)!! Place the wrap on your palm, wet the edge with water, put a small portion of the meat mixture in the middle then fold the edge over to touch in the middle, but do not press all the edges. Put your finger in between the edge and press the excess over and repeat this like below.

Boil the dumplings in a pot of hot water until the dumplings pop up to the surface, and then you can serve them with chicken broth or dip them in vinegar, soy sauce and chili sauce! If you have left overs, reheat them in a frying pan to make pot stickers! They are soooooo good!