Pork and Shrimp Dumplings

Preparation

Mix dough

Pour flour and water into a mixing bowl. Using a silicon spatula or chopsticks, incorporate the flour and water until it's loosely combined. Then, use hands to incorporate the rest of the flour and begin the kneading the dough (it'll be messy to begin with) until it becomes smooth and the surface is uniform, around 10 minutes. When you press into the dough and it bounces back a little, you know it's done. When ready, wrap dough baby in plastic wrap and let it proof for 20-30 min.

Make filling

Dice shrimp into small pieces, it can be as fine or as chunky as you want! Transfer shrimp into a large mixing bowl along with the rest of the filling ingredients and mix. Use fingers to mix all that juicy meat mixture goodness together. Use a circular motion with your fingers until the filling looks homogeneous and sticky, about 3 minutes. When mixture is done, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the fridge until the dough is proofed and ready.

Make wrappers

If rolling by hand: Lightly dust a work surface with flour. When your dough is ready, roll into four cylinders with the thickness of hot dogs, then cut into 1 inch pieces. Turn each piece cut side up and with the palm of your hand, press down onto it to flatten to make a roughly flattened circle. Dust each side with flour and then with a rolling pin, flatten to create an circular wrapper to desired thickness. Repeat with the rest of your marshmellow dough pieces until you have a bunch of wrappers. Make sure to flour each wrapper as you roll them out so they don’t stick to each other and cover with plastic wrap so they don't dry out.

If using a pasta machine: Lightly dust a work surface with flour. When your dough is ready, take out and cut in half. Use your fingers and create a rough rectangle with your two halves the size of a 3x5 index card (it doesn't have to be exact) and put dough through your pasta machine at the lowest setting. Take your flattened rectangles and fold each into thirds, use your fingers again to create same rough 3x5 rectangle shape once again (the Italian grandmas say this step improves the texture/elasticity of the dough so I happily oblige). Put your dough rectangles through the pasta machine at its lowest setting. Increase the pasta machine setting by one, then run your flattened pasta dough through again. Repeat this step, increasing the setting by one and running your dough through until you're at the 4th or 5th setting of your pasta machine (depending on how thick or thin you like your wrappers).

Fold and seal dumplings

You can fold the dumplings however you'd like and have fun with it! For a classic circular fold, place a spoonful of meat in the center of your flattened dough. Then pleat around the meat with small folds, pushing the meat down as the wrapper starts to close in around it. Seal the dumpling and set aside.

For a classic dumpling fold, Place a small dab of meat (about a third of the size of the wrapper) into the middle. Dip your finger in a little bowl of water and lightly wet the edges of the wrapper. Seal the dumpling together by carefully pleating one half of the dumpling and attaching it to the other half. Repeat until you've run out of filling or wrappers (if you have leftover filling it's great to stir fry it and eat with rice).

Cook dumplings and serve

If steam-frying — In a nonstick pan, add generous dab of oil and place dumplings bottoms down and fry on medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes. When the bottoms have browned, add 1/4 cup of water and place a lid on top (the water will splatter when it hits the oil so just be careful!) cover and steam for 5 minutes on medium heat. If water evaporates before 5 minutes, add a tablespoon more at a time. Once the water has evaporated at the 5 minute mark, use a thin metal spatula to take dumplings out of the plan, then serve. Garnish the tops with scallions and/or any of your favorite fresh herbs.

If steaming — In a bamboo steamer place parchment paper underneath each shumai (or get steamer liners with holes in them) and place shumai's on top. Place your steamer with dumplings on top of a shallow pot with boiling water. Steam for 5 minutes until wrappers and filling have cooked through, serve.