Pan-steamed Pork Kimchi Cheese Dumplings
Steps
Prep: Chop the onions and kimchi into small chewable pieces that won’t make people hate you. Slice the bacon on the shorter side of the strip to make thin slices.
Caramelize the onions on top of a stove in any pan/pots you want. Caramelization of onions take around 40+ minutes. I prefer going at it for 30 minutes. Fry the bacon in another pan until a copious amount of bacon oil floods out.
Mix onions and bacon together in a bowl while adding the rest of the ingredients: kimchi, pork, and cheese. Mix thoroughly and add salt to taste. I prefer adding around 2 large pinches of salt and not more. If you’re scared you’re adding too little or too much salt, scoop a small portion of the mix and fry it into a pan to taste.
Fill the wrappers with the dumpling filling. Once you’ve made a satisfactory amount of dumplings (aka the whole pack) it’s time to fry. A pack can give you 30 - 50 dumplings.
In a frying pan, add a bit of oil (I prefer bacon fat) to coat the pan. Make sure that it is medium to high heat. Gently lower the 6 - 8 dumplings into the pan with it’s bottom where you want crispy making contact. Wait for the bottom to become brown and crispy. It usually takes 2 minutes.
Turn the heat to high and add water into the pan. Use a lid to cover the pan quickly so that water vaper won’t burn off your face.
Leave the lid on for 3 - 4 minutes or until you see that most of the water is almost boiled off. Remove the lid and turn off the heat.
Let the dumpling rest for almost one minute and you are ready to serve!
Ingredients
1 pack of Dumpling Wrappers (Fav brands are Twin Marquis and Dynasty)
1 pound (450 g) of grounded pork (prefer non-lean porks!)
1/2 pound (225 g) of kimchi (add more if you like it!)
1/4 white onion chopped into small pieces
3 oz (85 g) of bacon (dried rub!!) sliced into thin horizontal short strips
4 - 8 oz (113 - 225 g) of cheese (italian blend or just parmesarn is fine
Salt to taste
1/2 cup of water
Dipping sauce
Generally, you can eat dumplings with vinegar soy sauce. However, with these dumpling come the extra twist of Chili of the szechwan style and the flavors of Thai. First you need canola oil, dried chili (preferably Thai and not Chinese because it’s a different hot profile), chopped garlic, 1 slice of lime, and fish sauce.
Second, heat 4 tbps of oil in a pan until it’s piping hot. In a ceramic bowl or any bowl you want to serve the sauce, add ingredients together. For the lime, just squeeze 4 - 5 drops. For the fish sauce, 4 - 5 drops work as well.
Lastly, pour the hot oil into the bowl. You will here a SHHHHHHHHHH sound. This is when you know you’ve done well. Your Asian ancestors are now proud of you. If you are not Asian, it is okay. They have now accepted you.
Where do I buy dumpling wrappers?
In Chicago, I generally go to H-Mart or Argyle to get a hold of these wrappers. They are usually in the frozen section near the frozen dumplings. You can choose any shape you like and experiment with what texture you prefer the most.
