Directions

Make The Spiced Vinegar

1. In a clean pot, add the following ingredients: 1.5 cup of the Chinese aged black vinegar, 1/2 cup of water, 1.5 tbsp of brown sugar, 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds, 1 tsp of Sichuan peppercorns, 3 pieces of cloves, a little bit cinnamon stick, 1 piece of star anise, 1 piece of bay leaf, 2 cloves of garlic that are slightly crushed, 2 piece of dried red chilies.

2. Stir everything and bring the pot to a light simmer. Keep it at low heat. Let it simmer for 15 minutes.
3. We want to reduce 30% of the liquid. You don’t need to measure it exactly, just eyeball it. You should have about 1.5 cups of liquid left in there. Turn off the heat. Fish out all the spices.
4. This amount should be enough to assemble 6 servings of dumpling soup. If you can not use it all in one time, you can save it in a jar. It should stay good in the fridge for a couple of months.

Make The Dumpling Dough

1. Add 1/2 tsp of salt into 200 g of room temperature water. Stir to dissolve. Pour the sodium solution into 400g of dumpling flour in batches. Gathering the flour together. Make it into a dough. Don’t forget to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Once you don’t see any dried flour in the bowl, cover it. Let it sit for 20 minutes. 20 minutes later, the dough should be much softer and you can easily knead it into a smooth dough. Let it rest for 20 minutes, knead it again for 3-5 minutes. Let it sit for 20 minutes again. Repeat this 3-4 times and you should have a nice dumpling dough.

2. Note: Dumpling flour is a type of flour that has a higher protein content and protein is what makes the dumpling great in texture. If you can’t find dumpling flour, you can use bread flour. Just make sure you check the protein content before picking a brand. Any number that is above 10% is good.

Make The Filling

1. In a big bowl, add 500g of ground beef and 80 grams of diced fennel leaves. If you don’t like fennel, you can use scallion, cilantro, cabbage, carrot or any vegetables you like.

2. Diced 2 pieces of scallion. Heat 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a saucepot. Throw in the scallions and stir until fragrant. Add 1/2 tsp of five-spice powder. Quickly stir it and add this to the filling. Keep adding 1.5 tbsp of soy sauce, 1.5 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1/4 cup of water. If you have beef stock, that will be even better. Some black pepper to taste, 1/2 tsp of salt. Crack in 1 egg. Mix everything.
3. To develop the texture of the filling, I like to stir the meat within one direction until the mixture becomes sticky. Then slap the meat hard for a few minutes and your filling is done.

Wrap The Dumplings

1. The dough has been kneaded and rests enough time. Dust some flour to prevent stickiness and transfer the dough to a working surface. Divide the dough into 60 even pieces.

2. Take one piece. We are going to roll it into a round wrapper. This is how I do it. The rolling pin goes forward and back. The left-hand holds the dough and turns it. The right-hand keep rolling it. Repeat this fast and you will get an around wrapper with a thick middle and thin edge. The diameter is about 8 cm.
3. Put some filling in the middle of the wrapper. Use both of your thumbs and forefingers to stretch the wrapper then fold that in half. Pinch the edge together tightly. That’s it. Fast and easy. This recipe is enough to make 60-65 big dumplings. And that is about 6 servings.

Assemble The Dumpling Soup

1. Cook the dumplings. In a pot of boiling water, drizzle in a little bit cooking oil. Then throw in the dumplings. I usually do 10-15 pieces per serving. Gently stir them to prevent sticking The dumplings will drop down the temperature a little bit. Keep the heat at high. In a couple of minutes, it should come back to a boil and all the dumplings should float to the top. Pour in 1/2 cup of cold water to drop down the temperature again. Cover it and wait for it to come back to a boil again. Add another 1/2 cup of cold water. We call this Dian Leng Shui (点冷水) in Chinese. It helps you to control the heat easily and make sure the dumpling is cooked through. When the third time that the pot is boiling, you dumplings are 100% cooked through.

2. Get a big soup bowl. Add 2 tbsp of dried baby shrimp, a bunch of dried seaweed, lots of diced cilantro and scallions, 1 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 3-4 tbsp of the spiced vinegar that we made, some salt to taste, 1 tsp of beef and chicken fat mix (you can use butter).
3. Scoop 2-3 cups of the water that you cooked the dumpling with. Pour it into the serving bowl. Make sure to melt the fat. Take out all the dumplings, add it to the bowl as well. Add some chili oil to your taste. I used about 3 tbsp. Sprinkle a little more sesame seed. To reinforce the nutty taste, I add a drizzle of toasted sesame oil. Top some extra cilantro and scallion. You are done, Enjoy!