We have Carmen with us again, author of Tia Alia . This time he brings us an oriental recipe, some steamed dumplings, which he proposes to fill with mushrooms and pork, although the possibilities are endless. A great recipe for an appetizer or an original dinner!

Dumplings are a type of dim sum (the equivalent of tapas in China, to define it in some way) that is served as a starter in oriental menus. The concept is very similar to that of our traditional dumplings, since they are made with very thin wafers of wonton dough that are filled with meat, seafood, vegetables, etc. , but the difference between the two is that the dumplings are steamed .

Although they may seem laborious, the truth is that preparing dumplings for four people does not take more than an hour and, if you are handyman and crafts was your favorite subject at school, surely you enjoy making these dumplings as much as I have.

The wonton dough can be found in supermarkets and in establishments specializing in Asian products, something easy to find today. And you can adapt the filling to your tastes or to what you have in the fridge, so there is no excuse not to get on with it to the voice of ¡ya!

Star Wave porcelain bowls by Tokyo Design Studio , wooden cutting board , Ken Hom bamboo steamer , and Le Creuset ceramic ramekins .

Ingredients (for 4 people)

For the mushroom and pork dumplings:

• 1 package of 21-round wonton dough
• 200g of minced pork
• 11 Chinese cabbage leaves
• 1/2 spring onion
• 50g of fresh mushroom
• 100gr of mixed canned mushrooms (drained weight)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 piece of ginger about 2cm
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fine cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

For the sauce:

• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Elaboration

1. We remove the first three leaves of Chinese cabbage, wash them well, dry them and remove the hard central part. We are left only with the green part that we pierce with the tip of a sharp knife in several places and place on the base of the two trays of the bamboo steamer .
2. With this we ensure that the dumplings do not stick to the base of the steamer. If we don't have enough Chinese cabbage leaves, we can use parchment paper. We cut two circles of the same diameter as the steamer, make some incisions and cover the bases with them.
3. In any case, we reserve the ready steamer and go on to prepare the filling. To do this we have to finely chop all the vegetables and mushrooms, mix them with the minced pork and season.
4. We wash the eight remaining leaves of Chinese cabbage, dry them and remove the hard central part of the leaves.
5. Remove the outer layer of the half onion and discard it.
6. We clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth until we remove the possible remains of earth and separate the feet from the hats.
7. Drain the mushrooms and wash them under a thin stream of cold water. Let drain well before drying with absorbent paper.
8. Peel the garlic cloves, cut in half lengthwise and remove the germ (so it doesn't repeat).
9. Peel the ginger with the help of a spoon, scratching the skin gently to make the most of its meat.
10. On a board and with a sharp knife , chop each and every one of the above vegetables into brunoise, and place them in a deep bowl . Add the minced pork, soy sauce, salt, fine cornmeal and sesame oil . Mix until a homogeneous mass is obtained and let it rest for half an hour.
11. Meanwhile we prepare the sauce with which to accompany the dumplings and, for this, we mix the soy sauce, the rice vinegar and the sesame oil in a deep bowl . We beat well and reserve.
12. After the resting time of the filling, we proceed to fill the wafers with wonton dough. This is a delicate dough that dries quickly, so cover both unfilled and filled wafers with a damp cloth so they don't spoil.
13. We prepare a small container, ramekin type, with water. We are going to use it to moisten the edge of each wafer and to act as glue when folding the dough. This way the dumplings will not open and the filling will not come out.
14. We take a sheet and place it in the palm of one hand. Brush the outline with water and place a small portion of the filling inside. We join the ends of the left and pinch to join well. We make pleats with the front of the wafer as we join the back, from left to right.
15. I got six folds in each dumpling, but you can make as many as you want. Giving the dumplings this characteristic shape is very simple and the result is beautiful, so don't despair if you don't get it right the first time. Try again and see how quickly you get the hang of it.
16. As we fill the wafers, we place them on a board and cover them with a damp cloth so that, as mentioned above, they do not dry out. We repeat the operation until we finish with all the wonton dough wafers. We will have leftover filling, we can freeze it to make more dumplings another day or use it in other recipes.
17. Place the dumplings in the bamboo steamer trays, on top of the Chinese cabbage leaves, and cover. Half fill a pan with the same diameter as the steamer with water and heat it over low heat. When it starts to generate steam, place the steamer on top and cook the dumplings over low heat for 20-25 minutes.
18. We serve immediately accompanied by the sauce to dip the dumplings in and, if we wish, some noodles, vegetable broth, rice, etc.

Ken Hom wooden cutting board and bamboo steamer .