Chinese Chicken Dumplings with Sesame Soy Sauce

Step 1

Combine the flour, water, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. With the dough hook attachment, knead the dough together until it forms a smooth ball, around 2-3 minutes.

Step 2

Remove the ball from the bowl, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Step 3

If you do not have a stand mixer or a dough hook attachment, you can knead the dough by hand until it becomes smooth, just make sure to flour your surface well to prevent it from sticking.

Step 4

Combine the shredded cabbage and water chestnuts in a colander with 2 teaspoons of salt and place it over a bowl. Leave it to stand for about 30 minutes to allow the salt to extract the moisture from the cabbage and water chestnuts.

Step 5

After 30 minutes, dump the cabbage and water chestnuts over a towel or double lined paper towels, then wrap them and wring out the excess water.

Step 6

When there is very little water remaining, add the cabbage and water chestnuts to a bowl with the ground chicken, scallions, ginger, garlic, low sodium soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and sugar. Mix to combine.

Step 7

Split the dough in half. Roll one half of the dough on a floured surface until it is thin, about 1/16th of an inch thick. Cut the dough into rounds (mine were 3 ½ inches in diameter).

Step 8

Fill each round with 1-2 teaspoons of the chicken filling and fold them according to the tutorial linked below.

Step 9

Continue with the rest of the dough from the first half. Then, repeat again with the other half of the dough.

Step 10

Over medium heat, add a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil to a high sided skillet. When the oil is hot, add the dumplings. Brown on one side for about 3 minutes.

Step 11

Then, carefully add ¼ cup of water and cover to steam the dumplings for about 6 minutes on low heat. (The oil will splatter a bit, so be very careful during this step)

Step 12

Uncover the pan, increase the heat to medium, and cook another 3 or so minutes until the bottoms are crisp. You may need to cook the dumplings in batches, depending on the size of your skillet. The dumplings do puff up a little as you cook them.

Step 13

If you prefer to boil the dumplings instead, add them to a large pot of boiling salted water. Once the dumplings float to the surface, cook them for 5 minutes then remove them from the water. You may need to do this in batches, as well.

Step 14

Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. The sauce will build more flavor the longer it sits. Dip the cooked dumplings in the bowl of sauce and enjoy!