Made from kimchi and ground pork, these dumplings are easy to assemble and very delicious. Boil and then dip in a homemade dumpling dipping sauce.
Oh man, we love dumplings! I make a big batch of dumplings every other week. We eat them for lunch/dinner the day of making, and freeze the rest so that we can always have dumplings on demand.
Some days we make pork and shrimp dumplings. Other times we do pork and chive. We also make vegetarian dumplings. I'll post all these recipes soon but today we're starting with kimchi dumplings.
The filling for these dumplings are made mainly of kimchi and pork (you can use chicken, but I like pork for these dumplings). It's meaty with a bit of heat from the kimchi and seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil.
Mix the filling together, fold the dumplings, then boil and eat.
Kimchi dumplings are easy to assemble, and just very fun to make (also unexpectedly therapeutic). I love doing this on weekend afternoons. Put on a good podcast, lay out the dumpling materials, and get folding!
Ingredients
The foundation for the dumpling filling includes:
- Kimchi - Drained and finely chopped
- Ground Pork - Make sure to get fatty pork (not lean pork). Fat is flavor and will help the filling bind.
Add in a few vegetables:
- Garlic
- Ginger
Add seasoning ingredients:
- Sesame Oil
- Soy Sauce
- Black Pepper
- Salt
And one key ingredient to bind everything together:
- Egg
Don't forget the dumpling wrappers! You want round wrappers for this recipe. You can find wrappers at pretty much at all Asian markets. In Honolulu, we buy beautiful and fresh dumpling wrappers from Yat Tung Chow Noodle Factory on 150 N King Street in Chinatown.
Stir In One Direction
To make the filling, put all the ingredients (except for the dumpling wrappers) together in a mixing bowl and mix! Mix with your hands. Use a glove or you'll have kimchi hands ^_^ If you don't have gloves, just flip a ziptop bag inside out and use that as a makeshift glove.
One "secret" to creating a good dumpling filling is to stir everything in one direction. I'm right handed so I stir the filling in a clockwise direction. This will help the meat and the fat and everything stick together. Your filling will be perfectly sticky and have the ideal texture.
Cooking Method
There are four main ways we cook dumplings:
- Boil (my go-to)
- Steam
- Crispy bottoms in a pan
- Deep fry
99% of the time we end up boiling the dumplings because:
- It's super onolicious!
- It's the easiest and most simple of all the cooking methods.
- It feels clean and light...even healthy.
To boil, all you need to do is bring a pot of water to a boil. Then add the dumplings (we do a dozen dumplings per person). Give the dumplings a gentle stir right after you put them in, otherwise the skins might stick to the bottom of the pot and break when you pour them out. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Drain, plate, and serve.
Dipping Sauce
There are a million dumpling dipping sauce options! You can make things fancy, or just create a simple sauce from equal parts:
Now that's just a super basic sauce. If you have the following, I also recommend including:
- Spoonful of chili oil (or Lao Gan Ma)
- Shichimi Togarashi (only if you're not already using chili oil)
- Toasted Sesame Seeds
- Green Onions
- Garlic (thinly sliced)
Mix an individual sauce bowl for each diner. Or put all the ingredients in the middle of the table and let everyone assemble their sauce (more fun for them, less work for you ^_^). Our go-to Dumpling Dipping Sauce recipe includes most of the ingredients listed above.
Questions
That's a good thing! Set aside the ones you plan to cook that day (put them in the fridge until you're ready to cook).
For the extras, lay them all out on a tray (make sure the dumplings don't touch each other). Put the tray in the freezer for 10 minutes - the point of this step is to partially freeze them so that they don't stick to each other. Then transfer all the dumplings to a sealable bag or container. Now they're ready for you to cook whenever you have the craving.
For lunch/dinner, we usually eat 12 dumplings each. We also have a vegetable side dish like sautéed bok choy, green beans or spinach. And dessert, of course ^_^
Very! Try following this recipe as-is the first time around. Then you can adjust to make it with more or less kimchi or pork, and even change the amounts of garlic and ginger and seasoning. Dumpling filling are a very personal thing.
Use the leftover filling to make mini meatballs/patties! I pan fry these little patties after I'm done folding all the dumplings and have put everything away. I think of them as my post-wrapping session "snack."
Wrap them tightly with plastic wrap and store in the freezer. Defrost when you are ready to use.
Here are a few ideas:
- replace ground pork with ground chicken
- do half pork, half tofu (drained and crumbled)
- add glass noodles
- add grated carrots
- add chopped green onions
Kimchi Dumplings Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Kimchi Dumplings
These kimchi and pork dumplings are delicious and easy to make. Just mix the filling together, wrap, and boil! A simple and healthy meal. We like to make extra and freeze the leftovers (frozen dumplings always comes in handy ^_^
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 cup kimchi, drained and finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 1 1-inch knob ginger, minced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 50 round dumpling wrappers
Instructions
- Make the dumpling filling. Mix together all the ingredients (except for the dumpling wrappers) in a mixing bowl.
- Arrange your wrapping station. On a table, lay out the dumpling wrappers, a small dish of water, the dumpling filling, and a plate/board to put all the wrapped dumplings.
- Wrap the dumplings. Put a small spoonful of the dumpling filling in the center of the wrapper. Dip your finger in the water dish and moisten the edges of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half and pleat close.
- Boil for 3 minutes. Drain onto a plate. Serve with a dumpling dipping sauce* and eat hot! Enjoy ^_^
Notes
Dipping Sauce
For a quick dipping sauce, mix together equal parts soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. For the classic dipping sauce, check out our Dumpling Dipping Sauce recipe.
Freezing Dumplings
Dumplings freeze very well! Place the wrapped dumplings on a plate and let sit in the freezer for 10 minutes (this will prevent them from sticking to each other). Then transfer them to a bag or container, seal it close and freeze! To cook: no need to defrost, just cook it straight from the freezer. Boil water and cook for 5 minutes.
Mahalo for Reading!