Dumplings are part of most countries’ cuisines, and I have been making my own fair share of German, Eastern European and South American versions. What I had never attempted before were Chinese dumplings: with their intricate shapes and complex flavours, they seemed way out of my league. But this all changed – thanks to this blog! When I started blogging I wasn’t really concerned about readers – I simply needed a vent, a way of documenting my kitchen adventures, and a blog seemed a good idea. Over the weeks and months, however, I have discovered a wealth of like-minded people who really surprised me with their generosity, both in terms of sharing of ideas and recipes, as well as by supporting my own attempts with their lovely comments and helpful suggestions. Reading about your adventures made me a more adventurous cook and baker, and what had seemed at times a rather lonely hobby has become a means of communication, putting me in touch with other bakers and cooks from all over the globe.
The enthusiastic Jeremy Pang at work
But on a more local level, too, has blogging opened up a new world for me, this time in form of an invitation to take part in a dumpling course at Covent Garden’s School of Wok, an oriental cookery school run by the inspirational Jeremy Pang. It was great to meet the writers behind blogs I had been enjoying for a long time, like Marita from My Dinner, while following Jeremy’s instructions to make a whole range of Chinese-inspired dumplings.
All set to go – unfortunately our team didn’t even come second … out of 3
The evening kicked off with barbecue pork puffs: while the char siu filling had been prepared for us, we attempted to cut and fold puff pastry as instructed by Jeremy. The complimentary Prosecco clearly didn’t help … Next on the list were wontons: again the filling, chicken and crab, had been prepared for us, and we were instructed to copy the ‘Batman-fold’ Jeremy expertly demonstrated:
Can you see the batman wings? Obviously it looked much less professional when we got to copy it ourselves: 
Once we had (sort of) mastered the technique, we attempted these Korean-style kimchee dumplings, which required the (clearly traditionally Chinese) ‘Mickey Mouse’s ears’ fold:
While we were folding, the staff kindly boiled, baked and fried our dumplings, which we were served in between tasks. Whi would have thought our first wontons would look quite so professional! Fair enough, serving them in bright red Chinese dishes and with chop sticks helps 😉
The highlight of the evening, however, were the spring rolls filled with Nutella, banana and cooked glutinous rice flour – I particularly enjoyed the Korean-inspired ‘glue’ solution of rubbing banana onto the spring roll pastry, to fix it. Ingenious.
As you can gather from the pictures, we had a ball. The mix of chat and cooking, as well as the hands-on approach to Chinese-style cooking made this a great night out. Jeremy’s wonderfully relaxed style, both in his instructions and in the way he mixed different styles of cooking, clearly encouraged me to come up with my own take on Chinese-style dumplings, in a desperate attempt to use up the last remnants of my pulled pork. These dumplings are easy enough to make and are an excellent snack or a starter, or an impressive party dish! I only used some spring onions and soy sauce to ‘Chinesify’ the flavour of my pork, so feel free to experiment.
Pulled Pork Puffs
- leftover pulled pork
- spring onions/scallions
- brown soy sauce
- puff pastry
- sesame seeds or nigella seeds
- beaten egg, for glazing
Mix the pork with the finely sliced spring onions and soy sauce. Line a baking tray or two with baking parchment.
Roll out the puff pastry to 2-3 mm and cut out round shapes, roughly 6-7 cm in diameter. Add a little heap of the meat into the centre, brush with the egg and fold between your thumbs and index fingers to create a triangular shape.
Push the edges together to avoid spillage; dip the dumpling into the egg and sprinkle the sesame over it. Leave the finished dumplings in the fridge for around 30 minutes as this will improve the rise. Bake at 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
I was invited to this event by the Gorkana group. Apart from the course, the materials, drinks and the finished food we were also given a complimentary wok and a cute plastic bag, which is the perfect size for carrying my marking. I wasn’t asked to write a review, but I clearly found it exciting enough to write about it in this post. The views expressed here are entirely my own, obviously positively influenced by the yummy food, the plastic bag, and the incredibly transferable skills I picked up on the night. Should you require further clarification, please let me know and I’ll post a picture of the bag 😉
Ginger&Bread 
Endless possibilities for fillings occur to me…. Great post!
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Thanks – I’ll be sourcing the other types of pastry to show off my new skills soon! 🙂
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dumplings! they are indeed magical, and mostly every dumpling I’ve had from every culture has been delightful. they’re also very nostalgic because they were one of the first foods I learned to make as a child.
here’s the filling recipe we use in my chinese family: ground pork marinated with a pinch of salt, sugar, cornstarch (keeps the meat soft), vegetable oil and soy sauce. my mother adds diced water chestnuts/jerusalem artichokes to the ground pork. i substitute diced apples, because water chestnuts are not easy to find.
ginger and scallion, of course, are also lovely seasonings.
happy dumpling making!
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Thank you, Myriam, for your suggestions! I’ll have to give these a try as my family really enjoyed the first attempt!
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I feel the same way about blogging as you do! While years ago, my best hope of trying new foods was a book and figuring things out, then of course, tv, but a wonderful world of people sharing their recipes that we all know actually work is always just a page away.
While I may never get a chance to travel to far flung places, and perhaps may never run into people from there who have moved to my area of the world, I’ve met so many friends through their generous sharing of not just their recipes, but their stories.
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You are so right – the internet does allow you to explore the world without having to leave your sofa 😉
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Lol – That sounds a bit dismal! But how exciting this event looks! It sounds like it was a blast, great food, great people and a great time!
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I didn’t mean it that way! But when you think of it, how many people travel the world without getting to meet any of the people (and foods!) of the countries they are visiting, and here we are, trying and discussing each other’s homemade cakes, dumpling fillings etc. across two continents! And if you take Myriam’s delicious-sounding Hong Kong childhood filling, that makes it even three!
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Oh what fun – I have some dumpling wrappers in my freezer – now I need to get making dumplings 🙂
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I’ll have to source them first, so lucky you! Living in a very Indian/Pakistani neighbourhood I will have to travel a bit to find a Chinese supermarket. Looking forward to seeing your results!
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Once I visited similar master class. The chef was making dumplings so easy and quick, but when you make it yourself.. much harder to recreate! 🙂
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Absolutely! It was a bit embarrassing, really … but great to watch! I’ve always wondered what happens in cookery classes as I have never before been to one – we didn’t even have it at school in my days 😉
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I remember , we fried eggs at school! 😀
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This must bed the season of dumplings!!
I just made some too, then yesterday i saw Marta had a version up and now you!
Talk about reading each others minds, heehee.
These look so good Ginger! Well done young lady :)!
PS
Did you get my email?
I sent it through your About page
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ugh. *be
I hate typos
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Good on you, for I am an English teacher with a vengeance!!! I though I sent you a reply, so sorry about that!
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I want to see that bag!! Im so jealous now, we have no such events here in Lux. It sucks!! I love Chinese dumplings and the Japanese gioza too oh ohhhhh are you going to post any tutorial?? Please please …
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Guess I lost my comment thread, Ginger, but I absolutely agree. Besides it’s kind of funny but sometimes my friends and family look rather oddly at some of the things I make…not that any of it is all that far out, but they can be picky. At the same time, they have no problem eating at McDonalds…
And they certainly aren’t into learning how to cook or discussing the merits of this spice or method over that! LOL!
So it’s so cool for me to connect with others who are loving trying new things and take the time out to show all their talents and skills. And to discuss things like intricate dumpling folds!
Maybe it is dumpling season. I’ve been making dumplings a lot this fall…I hafta admit, I love having them in the freezer, although I did wake up one night around three a.m. and cooked some! Dangerous!
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Damn delicious,
i literrary growing up with chinese pork dumpling….
lucky you had this cooking class my friend!
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Lucky you for not having to go to class! 😉
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Delicious! I was reading somewhere about Polish dumplings. I need to go there just for them I think! 🙂
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Absolutely! My friend Marta at Platedujour.com posted a recipe for pierogis a few days ago that’s on my bucket list!
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