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'Kung Food' Cookbook Shares 'Third Culture' Recipes

Pork and Chive Dumplings from 'Kung Food: Chinese American Recipes from a Third-Culture Kitchen: A Cookbook'

Self-taught cook Jon Kung's new cookbook includes recipes from his childhood in Hong Kong and Toronto, and time spent living in Detroit. There are instructions for making dishes such as Vegan Fried Chicken Sandwiches, Buffalo Chicken Rangoon and Hong Kong Chicken and Waffles. Kung joins us to talk about the cookbook, which is out today.

PORK AND CHIVE DUMPLINGS
Think of this as a good starter recipe when you’re learning how to make dumplings, and especially how to fold them. Because there are no hard or sharp ingredients (like carrots or cabbage), they’re easy to fold without ripping the wrapper. This is probably the most common dumpling filling, both in China and in the US, and it is equally good for any cooking method.

Makes 12 dumplings
1 teaspoon cornstarch
4 ounces ground pork
1 cup minced fresh Chinese chives (also called nira green or garlic chives)
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
12 dumpling wrappers, circular or square
Dumpling Dipping Sauce (see below), for serving
In a large bowl, mix the cornstarch with 2 teaspoons cool tap water until smooth. Add the pork, chives, wine, and light and dark soy sauces and mix until uniform in texture.
Set a small bowl of water on your work surface. Place the dumpling wrappers on a cutting board and use a small spoon to add about 2 teaspoons of the filling to the center of each wrapper.
This is the simplest way to fold: Dip a finger into the water and moisten the edges of the bottom half of the wrapper, then fold the top over the bottom, enclosing the filling while pushing out any trapped air. Press on the edges to seal. You can moisten and pleat the sealed edges, if desired. Repeat with the remaining wrappers.
Proceed to steam, boil, pan-fry, or deep-fry the dumplings following the instructions below. Serve with dipping sauce on the side.
Note:
Store-bought wrappers come in a few varieties, including Hong Kong–style ones made yellow by the addition of an alkaline solution (or food coloring) to the dough, green ones made using spinach, and very large squares and rectangles for egg rolls. But the basic ones you need are the palm-size circles (usually labeled “dumpling wrapper”) and squares (usually “wonton wrapper”). When making dumplings, the number you end up with will depend on how much filling you include in each one. It’s always a good idea  to have extra wrappers on hand, too, as sometimes they get stuck together or torn.