Egg Dumplings

Egg Dumpling is often used in the Hot Pot, which is a very popular dish in Chinese cuisine. Normally Hot Pot is being cooked (with a portable stove on the table) while it’s being served. This is a big pot of soup with various ingredients to be added in, to be cooked and eaten right away. Thin slices of meat (beef, pork, lamb or chicken), dumplings, seafood, tofu, fish ball, tempura fish cake, mushroom, turnip, cauliflower, spinach, Chinese cabbage, bean noodle and etc., can all be used in the Hot Pot. My family prefer light and clear soup base with very minimal meat and lots of various vegetables in it. Egg dumpling not only provides very little meat in it, but it also serves very interesting shape, texture and color in this dish. It has become one of the favorite elements in the Hot Pot for our family.

Ingredients (16 pieces):
1. 150 g ground pork
2. 1 tablespoon minced ginger
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
5. 1 tablespoon cornstarch
6. 1 tablespoon wine
7. 3 tablespoons water
8. 4 eggs + 1 tablespoon wet cornstarch (cornstarch : water ratio 1:2)

Preparations:
1. Mix ingredients item 1 through 6, gradually add water into the ground pork and mix well to make sure the liquid is completely absorbed and the ground pork has become soft and sticky.
2. Whip eggs in a mixing bowl and add wet cornstarch, mix well.
3. Heat up 1 tablespoon oil in wok at medium high heat, and turn to low heat, add one tablespoonful of egg mixture into wok, tilt the wok and let the egg mixture spread out to form a thin wrapper for meat. When the bottom of the egg wrapper has become solid, add one teaspoonful of ground pork to one side of the wrapper. With the help of a pair of chopsticks or spatula, fold the egg wrapper to form a half -circle shaped dumpling. Cook until both sides have turned light golden brown, remove from wok. Repeat the process of making dumplings until all egg mixture and ground pork have been used (Tip 1).

4. When cooking Hot Pot, do not add in egg dumplings until all other ingredients almost cooked and the soup is boiling. Place the egg dumplings on the very top of the Hot Pot. It only needs to be cooked for few minutes and it’s ready to serve. Uncooked egg dumplings can be placed in plastic bag and stored in freezer. It can be moved from freezer directly to Hot Pot when needed.

Tip 1: One tablespoon oil can make about 3 egg dumplings. Add more oil when needed.