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| Pork Prawn & Chive Dumplings with chili oil and fermented soy sauce |
A good dumpling filling doesn’t need a long ingredient list - just balance, freshness, and a bit of technique. Pork, prawn, and chives are a classic combination across many Asian dumpling styles, giving you richness from the pork, sweetness from the prawn, and a bright, savoury lift from the chives. I like to add sweet jalapeno chili from my garden to add a bit of colour too.
Ingredients:
About 250gm pork mince
100gms cooked peeled shrimps or prawns
Chopped chive greens or spring onion
Chopped and seeded red chili
1 egg
1/4 red onion, peeled and finely diced
1 tbsp cornflour
Dash of sesame oil, and extra oil for frying
Ground sea salt and black pepper
Short YouTube tutorial here:
Method:
Start by finely chopping raw shrimp or prawns. Add them to a bowl with minced pork. Mix in a generous handful of chopped chives, finely diced red onion, an egg and a little cornflour to help bind the mixture, salt and pepper.
Use a bread‑and‑butter knife or chopsticks to stir the filling in one direction. This helps the proteins link and gives the mixture that slightly sticky, cohesive texture you want when you spoon it into wrappers and compress it into shape.
Once your filling is ready, assemble the dumplings using homemade wrappers (see my recipe here) or fresh wrappers from the supermarket. Lightly moisten the wrapper edges, add a small spoonful of filling, fold into a half‑moon, and press firmly to seal. You can crimp the edge with a fork, make a simple rope pattern, or bring the ends together for a tortellini‑style fold, or any other method you choose. The objective is to prevent the dumpling coming apart and spilling the filling when cooking.
To cook, heat a drizzle of sesame oil in a frypan over medium‑high. Place the dumplings in the pan, cover, and let the bottoms brown. Pour in enough water to just cover the base of the pan and quickly replace the lid to hold the steam. Steam for a few minutes until the filling is cooked through and the wrappers turn translucent.
Serve hot with chili oil and dark soy sauce.
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