Hi everyone, I'm Hetty McKinnon
and today we're gonna be cooking spinach, tofu
and ginger dumplings.
This is 300 grams of plain flour.
And then we're just going to
slowly trickle in the just-boiled water.
If you like, you can put it on your bench
and give it a few kneads.
OK, so that's probably done.
Let's put that back in the bowl.
Put the cover on.
And we'll let that sit for about half an hour
while we work on the filling.
OK, so the spinach has been blanched
for about one to two minutes.
Now, we're just going to chop this up.
Just roughly.
Now we've got the tofu.
So, this is about a 5cm piece
of ginger, and this is about two cloves of garlic.
We have here three teaspoons of sesame oil.
About two teaspoons of soy sauce or tamari.
We're just going to cut this into fours.
So we're gonna need a bit of flour.
And this one we're gonna just shape into a log.
I like to roll them all into little balls.
The general idea is you want the outer rim
to be thinner than the middle,
'cause the middle is what's gonna hold your dumpling filling
and the edges will be where you pleat.
So, now we're ready to start filling our dumplings.
Two teaspoons is enough to start with.
There are many ways to fold and pleat your dumplings.
This is the easiest way,
is just fold it in half
and press the edges together,
making sure you get rid of any air inside.
For potstickers, you need a flat base.
So, you're just going to put it down
and you're just going to push it.
I call this, like a little seat.
So, this is an easy way to start pleating.
Press it in the center
and then we're gonna work on either side.
You pleat one, press it down,
another one, press it down,
you pleat a third one, and if you can get a fourth pleat in,
and then we're gonna work on the other side.
I'm gonna start at the right-hand side.
Then I use my pointer finger and my thumb
on my left-hand side and bring that over.
And another one, and another one,
and I keep going until I've pleated all the way
to the other side.
This is the classic shape that I made as a child
with my mother when we made our Cantonese dumplings
called gok zai dumplings.
You start off by sealing the dumpling.
And then, I'll start from my right-hand side
and I'm gonna create little pinches, like that.
This feels, like, very second nature to me
and actually the most natural way of making a dumpling.
The next dumpling shape is a bit like a fish tail.
We're going to start on this end
and we're going to pinch it.
And then on the back side, I'm gonna do another pinch.
And then, another pinch.
And then I'm gonna bring the whole bit forward.
And then, I'm gonna start working on either side,
so I'm gonna pinch again here.
And just keep going.
And the end is a point.
So, one, it's very hot.
I can feel the heat up here.
I'm gonna add a little bit of oil.
So, now I'm gonna add my dumplings bottom side down.
So, when you're happy
with the way they look at the bottom,
You take your one-quarter cup of water,
pour it straight in.
Seal it.
You can let it cook for just 30 more seconds,
just to let the rest of the water evaporate.
But, you see how plump these are?
Thanks for joining me in the kitchen today.
I hope you enjoyed my Dumpling 101,
and I can't wait to see all the dumplings
that you make in your kitchen.
Bye for now.