Pork Dumpling Soup

Handmade pork dumplings swimming in fragrant Chinese chicken broth finished with sesame oil. This is the kind of soup that warms you from the inside out, and making the dumplings from scratch is easier than it looks.

The filling starts with finely chopped cabbage salted and rested for 30 minutes. That salt draws out water that would otherwise make the dumplings soggy and burst during cooking. After squeezing the cabbage dry, it gets mixed with ground pork, egg white, cornstarch, white pepper, a touch of sugar, and dry white wine. The cornstarch binds everything so the filling holds together inside the wrapper.

Siu mai skins fold into half-moon pleated dumplings, just a heaping teaspoon of filling each. Wet one edge, pinch a few pleats, press to seal. They cook directly in the simmering broth, which means the dumplings absorb flavor from the soup while releasing starchy goodness back into it.

Kitchen Tips

• Squeeze the salted cabbage thoroughly. Even a little excess water weakens the filling and makes the skins tear.
• Don’t overfill the wrappers. One heaping teaspoon is plenty. Overstuffed dumplings burst open in the broth.
• Drop the dumplings into gently simmering broth, not a rolling boil. Hard boiling knocks them around and breaks the seals.
• The sesame oil goes in at the end. Cooking it into the broth dulls its aroma.

Variations

• Add a splash of chili oil to individual bowls for heat.
• Swap ground pork for ground shrimp or a pork-shrimp blend for a lighter dumpling.
• Stir baby bok choy into the broth during the last few minutes for added greens.