Recipe: Savoury Peach Dumplings

Have you ever had PEACH dumplings – the savoury kind?

Hui, my new friend from the Portuguese class, came to visit me last week and we were just thinking what we should have for lunch. She suggested that we go pick some peaches and make dumplings. I was intrigued by the idea. So we went to our neighbourhood park, where there was a peach and a pomegranate tree, and picked some barely-ripe peaches.

We then stopped by Pingo Doce to get some cachaço (pork colar), chopped up the meat and made the dumplings, from scratch.

They were juicy, with natural acidity from the fruit, savoury from the pork – arguably some of the most delicious dumplings I’ve ever had.

Ingredients:
For the Wrapper:

• 2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup water

Click here for instructions on how to prepare the dough (frozen dumpling wrappers are also available at most Asian markets).

For the Filling:

• 10 barely ripe small peaches (if you can find them, pick the ones that are still green and hard to the touch)
• 200 grams ground pork pork colar or ground pork
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• salt and white pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Wash and core the peaches.
2. With the skin on, mince the peaches into small pieces.
3. Mince the pork colar with a sharp cleaver, or dump the group pork into a mixing bowl.
4. Squeeze out the juice from the peaches by using a cheesecloth.
5. Add the peach juice into the minced pork, season with salt and white pepper, mix vigorously.
6. Add the minced peach into the pork mixture.
7. Season with soy sauce.
8. Divide dough into 4 quarters, roll each quarter into a long log, work one quarter at a time, keeping remaining dough under a damp cloths or in a tightly sealed container. Cut the log into small 3/4 inch pieces with a pastry knife. Turn each piece flat side up, and pinch it with both middle finger and index finger,. On a well-floured work surface, roll each piece into a round 3 1/2- to 4-inches in diameter. Stack wrappers and keep under plastic until all of them are rolled out. ***Skip this step if using store bought wrappers.
9. To form dumplings, place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of a wrapper. Fold in half and pinch the top until it is tightly sealed. ***If using store-bought wrappers, first wet the rim of the wrapper so that it’s soft and easy to work with.
10. Line up sealed dumplings on a lightly floured surface until ready to cook.
11. To Cook the Dumplings: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 8 to 12 dumplings, use the back of a soup spoon to gentled push them clock-wise, so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Boil until the dumplings float to the surface (About 1 minute). Add 1/4 cup more water, let it come to a boil again; and repeat one more time. After the third boil, transfer the dumplings to a plate with a slotted spoon. Repeat with remaining dumplings, working in batches.
12. Serve immediately.

Note:

1. Adjust the amount of pork to balance out the juice from the peaches.
2. Too much liquid will make it difficult to seal the dumpling, hence we need to fold and pinch seal quickly without the usual small folds/pattern making on the top.
3. There is no need for a dipping sauce as we want to highlight the natural flavour of the peach.

Enjoy!