Homemade Chinese Dumplings

After wrapping gyoza with store-bought dumpling skins, I decided to try making my own skins and filling. I used this recipe for the skins, but the amount of water used in this recipe was too little. I actually made 2 batches in which I used 1/2 cup of boiling water in one batch and what I believe was 3/4 cup of boiling water in another.

The 1/2 cup batch did not work at all. It was too dry and far too crumbly with which no amount of kneading would fix. The 3/4 cup batch worked beautifully... although I can't be 100% sure it was 3/4 cup because I didn't measure it.

I used this recipe for the filling, which smelled great, but was somewhat lacking in flavor and taste once cooked. The dumpling dipping sauce fixed some of the flavor issues, but next time I would try chives or another stronger aromatic with shrimp and pork.

We filled and sealed the dumplings, which actually took longer than expected.

Dumplings potsticker style.

Final verdict: Time consuming and not necessarily more tasty than frozen or store-bought versions.

I would definitely do this for a dumpling-making party with store-bought skins, but I don't think I'll be making my own dumpling skins ever again. But at least now I know for sure!