Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Shrimp & Mushroom Dumplings

Another dumpling recipe for the food blog! While these look just like my last recipe from the outside, they are filled with Shrimp and Shiitake mushrooms and so they taste pretty different. Sasha recommended trying to make my own wrappers this time but after looking at a few recipes online and trying to find the ingredients with no success I settled on using the same old wrappers I've always used. They came out great in the end and I definitely recommend this recipe for the filling at least!

Ingredients:
1 package of gyoza style dumpling wrappers
1.5 lbs. raw shrimp, cleaned and cut into thirds or fourths depending on the size
1-1.5 cups shredded red cabbage
4 large shiitake mushrooms, chopped
2 bunches of scallions, chopped
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
chili and sesame oil
1 tbsp or 1 clove minced garlic
chopped fresh ginger and or water chestnuts are also a great addition

These are pretty simple to make but require a great deal of time. If your wrappers are frozen make sure to thaw them thoroughly ahead of time. Then I chop up everything and put it in a large mixing bowl and give myself some surface area to wrap the filling. For the filling this time I decided I really wanted the shrimp to be the main ingredient so I made sure the pieces weren't too small and bought some decent sized shrimp. I made the mistake once of using salad shrimp. I will never do that again. Also make sure you add a little soy sauce to the filling mixture as it really brings out the flavor.

I tried to make sure each dumpling had about the equivalent of a whole shrimp as well as a decent amount of everything else. I placed this on the wrappers and you need to wet the edge of the wrapper with a little water and then just fold it up and press the edges firmly together. Try to make sure that they are nicely sealed as they don't cook as properly if they aren't.

When cooking these I use a combination of sesame oil and chili oil to handle the heat well and to give some kick. I'd put maybe a tablespoon of each in a large frying pan and let it get nice and hot before adding the dumplings. I fit as many in the pan as possible just because I'm usually making a large amount of these which is fine since they freeze well and can be reheated in an oven or toaster oven after thawing. It's good to leave them in the pan, uncovered until they are nicely browned on the bottom. You don't want to be eating raw shrimp but I also wouldn't recommend pre-cooking the shrimp as they might get overdone.

After they are browned on the bottom I turn them to brown on the side as well and pour a little water in the pan (maybe 1-2 tbsp) and immediately cover it, letting them steam until the water is mostly absorbed. Again this helps ensure that the shrimp cooks fully and usually helps tighten the wrappers. In the end you get a nice crunchy and slightly spicy shrimp dumpling. I usually end up serving it with some bottled dumpling sauce but making your own is pretty easy and usually just involves some rice wine vinegar, garlic, ginger, scallions and soy sauce. Pretty much what we used during our Mongolian Hot Pot as a dipping sauce.

Also see Sasha's Lamb Dumplings and Molly's Pork Hash.