[jyl]

Dumpling dough is just water and flour. Add water little by little while kneading until consistency is right. Then roll into a log, refrigerate while you make the filling. When the filling is ready, cut small sections from the log, then roll out to disks about 1/8" thick. Thinner is better but more fragile. Make the first one, put filling in it, moisten edges of disk, fold disk in half, then pleat. No need to get fancy with the pleating, do get most of the air out. When you have the amounts right, make ten more disks and fill / pleat. Then another ten. Etc.

This homemade wrapper/disk is much better than the premade wrappers you can buy.

For filling, use pork, shrimp, garlic, ginger, scallion, salt, pepper, a little soy sauce, a little white/rice vinegar, a very little Worchestershire as sub for Chinese black vinegar. And a dollop of fat (lard, Crisco, other rendered fat) or a dollop of jellied broth or a couple packages of Knox unflavored gelatin - this is to keep the filling moist when cooked. Chop everything fine, using food processor or knife, and mix.

You can pan fry, deep fry, steam, or simmer these. If pan frying, use a little oil, set the dumplings in the pan (extra credit for shaping them into little crescents) with pleat up. Fry over medium heat until the dumplings stick to the pan, then pour 1/2 oz water into the hot pan and cover. The water will steam the rest of the dumpling and release the stuck-on part. Remove lid and keep cooking until the water is gone, then serve.

This is your basic Asian dumpling.

For shao mai, make smaller dough disk and same filling, but instead of folding over and pleating the disk, put filing in center and then pleat disk into sort of a "trash can" shape with the filling in the can. (Think of how a potted plant is set on wrapping paper and the paper pleated to fit around the pot.) Bring your forefinger and thumb tips together, holding the trash can in the circle of these fingers, and squeeze a little to give the can a little bit of an hourglass shape. Use other hand to lightly compress the filling in the can, leaving some of the can sticking up above the filling. Leave the can open. Then fill the can with something red like chopped carrot or red pepper. That's for looks. These have to be steamed.