My dumpling

The inspiration for these dumplings comes from a special, romantic afternoon I spent with my fiancée, then girlfriend, a few years ago. I took her up to D.C. to see where I was from and to meet some of my family. We were near the National Mall just poking about when, low and behold, midday came and went without our noticing. We spotted a food truck that served Chinese dumplings and realized it was way past lunch time. She was all for stopping at that truck but I, remembering the rows of food trucks typically at the National Mall around lunch, suggested we walk over there. Except, when we showed up, they were all gone. And that was the first time I ever saw my fiancée get hangry. So when I call that afternoon "special" and "romantic" I actually mean "harsh" and "terrifying." You see, when she gets hangry, my fiancée changes from her usual silly, fun self to some kind of monster sent from the depths of my darkest nightmares. Long story short, I found her some food but she still likes to remind me about the missed dumpling opportunity. A few weeks ago I thought I'd try to make amends for my tragic mistake made all those years ago and I made her some dumplings. So, without further ado, here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

• Dumplings or wonton wrappers

• 1 carrot

• 4 scallions

• 1 garlic clove

• About 1" ginger

• About a tablespoon Soy sauce

• About a tablespoon Sesame oil

• 1 egg

• Salt

• Fresh pepper

• 1lb ground pork

You will need a cheese grater.

Steps:

1. Finely chop the scallions, use the cheese grater to grate the carrot, mince the garlic and the ginger on the small shredder side of the cheese grater.

2. Mix pork, scallions, carrots, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, and egg in a bowl.

3. Get a small bowl of water. Take a dumpling/wanton wrapper and put a small drop of the pork mix in the middle. Wet your finger and wipe around the edge of the wrapper. This helps create a seal. Then seal the wrapper by folding the dumpling in half and pressing the sides together. I then typically use a fork to help seal the dumpling and create a nice pattern on it.

4. Next, you can either boil until the dumpling is translucent and floating, or put them in a frying pan and cook until golden brown. Make sure to add a little water in the frying pan so you don't burn them.