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Crispy Skirt Dumplings

These crispy skirt dumplings are filled with juicy pork, shrimp, and cabbage with a beautifully crispy lace bottom. This recipe will guide you step-by-step to make homemade dumplings from scratch! Trust me they are 100% worth it.
Course Appetizer & Sides
Cuisine Chinese
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 32 Dumplings
Calories 537kcal
Author takestwoeggs

Ingredients

Dumpling Wrappers

  • 2 cup (283 g) All-purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp (1 g) salt
  • cup (170 g) boiling water (212°F or 100°C)

Pork and Shrimp Filling

  • 2 tablespoon garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon ginger minced
  • 1 ½ cup napa cabbage finely diced
  • ¼ cup green onions minced
  • ½ pound shrimp peeled, de-veined and chopped
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 2 teaspoons tapioca starch Optional
  • 3 tablespoons water Optional if using tapioca starch
  • 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
  • 1 ½ tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon white pepper

Soy Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Crispy Skirt

  • 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • cup water
  • 2 ¼ teaspoon all purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Dumpling Dough

  • Mix the flour and water together. Add flour and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer with a dough hook attachment or a large mixing bowl and mix with chopsticks. While the mixer is on low, slowly pour in the boiling water. Mix until the water is absorbed and the dough is combined and formed. The dough may be a little crumbly and dry.
  • Knead the dough. Transfer to a well-floured cooking surface and hand knead for another 5-8 minutes until dough is round and smooth. The dough should be soft, smooth, springy, and not sticking to the bowl, and not too tender. Add flour if the dough is too soft and doesn't hold its shape. Add water if the dough doesn't come together.
  • Rest the dough. Place dough in a covered greased bowl or a medium ziplock bag, seal, and allow to rest and hydrate for at least 30 minutes. The dough can rest for up to 2 hours before being used.

Filling

  • Lightly sauté the vegetables. Heat vegetable oil on a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the minced garlic, minced ginger, diced cabbage, and minced scallions. While stirring constantly, cook for about 2 minutes until softened. Set aside to cool.
  • Prepare the shrimp. Wash, peel, and devein the shrimp. Then mince in a food processor or with a knife.
  • Make the pork into a paste and add shrimp. Place the ground pork in a large bowl. Add the tapioca starch and water. The tapioca starch will allow the meat to become more tender and springy. If you opt to take out the tapioca starch, take out the water as well. Using a fork or a wooden spoon, stir the ingredients together for several minutes or until the meat turns into a paste. Then add in the minced shrimp.
  • Mix together. Then add the soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, salt, white pepper into the meat mixture and mix until combined. Then add the cooled vegetables. Using a spatula or your hand, mix until combined.

Dumpling Sauce

  • In a medium mixing bowl, stir the soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar, sesame oil, minced garlic, minced ginger, and scallions in a bowl. Let the sauce infuse the flavors in the bowl for 15 minutes before serving.

Assemble

  • Divide the dough. Lightly flour your work surface. Remove dough and cut the dough in half and keep one half in the bag/bowl. Roll out one-half of your dough into a 1” thick rope. Cut into 16 equal pieces about 2 cm long.
  • Roll dough into a disc. Place all the pieces of dough in the ziplock bag to prevent drying out. On a floured work surface, roll 1 piece of dough into a circle and then flatten it out with a small rolling pin into a 3.5”-4” disc. The dough will be very thin. Try to roll the dough out so the edges are slightly thinner than the center.
  • Fill and pleat. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of your round dumpling wrapper, avoid overfilling. Fold the dumpling in half like a taco and pinch together in the center leaving the sides not pinched. Start pleating to the left of the center pinch and seal it to the right. Continue gathering dough and sealing pleats until you reach the end of about 4 pleats. Repeat on the right side sealing the pleats to the left with another 4 pleats to form a "V" shape. Repeat with remaining dumplings and place dumplings on a lightly floured baking tray covered with a towel until ready to be cooked.

Crispy Skirt

  • Make flour slurry. In a small bowl, mix together the water, salt, and all-purpose flour until combined. Set aside.
  • Cook the dumplings. Add 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil to a 12-inch nonstick pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add a single layer of dumplings to fill your pan. Make sure there is room between the dumplings so they don’t stick. Sear on the flat side for 2-3 minutes until the side is toasted and golden brown.
  • Add the flour slurry. Whisk the flour slurry and slowly pour into the pan distributing the slurry evenly, and cover the pan with a lid. Reduce the heat to medium/medium-low heat and steam the dumplings for about 6-7 minutes or until crispy. If the first batch is burned, lower the heat and repeat. Remove the lid and allow any remaining liquid to cook off and for the bottoms to crisp up again. Invert a plate over the pan and quickly flip the dumplings onto the plate. Repeat steps with remaining dumplings.

Notes

  • Homemade dough always > store-bought. Homemade dough creates a fresher dumpling that holds in the flavors of the filling better than a thin store-bought wrapper. Homemade dough is also made with only 3 pantry essential ingredients and is incredibly simple to make at home. Alternatively, you can use a thicker store-bought dumpling wrapper.
  • Make sure the lid properly fits the pan. This will ensure the tops of the dumplings steam and cook properly.
  • Don't be afraid to add enough oil. The oil is what separates the crispy dumpling skirt into that beautiful crispy lace. The less oil you add the more the skirt will look like a thin sheet of paper. The oil helps the dumplings release from the pan with ease as well.
  • If you burn the skirt, simply turn down the heat and use a shorter cook time. This takes practice as you learn how quickly your stove heats up the dumplings.
  • Storage Instructions. You can store the uncooked pork dumplings in the freezer for up to 1 month in a sealed container. To freeze, cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and freeze the dumplings completely. When the dumplings are frozen, carefully transfer the frozen dumplings into a large container or freezer bag. This will allow the dumplings to freeze without sticking together. To re-heat, simply steam from the freezer without thawing for about 15-20 minutes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 537kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 151mg | Sodium: 1808mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g