From Turning Red · 2022 · Reconstructed
Family Dumplings
Serve when
Serve them the moment they're pleated — the folding is the family activity; the eating is the reward.
In the movie
Theatrical
- Dumpling-making is one of the film's cornerstone family scenes, the kind of hands-at-the-table ritual where a Chinese-Canadian household does its bonding, its worrying, and its loving all at once.
Domee Shi's film understands that in a lot of families, cooking together is the conversation — the pleating, the folding, the passing of the plate. The dumpling scene is where Turning Red's affection and tension live side by side: a family doing the loving, laborious, slightly claustrophobic work of staying close.
Ingredients
- For dipping:
Method
- Mix the pork, cabbage, scallion, ginger, garlic, soy, sesame oil, sugar, and pepper until sticky and well combined.
- Spoon a little filling into each wrapper, wet the edge, and pleat it closed — this is the part best done with the whole family around the table.
- To boil: cook in batches in bubbling water until they float and puff — 6 to 8 minutes total, so the pork filling cooks through, not just until they surface.
- To pan-fry (potstickers): brown the bottoms in oil, add a splash of water, cover, and steam until cooked and crisp-bottomed.
- Serve hot with the vinegar-soy-chili dip.
Substitutions
- Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang): rice vinegar with a small splash of soy sauce gets close to its malty tang; a little balsamic works in a pinch.