Dumpling Making

During my trip to Xi’an, I stayed at an incredible hostel. This hostel was extremely clean and had an incredible staff. They did everything to cater to their guests, which is very atypical of a hostel. On of the things that they did that stood out though, was hold special dumpling making classes on a specific night. Obviously, I couldn't turn down the opportunity to make dumplings, so I made sure to attend this class.

When I walked into the class, there was a plate on table with the prepared dough and a couple of condiments on the table. I would have liked to make the dough from scratch, but I can see how this may have caused an issue with the staff. The consistency is hard to get, and besides, the mess made by the people taking the class would be incredible.

The condiments presented were garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, oil, salt, and rice vinegar. Next to that was a plate of diced up scallions. Apparently, the class was making pork and scallion dumplings. This did not faze me in the slightly, since I love this filling for dumplings.

After introductions, and some history lessons, the teacher took out a very fatty plate of pork. This is of utter importance when making a flavorful dumpling. Fat equals flavor, so you know these had to be good.

The teacher taught the class how to season the pork and roll out the dough to make the dumplings. Then, she taught us how to fill the dumplings and close them. I’ll tell you one thing, this is a tedious job which I will never again take for granted. People who make dumplings must have all the patience in the world. It turned out being really fun at the end.

When the class was done, the teacher took our dumplings to the back to steam. Twenty minutes later, came a pizza tray full of dumplings for the students. They weren't the prettiest dumplings, but they were mine. I was proud of them, and the fact that I formed them made them so much more satisfying.

At the end of the day, this was a wonderful experience. It was a great opportunity to engage in the chance to make one of the most popular foods when it comes to Chinese cuisine. I learned a lot, and look forward to experiencing this again.