Steamed Dumplings 肉包子

This is one of my favorite Chinese dishes at all time. They can be made from different kinds of meat, such as pork, beef or lamb. Also can add vegetables, such as Chinese cabbage, chives, chopped green beans or celery.

For yeast dough...
You will need:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups Luke warm milk
• 1 1/2 tsp. active yeast powder
• 3 cups flour
• Pinch of salt

Mix Luke warm milk and sugar in a large mixing bowl, then sprinkle yeast powder over the mixture. Set aside for about 5 minutes until yeast bloom.
Add flour and salt to the yeast mixture, knead until the dough has smooth surface. (Quick tip - I used stand mixture with the dough attachment for mix the dough, only took me about 5 minutes.)
Cover the dough and set at a warm area, until the dough double sized. Meanwhile, make the fillings.

For Fillings...
you will need:

• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 cups green onion, chopped
• 1 cup chicken broth or water, room temperature
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil (optional)
• 1 tsp. chicken bouillon powder (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. grounded ginger (optional)

In a medium mixing bowl, combine pork, soy sauce and sugar, stir with a pair of chopstick or a fork until mix well. Then add 1/2 cup of water at a time, stir until meat mixture blend well. Add onion and the rest of the ingredients, stir and mix well. Set aside.

Put together...
After the dough double sizes, divide into golf ball size small dough. Flatten with rolling pin into a 2-3 inches circle. Fill the center with about 1 Tbsp. of filling mixture. Gather the edge to close on the top. Lay each dumpling 1-inch apart on the bamboo steamer. Steam over boiling water for 10 minutes.

Tips...

• It can be made into different shapes, like meat rolls, in Chinese called 肉龙.
• Leftover fillings can be used to make Shu Mai 烧卖 or pot stickers with store brought wraps.