Sake no suigyoza / shuijiao boiled dumplings with salmon

Juicy salmon dumplings are very satisfying. This can be the main dish of the day or a tasty appetizer for a group of people.

<Ingredients>

(About 40 dumplings)

For filling
1 fillet (150-170 g) salmon
1/4-1/3 (40-50 g) fennel bulb
1 green onion
1-2 tbsp coconut oil
1-3 tbsp water
1 tsp sesame oil (not in photo)
Pinch salt (not in photo)

Dumpling wrappers (not in photo)
All-purpose flour, katakuriko potato starch (not in photo)


<Directions>
1.

Prepare dumpling wrappers.

2.

Grill salmon.

3.

Finely chop fennel. Thinly slice green onion.

4.

In a bowl, place salmon and crumble. Add coconut oil, and mix well. If coconut oil does not blend in, microwave for 10 seconds to soften, and mix.

Add fennel, green onion and sesame oil, and mix.

Add water to obtain a moist mixture. If you see a clear pool of water at the bottom, it is too much. If this happens, discard excess liquid.

5.

Form dumplings.

Place a small amount of salmon mixture in center of wrapper, fold into a half-moon shape, and press the center of the edge with finger to close. Homemade wrappers are sticky, and pressing with fingers easily seals them.

Starting from the center to the outer edge (right side in photo), fold upper side over to the center, and press with finger.

Repeat two more times until opening is closed.

Work in the same manner on the opposite side.

Place dumplings on another board or plate sprinkled with potato starch.

6.

Boil dumplings. Bring water to boil, put dumplings, and cook for 5-6 minutes.

Serve hot with soy sauce, rice vinegar and rayu (layu, layou) hot chili oil.

<Notes>

• Almost all kinds of salmon -- fresh, shiozake salted, leftover grilled/barbecued salmon, smoked salmon (not lox or ones in liquid) -- work. When using precooked salmon, avoid salmon with sour flavoring (such as vinegar and lemon), as this dish tends not to turn out well with this kind of salmon. Adjust the amount of salt according to type of salmon.
• While working on forming dumplings, sprinkle all-purpose flour on board as necessary to prevent wrappers from sticking. After dumplings are formed, use katakuriko potato starch. Potato starch separates wrappers/dumplings well.
• If tucking wrapper edges is too tricky or time-consuming, simply press both sides together firmly to seal. More filling fits this way, too.
• Coconut oil is a substitute for lard. Adjust the amount according of fat content of salmon.
• Dumplings freeze well. Put formed dumplings on a metal tray/baking sheet sprinkled with potato starch (prevents dumplings from sticking to each other), and freeze. When hard frozen, transfer to Ziploc bag, and put back in freezer. When cooking, boil frozen dumplings without thawing.