Shiromizakana no suigyoza / shuijiao dumplings with white fish

Mild white fish shuijiao with ginger and cilantro. Very light, and has a "clean" taste.

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<Ingredients>

(About 40 dumplings)

Dumpling wrappers (not in photo)

For filling
1 fillet (150-170 g) white fish (any fresh white-fleshed fish; ainame lingcod in photo)
40-50 g fennel bulb (1/2-2/3 outer pieces)
1 knob ginger
Small handful cilantro leaves (from 15-20 stems)
1-2 tbsp coconut oil (less for fatty fish such as rockfish/lingcod; more for lean fish like cod)
1-2 tbsp water
1 tsp sesame oil (not in photo)
Pinch salt (not in photo)

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


<Directions>
1.
Prepare dumpling wrappers.


2.

Finely chop fennel, cilantro leaves and fish.
Grate ginger.

3.

Microwave coconut oil for 20 seconds to melt.

4.

In a medium-size bowl, put fish and salt, and mix well.

Add fennel and cilantro, juice ginger (squeeze grated ginger), and mix well.

Add coconut oil and sesame oil, and mix well.

Add water, 1/2-1 tbsp at a time, until fish mixture leaves a small amount of liquid at the bottom when mixed.

If you see a pool of water at the bottom, you have added too much water. If this happens, simply drain excess water. If you are not immediately forming dumplings, refrigerate the mixture.

5.

Form dumplings.
See prawn suigyoza recipe or salmon suigyoza recipe for how to wrap filling.

6.

Cook dumplings.
Bring water to boil, add dumplings, and cook 5-6 minutes.

7.

Serve hot (with soy sauce, rice vinegar and tobanjan spicy bean sauce in photo).

<Notes>

• If you plan to freeze dumplings, make sure to use fresh fish (not previously frozen). When using fresh fish, chop it and form dumplings as quickly as possible to retain the fresh quality.
• To freeze, put formed dumplings on a metal tray/baking sheet sprinkled with potato starch (prevents dumplings from sticking to each other). When hard frozen, transfer to Ziploc bag, and put back in freezer. When cooking, boil frozen dumplings without thawing.
• While working on forming dumplings, sprinkle all-purpose flour on board as necessary to prevent wrappers from sticking. After dumplings are formed, use potato starch. 
• Potato starch separates wrappers/dumplings well.
• Coconut oil is a substitute for lard. Adjust the amount according to the fat content of fish.
• Salt is mixed with fish in Process 4 to bond it together. With the amount of salt above, fish mixture is still very crumbly at the end. If you want a texture similar to that of fishcake, add more salt -- 2-3% of fish weight (approx 1/2-2/3 tbsp salt for 150-170 g fish).