PORK AND CHIVE DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• In a large sauté pan, heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat and sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger until translucent and slightly caramelized. Add the chives and cook just to soften them, about 1 minute longer. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and let it cool.
• Once the onion has cooled, add the tofu, 1⁄3 cup (75 ml) of the hoisin sauce, the salt, and pepper and mix well. Add the pork to the bowl and mix it with the seasonings until you can see that the chives and tofu are evenly distributed throughout the meat.
• In a small frying pan, cook a small spoonful of the meat mixture in a little bit of oil. Taste and adjust the seasoning of the meat with more hoisin sauce and/or salt, if necessary.
• Prepare a small dish of water and line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Place about 1 tablespoon of filling in each dumpling wrapper. Using your finger, paint a little water around the edge of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half and simply pinch it closed, or crimp it. Place each finished dumpling on the baking sheet and repeat until you've used all the filling.
• You can freeze them directly on the baking sheet until they harden, then pack them into plastic freezer bags. (They do not refrigerate well.) They will last for 3 months.
• To cook fresh dumplings (see Cooks' Note for frozen), heat a nonstick frying pan or well- seasoned cast-iron skillet with just enough oil to coat the bottom. Add just enough dumplings so that they are not overcrowded and don't touch. Brown the dumplings on one side, then add about 1⁄4 inch (6 mm) of water, cover, and steam the dumplings until nearly all the water evaporates.
• Remove the cover and let the dumplings begin to fry again, just long enough to crisp them slightly, then serve them immediately with the dipping sauce.
• Cooks' Note
• To cook frozen dumplings, follow the same procedure above for fresh dumplings, but use 1⁄3 inch (8 mm) water so they steam a little longer and cook through.
• I learned how to fold dumplings at an early age with the help of my grandmother and mother, and before we opened The Good Fork, I used to have dumpling-making parties at home. That's how I know that making one hundred dumplings at a time sounds daunting but is the only way to do it. Gather a few friends, make the dumplings together, then you each get some to tuck away-packaged by the dozen-into the freezer for weeks to come.