I was watching Food Networks Throwdown with Bobby Flay; I watch to many cooking shows. Bobby was having a throwdown with Sohui Kim. She has a restaurant in NY and apparently serves the best Chinese style dumpling. I was looking at the recipe and realized that Bobby's was a little more complicated and would require more time than I'm interested in spending, so I went looking for Sohui's recipe. I found what was said to be her recipe and decided that I could definitely try my hand at dumplings. I did use Bobby's dipping sauce because it was more to my liking. I could eat these all day every day they were that good.

Dough
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups hot water
For the dough:

Whisk the flour with the salt and stir in the water until dough is shaggy. Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead briefly; dough should be soft and pliable but not too sticky. Rest, covered, while you make the filling and the sauce.

Filling
2 tbsp. canola oil, plus more for frying dumplings

1 cup diced onion

3 tbsp. minced garlic

2 tbsp. minced ginger

1 cup chopped garlic (or Chinese) chives

1 1/2 lbs. ground pork

1 8-oz. package firm tofu

3 tbsp. hoisin sauce


1 egg, beaten and reserved in a small bowl

Salt and pepper to taste


In a large pan, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, ginger, and garlic chives and cook for 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and let cool. In a large bowl, combine pork, tofu, and hoisin sauce with the chive mixture. Test-fry a small portion of the pork mixture and adjust seasoning.

Flour your work surface lightly and roll the dough, or pieces of it, about 1/8-inch thick (too thin and the dough will tear as you fill the dumplings). Cut out circles with a 3-inch round cutter. Cover the dough with a side towel or piece of plastic wrap as you work. Dip your index finger into the beaten egg and rub it over half of the outer edge of the dumpling. Fold dumpling in half, crimping it in the middle and sealing along the egg-moistened edge, taking care not to leave any air pockets.

Heat a skillet, just large enough to accommodate the number of dumplings you want to cook over high heat. Add a thin coating of oil, heat, then add the dumplings in concentric circles. They should be touching. Cook until the bottoms are golden brown, 3 or 4 minutes (reduce the heat if they are browning too quickly). Add enough water to come about 1/4 of the way up the sides of the dumplings-it will spatter. Cover the skillet, adjust the heat so that the water is simmering, and cook for about 7 minutes. Uncover the skillet and, if there is water left, let it cook off. Check the dumpling bottoms-if they need to brown a bit more, let them, adding a bit more oil if necessary.

Sauce:
1 cup black vinegar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon chili paste
2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons freshly chopped mint leaves
1 tablespoon freshly chopped Thai basil leaves
1/2 habanero pepper, minced