The dumplings have a thin, slightly translucent wheat-flour wrapper, revealing which meat or vegetable the dumpling contains. My favorite filling is pork and dill. I wasn’t a big fan of Chinese chives when I was a kid, so I always tried to avoid picking it by observing through the dumpling skin: The pork ones have a light, powder-pink color, while the beef ones show a light brown color and pure vegetable dumplings are green. My favorite way of preparing my dipping sauce is a lot of dark vinegar, the acidity giving a nice balance to the meaty dumplings, stimulating more appetite.

I started making dumplings only after moving to Norway. In the beginning, it wasn’t easy at all. Growing up in southern China, where rice is the staple starch, I didn’t learn much about how to prepare food made with wheat flour. Making the dough was a real challenge for me. I struggled with getting the right consistency, sometimes getting it too soft and sometimes kneading it wrongly. Over time, I learned that different flours absorb water differently; therefore, I have to adjust the water ratio. I also learned that different water temperatures affect how soft the dough will become. Even though I had a few disappointing days when my dough did not reach my expectations, I had a rewarding feeling anyway because I never thought I would make my own dumplings. Plus, I was getting better at it each time.

So if you’ve also had trouble making dumplings from scratch, just know that it does get easier as you learn from experience how to work with the dough and wrap the dumplings. It is fine to start with easy folds!

This two-toned, white-and-green dumpling in meant to evoke the color of emerald jade (翡翠白玉, fěicuì báiyù), a natural treasure that symbolizes auspiciousness in traditional Chinese culture. The wrapper is actually formed from two doughs, one made with water and the other with spinach juice as the liquid. You simply wrap the green dough around the white dough, slice the log into pieces and proceed as normal in rolling out the wrappers.

The fillings are inspired by one of the most famous dumpling fillings, three umami flavor (三鲜, sānxiān), which in this case is pork, shrimp and dill (traditionally the third ingredient is Chinese chives, but I prefer dill). Other traditional three-umami dumpling combinations include egg + dried shrimp + Chinese chives or pork + shrimp + egg.

For the pork filling, 30% fat is ideal. You can reduce the fat ratio if you wish, but remember that reducing the fat may result in a less juicy filling. You can adjust the amount of dill depending on your preference, but I like to add a bit more to increase the aromatic flavor.