I grew up eating pork buns from Mei Li Wah. They are my favorite because:
- bun has great flavor, elasticity, and perfect sweetness
- great filling flavor. Pork is cut in chunks, not minced.
- filling is not artificially dyed red
- no onions
These pork buns do have two drawbacks, they are smaller then others and sometimes you’ll find small chunks of fat in the filling (some call this flavor). Even with these drawbacks, they are still my favorite roast pork buns in Chinatown Manhattan. 
My family started buying from Mei Li Wah because it was the only place that sold steamed beef rice noodle dim sum with sliced beef, not minced meat. This was the best steamed beef rice noodle in town. As long as I could remember, there were two grumpy old men you would always see behind the counter every day. Even though these two old men never smiled and spoke abrasively to all customers, there was always a line, mostly buying dozens of pork buns. A few years ago, the owners changed, the grumpy men were replaced with young ladies, the menu changed, and recipes changed like the beef rice noodle now have minced meat. Thankfully, the pork bun recipe has stayed the same.
Do you have a favorite roast pork bun bakery?
Talk Soon,
The Dumpling Mama xo
Mei Lai Wah, 64 Bayard Street, New York, 212-966-7866, meiliwah.com
Chinatown has always been a second home to me. My mom grew up there and my grandparents lived there so we visited all of the time. Because my mom and grandparents were part of the community we had our favorite restaurants and bakeries. Throughout the years I lived in Chinatown at my grandparent’s apartment after college and even the last 8 years I’ve lived in the suburbs, I’ve continued to go to these family favorites. Having these favorite places can make Chinatown seem small sometimes so I’ve decided to expand my Chinatown universe and try new places. I’ve been looking forward to trying dim sum at 
Nom Wah feels like you have walked back in time inside. The lighting, red vinyl booth seats, tables, super cool! My mom and grandmother had not been inside for decades. They said it looked different the last time they were there, more like a restaurant.
You don’t see dim sum carts being pushed because the food is made to order. These are the menus to place your order.
This is my grandmother and daughters waiting for the food to come. I don’t know who adores who more, my grandmother or daughters!
One of my favorite dim sum dishes is cilantro and scallion rice roll. Nom Wah does an excellent job, the rice roll was perfect silky and soft.
My Grouchy Husband really liked the shrimp sui mai.
Steamed spare ribs were delicious.
My mom’s favorite dim sum is the bean curd skin roll. The shrimp and pork filling had great flavor.
My dad’s favorite dim sum is the rice roll with fried dough. Nom Wah does a great job with their rice roll.
Sticky rice in lotus leaf was awesome.
We ordered the pan fried noodles to compliment the dim sum at the table. The noodles had a great texture.
Stir frying vegetables is one of the easiest and tastiest cooking methods. My girls will pretty much eat anything stir fried. Their favorite is stir fried leafy green vegetables. The whole cooking process will take you 2 minutes so you have to prepare and measure everything beforehand. Enjoy!
Heat wok to medium high heat. Add oil/fat, then garlic. Cook garlic until it starts to turn golden brown and the smell of garlic fills the air.
Add vegetables. Cover as much of the vegetables with the oil/fat by turning the bottom vegetables to the top and top vegetables to the bottom, then stirring. The stirring is why it’s called “stir-frying”.
Add water or broth. I prefer to use homemade bone broth if I have it because of its flavor and nutritional value.
Cover and cook for 30 seconds. Use a cover that completely encloses the vegetables.
Uncover and add salt. Thoroughly mix the salt into all of the vegetables. Cover again for 15 to 30 seconds depending on desired tenderness.
Uncover and stir for another 15 seconds. Vegetables should have wilted leaves and firm to tender stems depending on how long you covered them for.
Turn off heat and plate immediately.
Garlic is a main ingredient in Chinese cooking. It’s used to infuse hot oil, marinate meat, flavor dumpling filling, etc. Garlic is always crushed before using it to cook to release the oils for ultimate flavoring. There are also 
Pop the garlic out of its skin by laying a knife with a large blade over the pieces. Hold the knife still with one hand and use a fist to hit the knife blade. Do this one or two times until you see or feel the garlic crack from its skin.
Now that the skin is popped you can easily peel the garlic from it.
The garlic could be crushed enough with the initial hit to pop the skin. If you need to crush it more, repeat the process of placing the blade over the garlic and hitting it with your fist.
Hit it one to three times to get the crushed consistency in the picture above. Your garlic is ready to throw into hot oil for infused flavor or chop for marinating or cooking.
My Grandmother taught me how to clean leafy green vegetables, like bok choy, choy sum, or yu choy. My grandmother is a very clean person. Everything from her home, to her hands, and even her vegetables are very clean. She grew up in a small village in China where there wasn’t running water or modern sanitation. Everything was washed thoroughly to minimize germs. This is her method of cleaning vegetables. It might be more effort then your current cleaning process but I guarantee you will never chew sand when eating your vegetables.
When you buy your leafy green vegetables, especially if they are sold pre-packaged, you will have some leaves that are discolored or have holes. Always try your best to pick the vegetables that have the best looking and healthiest leaves (ex: not yellow, no holes).
The vegetables will have sand stuck to them because they grow so close to the ground. Do your best to pick the ones with the least amount of sand. I won’t buy vegetables with a lot of sand because it is too hard to remove all of it.
You want to prepare the best tasting leafy green vegetables so remove all imperfections such as, yellow leaves and leaves with holes.
Then cut the ends of the stems. Depending on when the vegetables are harvested, the ends could be dry. I usually cut up to a 1/4 inch off the ends because the ends are dirty from being so close to the ground.
Once you have removed all of the imperfections from the leafy green vegetables, you are ready to clean them.
Put the vegetables in a large pot or bowl and fill it with enough water to cover all of the leaves. Add white vinegar using the measurements, 6 parts water to 1 part vinegar (6:1), to remove bacteria and pesticides. Use your hands to mix the vinegar with the water. Let the vegetables sit for 15 minutes.
(Here comes the big effort.) Take each stem, peal back where the leaves meet the stems, and use your fingers to rub out the sand. I use gloves to wash my vegetables because I have 
Grab the bottom of the stem, submerge the vegetable into the water and give it a shake to remove any remaining sand. After the shake, place the vegetable on a plate or bowl.
After you have finished pulling back the leaves and shaking each vegetable, you will see the water will have sand on the bottom and might be a tint of brown depending on how dirty the vegetables were. Empty the water and rinse out any remaining sand on the bottom, put all of the vegetables back in, and fill it with enough water to cover all of the leaves. No need to add vinegar to the water. Repeat the steps of pulling back the leaves and rubbing out the sand and shaking each vegetable at least a second time. Do it a third time if your vegetables are very dirty and you still see a lot of sand at the bottom of the pot after the second washing.
There is effort to this cleaning process but your leafy green vegetables will be very clean and there will be no sand left on the leaves or hiding in the creases. I think one of the worst experiences at a Chinese restaurant is chewing sand when you eat Chinese leafy green vegetables. My Grandfather use to own a restaurant in Chinatown, NY, and my mom told me the restaurant didn’t have time to follow a process like my Grandmother’s to clean the vegetables. They just soaked the vegetables in water for an hour or so to loosen the sand and then gave them a massive shake.
Over the summer, I spent some time at my parents house in Upstate New York because my Princess attended a nearby camp. At the farmer’s market, I picked up some portobello, king oyster, and fresh hen of the woods mushrooms. I love mushrooms so I decided to make a mushroom dumpling. 
First, brush the caps clean and remove the stems. Chop all the mushrooms to a similar size.
Chop the shallots and garlic.
Heat up some olive oil in a large pan or pot on low heat. Add the shallots and cook until translucent.
Add the mushrooms, butter, salt, and pepper and cook on medium heat until the mushrooms start to release their juices. Stir the mushrooms while they cook.
Put the mushrooms into a bowl and stir in the garlic, parsley, and salt.
Using either store bought skins or 
Coat the bottom of a non-stick pan with oil. Fill the bottom of the pan with dumplings. Line them up snug. Coat the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of water, put a cover on the pan, and cook on medium heat. After fifteen minutes check the dumplings to make sure most of the water has disappeared. Wait another five to ten minutes. When all of the water is evaporated and the bottoms are brown and crispy, the dumplings are ready to eat!
These mushroom dumplings are amazing. After you bite into the crispy skin, you then savor the buttery mushroom filling…heavenly. This is the dumpling for any mushroom lover.
Trader Joe’s is my favorite grocery store. Great price for organic food and great service. I picked up a bag of their pork gyoza, the japanese word for dumpling. Here is my criteria for delicious dumplings.
The dumplings have a textured bottom. Their closures are messy but after they’re cooked you can’t tell.
The list of ingredients included things I knew and things I had not heard of. I always get nervous about the things I’ve never heard of. I followed the cooking instructions for stovetop cooking.
I filled a 12″ pan with the whole bag.
Start by chopping up the fresh shiitake mushroom caps. A cup of mushrooms is about 6 to 8 caps.
Chop up a cup of scallions both white and green parts.
Chop up two cups of napa cabbage. This is about four leaves depending on the size of your cabbage.
Shred a cup of carrots. I like to use organic carrots.
Soak the glass noodles in water for at least 15 minutes and then chop into small pieces. The softer the noodles, the easier they are to chop.
Chop the Chinese chives or spinach.
Put the mushrooms, chives, napa cabbage, carrots, noodles, salt, corn starch, and sesame oil in a large bowl.
And mix together. Use your hands, they are the best mixers.
Using either store bought skins or 
(1) Place the filling in the middle of the dumpling skin, dab your fingers in the egg wash and coat the edge of the skin, then fold in half but do not press shut (2) You will make three pleats at the edge of the side closest to you. To make a pleat, pinch the skin in between your thumbs and then press firmly to stick to the back side of the skin. (3) Repeat two more times (4) Evenly space the pleats and place firmly on a flat surface to make sure the dumpling “sits” on its own. Pinch the edge firmly to make sure the dumpling is completely sealed. Wrapping 
Coat the bottom of a non-stick pan with oil. Fill the bottom of the pan with dumplings. Line them up snug. Cover the dumplings half way with water, put a cover on the pan, and cook on medium heat. After fifteen minutes check the dumplings to make sure most of the water has disappeared. Wait another five to ten minutes. When all of the water is evaporated and the bottoms are brown and crispy, the dumplings are ready to eat!
These veggie dumplings are light and delicious. My little girls love the noodles inside!
I’ve started making my own dumpling skins. I started with 
In three phases, pour the just boiled water in a steady stream over the flour making sure to moisten the flour evenly. Use a wooden spoon to mix the water and flour mixture. The flour will turn into lumpy bits.
Knead the dough in the bowl to try and get the lumps into one large mass. I have quite a bit of stragglers that don’t join the mass until I start kneading on my work surface. You can also add water a teaspoon at a time to get the mass more together in the bowl before transferring to the work surface. Be careful not to add too much water and make the dough sticky.
Knead the dough for 2 minutes on your work surface until it is smooth and elastic. I like to use a Silpat to make the kneading process and cleanup easier. Place the dough in a zip-top bag, press all the air out, and let it rest for at least 15 minutes but no more then 2 hours.
After the rest, cut the dough into 4 equal pieces.
Roll each section into a 1-inch log, then cut into 8 equal pieces. If you like thin skins like me, 8 pieces makes big dumpling skins. If you like thin skins and not big dumplings, cut into 10 equal pieces. I personally like the big dumplings because I get to eat more filling, my favorite part!
Shape each piece into a disc and then press each disc in a tortilla press or between small plates covered with plastic wrap or zip-top bags. The tortilla press would probably make the disc flatter which would make the rolling process easier, but the plates are a good alternative.
Use a whole wheat floured rolling pin to roll out the discs even more. I like my skins thin so I roll mine out so they have just enough width to hold the filling. Holding the floured disc gently in the center, use the floured rolling pin to roll back and forth pressing out the edges. Please excuse my dry dumpling mama hands, flour brings out the worst in them.
Now just a note about wrapping and cooking the homemade skin. The skin is more elastic then store-bought skin so you can if you want put a little extra filling in your dumpling. Since my fillings have a lot of vegetables in them, I like to stuff my dumplings. Leave a half inch between the filling and the edge of the skin.
When you use homemade skin, you don’t need water or egg to seal your dumplings. To close the dumplings, press the front and back skin together and create a single pleat. Start with a middle pleat, then do two or three on each side and make sure the top is sealed completely.
I line each dumpling up on a sheet pan lined with plastic wrap after I wrap them. I cook the number of dumplings I want to eat and then place the rest in the freezer to be eaten later. To make sure the dumplings do not stick to each other while frozen, freeze the dumplings for at least thirty minutes before placing them in a zip top bag. These dumplings are really big!
After trying a few recipes I found online, I used Andrea Nguyen from 
In three phases pour the just boiled water in a steady stream over the flour making sure to moisten the flour evenly. Use a wooden spoon to mix the water and flour mixture. The flour will turn into lumpy bits.
Knead the dough in the bowl to try and get the lumps into one large mass. I have quite a bit of stragglers that don’t join the mass until I start kneading on my work surface. You can also add water a teaspoon at a time to get the mass more together in the bowl before transferring to the work surface. Be careful not to add too much water and make the dough sticky.
Knead the dough for 2 minutes on your work surface until it is smooth and elastic. I like to use a Silpat to make the kneading process and cleanup easier. Place the dough in a zip-top bag, press all the air out, and let it rest for at least 15 minutes but no more then 2 hours.
After the rest, cut the dough into 4 equal pieces.
Roll each section into a 1-inch log, then cut into 8 equal pieces.
Shape each piece into a disc and then press each disc in a tortilla press or between small plates covered with plastic wrap or zip-top bags.
The tortilla press would probably make the disc flatter which would make the rolling process easier, but the plates are a good alternative (thank you 
Use a floured rolling pin to roll out the discs even more. I like my skins thin so I roll mine out so they have just enough width to hold the filling. Holding the floured disc gently in the center, use the floured rolling pin to roll back and forth pressing out the edges. Please excuse my dry dumpling mama hands, flour brings out the worst in them.
Rotate the disc until all edges are to your desired thickness. The skin should be between 3 – 4 inches long.
When you use homemade skin, you don’t need water or egg to seal your dumplings. To close the dumplings, press the front and back skin together and create a single pleat. Start with a middle pleat, then do two or three on each side and make sure the top is sealed completely.
I line each dumpling up on a sheet pan lined with plastic wrap after I wrap them. I cook the number of dumplings I want to eat and then place the rest in the freezer to be eaten later. To make sure the dumplings do not stick to each other while frozen, freeze the dumplings for at least thirty minutes before placing them in a zip top bag.