Dumplings: steamed, poached, pan or deep fried, I love them all equally and without exception. I admit, they can be a little fiddly, even arduous to prepare, but once the filling is made you simply need to gather up a few willing participants to assist with assembly. We often have dumpling night at our friends’ place, where the task of filling, folding and sealing the little parcels is shared amongst the four of us. With wine and conversation flowing freely the dumplings soon pile up, a communal effort for a shared feast!
It can be tricky to find a good variety of fresh Asian mushroom here in Dunedin, so I used dried for the dumpling filling, reserving the soaking liquid to enrich the broth. But if you are lucky enough to find some fresh shitake or oyster mushrooms then by all means, go fresh for the filling. You will need around 300g of fresh mushrooms, finely chop and fry as per step 2 below.