[gentle guitar music] J Chong is an expert when it comes to making Chinese dumplings and sauces.

What started as a family cooking tradition alongside her grandmother has grown into her full-time business.

Today she's going to give me my very first lesson in making wonton dumplings, and sweet potatoes are the star of the show.

Hello, my friend.

- Hi, how are you?

- I'm so happy to be here.

Thanks for having me over today.

- Of course.

- So ever since we started making plans about this, you told me we were making some of your famous dumplings.

- Right.

- Tell me more.

- But today we're gonna add a special ingredient that's local to our region, sweet potatoes.

- Sweet potato dumplings.

Is this something you make a lot?

- When it's in season I like to, so, but we're gonna incorporate a little bit of pork in there just to give a little more umami flavor.

But I really like sweet potatoes 'cause it adds such a natural sweet flavor.

- They don't call 'em sweet potatoes for nothing.

- Exactly, that's right.

- Okay, what do I do first?

- [J] All right, so we're gonna grab these sweet potatoes here, poke it with a fork, wrap 'em in foil, and we're gonna bake 'em off.

- All right.

- All right.

- Into the oven we go.

- All right.

[bright upbeat music] - Let's do the squish test.

- Okay, let's try.

Oh yes, they're ready.

I smell 'em too.

So we're gonna go ahead and start unwrapping the sweet potatoes.

- [Sheri] Okey-doke.

- And start making our mix.

- May I hand you one?

- Thank you.

And then I just like to just peel it.

'cause, you know, that's when you know it's ready.

Just peel it open.

- Oh, look.

- Once we get it off the skin, we're just gonna add the sweet potatoes back to the bowl.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- So right now, I'm gonna, you know, bring the bowl towards us, and we're gonna talk about the ingredients.

So, shiitake mushroom.

So it's pretty important to small dice the ingredients when you're making a dumpling.

So I'm just gonna add.

Next up, we have water chestnuts.

- [Sheri] I love that crunch.

- Yeah.

And we have fresh scallions here.

I like to use the greens and the whites.

I think you use the whole stem, it's great.

I think I'm gonna cut some ginger here.

You know, start with the most flat side and just run your knife through.

And I'm kind of making slices here.

- [Sheri] Right.

- Okay?

And then at some point, I'm going to stack it all up and we're gonna go matchstick.

With everything that goes into the dumpling, you want it to be small enough so it fits into the wrap, so we're gonna go across this one more time.

- The trick is to make it small enough that it's gonna fit in with the texture in here, but not pulverize it to the point that the good stuff runs off on the floor.

- Exactly.

All right, let's go.

So we're gonna go ahead and add the spices.

So right now, we have five-spice.

So I'm just gonna add all of that in there.

Next up, we have white pepper.

Here's some salt.

Tablespoon for me is a big pinch, okay?

Next up, we have sesame oil.

- All right.

- Okay?

So sesame oil, go ahead.

- So I can smell it, so this is that deep, rich, dark flavor ingredient sesame oil, not something you would fry in.

- Never, never ever, okay?

So next up, we have Chinese cooking wine.

Last up, we have soy sauce.

Just add that all in.

Last up, we have some minced pork here, okay?

- Just ground pork.

- Just ground pork, you got it.

So we're gonna go ahead and add that all to the bowl.

[upbeat music] All right, so this is how we're gonna taste the filling when there's raw meat in there.

- Okay.

- Okay?

So I'm gonna go ahead and turn on this induction burner.

And we have just a little bit of oil, so we're just gonna add a little to the pan.

So we're just gonna take a little bit of filling.

Add some to the pan.

- So you're, like, cooking, like, a little mini burger or something so that this will be safe for us to taste, to make sure all of our flavors are there.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So we're gonna go ahead, if you wanna go first.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- It's gonna be super, super hot.

What you think?

What you think?

- I think it's wonderful because you can taste the individual things, but there's balance.

But, you know, we probably should make some dumplings rather than just eating the rest of this out of the skillet.

- Absolutely, you ready to make some dumplings?

- I cannot wait.

- All right, let's do it.

[gentle upbeat music] - [Sheri] I see the things.

Is it time to wrap?

- It's time to wrap.

Are you ready?

- I'm ready.

- All right, so we're gonna go ahead and grab a wonton wrapper.

So we're gonna go ahead, and take your spoon, get a little bit of filling.

And it's key to put it in the center of your wrap.

- [Sheri] In the very center.

- [J] You got it.

- [Sheri] All right.

- So you could use a pastry brush to, you know, wet the edges of your wonton wrap.

You can use that.

- And we're just moistening this 'cause this is making what?

The flour and this turn into glue so it'll stick?

- Exactly, yep, this is gonna be our sealant.

So we're gonna go ahead and take it and fold it in half.

And as I am sealing it, I'm kind of pushing the filling towards the center of the wrap.

So once we're at this point, we're gonna go ahead and wet the, say, the right side of the wrapper.

- [Sheri] The right side, okay.

- And we're gonna bring the bottom corners together with your right side underneath the left.

And there we have it.

- I made a dumpling.

- Look at that.

[giggles] Well done, that's great.

That's beautiful for your first time.

And the greatness about dumplings, because you make so many at a time, you could invite your friends over for a little dumpling-making session, or just make a bunch and then freeze it.

- Now, you keep going, 'cause you're gonna have 42 done by the time I get my second one.

I love doing this.

All right, one more here.

- Beautiful, look at that.

All right, so I think we're gonna go ahead and put these in the freezer.

- Okay, so you've got 'em single layer.

- Yep.

- And do these need to be covered?

- Not at all.

Just leave 'em uncovered straight in the freezer.

- Got it.

- All right?

So we're gonna wait a couple of hours, probably about two.

They're gonna be slightly frozen, and then we're gonna just drop 'em in some boiling water.

- [Sheri] Okay, the water's at a boil.

I just got these out of the freezer.

- Beautiful.

So these are nice and frozen already, so we're gonna go ahead and just drop them one by one.

So as I drop them in, I'm just gonna use a spider here and just give it a nice stir.

So I'm pretty confident that they're at a good pace right now, so we're just gonna let them continue dancing together, as you can see.

And a little trick is, once they start floating up to the top, that's when you know they're about ready.

- Don't you love it when food tells you what to do?

- Absolutely.

- I love that.

- So I'm just gonna go ahead and gently scoop it out.

Give it a little tap on the side of the pot.

Place it in.

- So you've got a couple of drops of water, not soupiness, but a couple of drops of water.

And that's fine?

- [J] That is totally fine.

It's gonna kind of add, like, a natural broth to the dish.

- [Sheri] No kidding.

- So this is our delicious dipping sauce or sauce.

Go ahead.

- So you're adding that saltiness, that heat, that sweetness.

- Exactly.

And cilantro, just going ahead and a little garnish.

- [Sheri] Is that not beautiful?

- [J] All right, are we ready to taste?

- I'm so excited.

All right, here we go.

Oh my.

- Mmm.

- Mmm.

- That five-spice really came through.

- It's revealing itself.

I got ginger and the five-spice.

I'm getting the heat and the sauce.

Oh my goodness.

- The sweet potatoes in there really come through.

I really like that.

- And you do.

And we don't forget that this is a sweet potato recipe.

'Cause if you had put anything else, it wouldn't be there.

- Right.

- And I now know how to fold a wonton.

- You're pretty much a pro.

These are absolutely beautiful.

- Oh my goodness, you're being kind.

Thank you for letting me come over today.

- Yeah, of course.

Thanks for being here.

I appreciate you.

This was fun.

- Let's cook together again, okay?

- Okay.

- Thanks, friend.

- Yay.

[upbeat music]