Dumplings and Dragon Dances
The family that I was staying with celebrated Chinese New Year. I didn’t think much about it, but when I heard my aunt and uncle talk about the ingredients of what they were planning to cook, I immediately thought “It’s going to be a big celebration.”
I heard Uncle Randy say “To save time, let us just use store bought round wrappers. It will be too time-consuming if we make them ourselves.”
The next morning, I was awakened by the smell of something delicious cooking in the kitchen.
“Come here, Jane, join us! We are making dumplings!” Ate Lina called me from the kitchen.
I was given a chair to sit on, a bowl of water and some round wrappers in front of me.
“Just dab some water on the edges and pass them to Chris.” She said as she showed me how it’s done.
I watched how Chris received the wrappers and carefully placed a spoonful of filling in the middle of each one before passing them to Kuya Jeff who carefully sealed them.
“Are all the dumplings shaped like this? Is it possible to make other shapes?” I asked.
“Dumplings are shaped like the gold ingot, which was the most valuable currency in the old days in China.” Ate Lina explained.
“Oh, is that why we are making lots of these?” Chris beamed with realization.
“I want to be rich. I will make hundreds of these!” I sped up my water dip-and-dab. They all laughed when Chris stood on the chair and held the spoon like how a fairy holds a wand and very quickly placed some filling in each wrapper.
I was taking a nap that afternoon when I heard a CRASH! CLANG! CRASH! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
I ran down the stairs and almost collided with an enormous creature with the biggest eyes I’ve seen, dancing by the foot of the stairs. I stopped in my tracks. I stared at it. I almost ran back up when it stared back and winked at me.
“DUM-BADA-BADA-BA DUM! BADABADA-BADA BA-DUM!” It continued to dance to the music. As I looked harder, I noticed that there were human legs underneath it. “Oh, it’s just a costume. Don’t be scared.” I told myself.
Ate Lina wrapped her right arm around my shoulder. I giggled when she said, “The dragon seems to like you.”
After retrieving the red envelope that Kuya Jeff had hung by the staircase, the dragon and its team moved on to the next house.
Chris asked, “Are we still wrapping dumplings this afternoon?” I remembered my mother asking about the dumplings, so before anyone could say anything, I asked “Ate Lina, I told my mother about the dumplings. She’s asking if she can have a copy of the recipe.”
Everyone stopped talking and looked at her. She was caught mid-sentence. I thought she was going to get angry, but she smiled and gave me a thumbs up.
Before I went to bed that night, Ate Lina gave me a piece of paper. Written on it were the following:
SECRET INGREDIENTS:
100 round wrappers (number will depend on how many you want to make)
2-3 pounds of ground meat (you can use pork or chicken)
1 tablespoon of minced ginger
4 cloves of medium-sized garlic 2 tablespoons of green onion (thinly sliced) 5 tablespoons of soy sauce a pinch of salt to taste (optional)
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 egg (beaten)
5 cups Chinese cabbage (finely shredded)
“Thanks for this, Ate Lina, but how about the procedure?” I asked. “Oh, for that, let her call me on the phone. I’ll tell her what to do.” She answered.