Easy Chinese pork and watercress dumplings (sui gau) - recipe

When my Ah Ma (paternal grandmother) cooked, she did so lavishly. With the help of my father and me – once I had grown tall enough to reach the counters – she prepared meals for 20 or more of our extended family every Saturday and Sunday. Her Sunday lunches were simpler than the Saturday dinners but they were equally delicious.

If she was planning to make sui gau (water dumplings) or wonton for lunch, she would phone my mother the night before to ask how many of the dumplings my brothers and I would eat, so that she could make enough. My mother would tell her to cook about 20 each for my brothers and 10 for me. Until I moved to Hong Kong, I didn’t realise you were supposed to eat sui gau or wonton with noodles, because my Ah Ma didn’t believe in taking up stomach space with noodles when you could eat extra home-made dumplings instead.

This recipe is enough for four or five normal eaters (or two if you’re feeding my brothers), and six to eight if you're serving the sui gau with boiled noodles. If you’re serving fewer and want to save the sui gau for another occasion, put the filled dumplings on a foil-lined baking tray and freeze until they are solid, then transfer them to a zip-lock bag.

If you don’t like watercress, substitute with an equal amount of the more conventional Chinese (napa) cabbage.

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