Pork Dumplings
If you find pork dumplings from your favorite take-out spot irresistible, just wait until you taste this homemade version! Pork dumplings, or jiaozi, are the quintessential dish of Lunar New Year celebrations and these have everything you want in a dumpling: plump and nicely chewy, filled with tender pork, flavored with fresh ginger, green onion, and sesame oil. Lunar New Year, Chinese Chunjie, Korean Seollal, Tibetan Losar, and Spring Festival all describe the celebration that begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon, 15 days later. This year, many will hold celebrations on Sunday, January 22nd. The Lunar New Year festival is thousands of years old, and today nearly 25% of the world’s population participates in this celebration.
Because of their resemblance to gold ingots, making and eating dumplings during Lunar New Year celebrations is a way to express wishes of prosperity and fortune in the coming year. Making dumplings is also a group effort, so Lunar New Year celebrations are good times to get the whole family involved in making — and eating! — several batches. Whether you’re celebrating the Lunar New Year or stocking your freezer for a busy month ahead, these dumplings should definitely be on your list. You’ll find many of the ingredients in our Lunar New Year-themed weekly sale from January 19th – 25th, so it’s a perfect time to give them a try!