Nationwide Ballet of Canada’s Agnes Su Shares Her Household Recipe for Dill Dumplings

The first time Agnes Su tried dill dumplings was during a visit to her grandparents while on tour with Stuttgart Ballet in Beijing. “They were extremely flavorful,” she says. “I asked my mom about them, and she said that was the style in northern China.” This recipe was later passed down from Su’s grandmother to her mother. Su, currently in her first season as a principal with National Ballet of Canada, grew up in California but visited family in China every few years. “Every province and city in China has their specific styles of how to cook,” says Su. “It’s actually a foodie mecca, but that’s less known because of the language barrier.”

Dumplings of any flavor have always been a celebratory food in Su’s family. “I love dumplings because they’re very communal,” she says. “You can bribe your friends with food and have them help you wrap them. It does take some time, so you get to sit there and catch up on your lives.” Su recommends eating these dill dumplings dipped in Chinese black vinegar, with kimchi or other pickled vegetables on the side. “From a nutrition standpoint, dumplings have your carbs, your protein, and veg, all in one,” says Su. “They can be their own dinner.

Family Cookbook

Su moved to Germany to train at the John Cranko School when she was 14 and started living alone at 16. “Cooking was, for me, necessary very young,” she says. Having grown up largely eating Chinese food, she relied on phone calls with her mom to help re-create dishes from home while living abroad. “I started writing all of her recipes down in a cookbook,” says Su. “Now I add other recipes that I perfect on my own. I think it’s really common to forget recipes, which is why a book is good. You flip the page and you’re like, ‘We should make that tonight!’ ”

Agnes Su making her celebratory dumplings. Courtesy Su.

Ingredients

Dough

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups water

pinch of salt

Filling

500 g ground pork

1 large egg

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp light soy sauce

3 tbsps water

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp chicken bouillon powder

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, minced

2 scallions (green and white parts), minced

2 cups dill, baby dill, or baby fennel fronds, minced (“The original recipe calls for baby fennel fronds, but that’s hard to find outside of China,” says Su, adding that baby dill or regular dill are fine substitutes.)

1 tbsp neutral oil

Courtesy Su.

Instructions

Make the dough: Add the flour, water, and salt to a large mixing bowl and knead with a spoon for about 10 minutes until the dough becomes homogeneous and springy. It should not be liquid, but not too hard; reminiscent of pizza dough.

Leave the dough in the bowl and cover it with a clean, moist kitchen towel. Let it rest on the counter for an hour or two.

Make the filling: Combine the pork, egg, salt, black pepper, soy sauce, water, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and chicken bouillon powder in a large mixing bowl. Using two chopsticks held together, stir in a clockwise direction. (“Mixing in the same direction prevents the mixture from seizing up when cooked, and keeps everything tender,” says Su. “It’s also just tradition in my family.”) Continue mixing in a circle for about 5 minutes, until the liquids have disappeared and the filling becomes pastier.

Stir in the minced ginger, scallion, and dill.

Add the neutral oil, mixing well to seal in the filling.

Form the dumplings: Roll out circular pieces of dough, roughly 3–4 inches in diameter and 2–3 millimeters thick—if it tears when you fill it, it’s too thin. Place about a teaspoon of filling in each circle. Close the dumpling by folding or pinching the edges together. (“We usually go for the crescent half-moon shape, but there are so many possibilities,” says Su. “Have fun with it!”)

Fill a large pot 3/4 full with water and bring to a boil. Add a few dumplings at a time for about 5–6 minutes, or until they float to the surface and the dumpling skin turns slightly transparent. Remove with a slotted spoon. Repeat until all dumplings are cooked.

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