Pork and Mushroom Golden Bags
It has been quite a weekend filled with book stress and all I want to do is eat an entire plate of these fried golden bags. If you’ve been on Instagram over the weekend, you might be aware that some unauthorized copies of my book have been circulating the last week. I can tell the off books pretty instantly because I know the book so well. If you received one of these books, bad paper and cropping of pages is a sign, please reach out to me. My publisher and I are working to get this resolved. Thankfully, so many of you have been so understanding and patient during this debacle!
I was able to end the weekend with a great dinner party with friends to help distract me from all the drama. A table full of friends, food, and wine glasses make me so happy!
I’m looking forward to more dinner parties in the future and more opportunities to serve these golden bags! Have you ever had one before? I first had a golden bag in Cincinnati at a Thai restaurant I loved going to as a way to treat myself after a big studio deadline or critique. They were fried and soooo crispy, filled with meat and vegetables, and looked so cute tied up with a green onion bow. I’ve been want to make my own golden bags for years and this holiday season it finally happened! What’s a better present than a fried dumpling?
Pork and Shiitake Mushroom Filling
Just like all my dumpling fillings, the recipe is very adaptable. If you don’t eat pork, then you can sub with ground chicken, turkey, beef, or even lamb. Same thing with the mushrooms or any vegetable. But this combo of pork, shiitake mushrooms, and Chinese garlic chives just taste so so good and very classic.
I like to use dried shiitake mushrooms because they have a more intense and concentrated savory mushroom flavor. You need to soak them in hot water to rehydrate first. Start keeping dried shiitake mushrooms around, it’s one of my favorite pantry staples.
And a little note about the Chinese garlic chives, these are different than regular chives (like the ones on top of a baked potato). These garlic chives are actually a little less intense oniony flavor and lean more into the vegetable side of things than allium. I would not substitute with regular chives because the flavor would be too intense, instead use 3/4 cups green onions!
Wrapping Golden Bags
Assembling the golden bags is very similar to wrapping a holiday present. The wrapper paper is a spring roll wrapper and the bow is a green onion! I’m using 6” square spring roll wrappers here. They are considered medium sized, but if you can only find larger ones you can trim the size down and fry up the scraps for an extra snack!
Wrapping the golden bags is quite simple. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center and gather the corners/edges of the wrapper up and twist around the filling. This creates a cute little bundle and all you do is tie a green onion around the twist to secure it. Try to select green onions that are on the thinner side and they should be tender enough that they don’t break or crack when you tie them.
Now you have adorable bundles of pork and mushrooms ready for the fryer! They fry up in about 2 to 3 minutes and ready to gift to hungry friends immediately!
Pork and Mushroom Golden Bags
Makes about 15
8 dried shiitake mushrooms
8 oz ground pork
1 cup chopped chinese garlic chives (sub with 3/4 cup green onions, do not use regular chives)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
15 medium (6” squares) spring roll wrappers
if you can only find larger ones, you can trim them down into 6” squares with a knife and fry the scraps for an extra snack!
15 4” long green onion stems, for wrapping
they should be thin, tender, and flexible
Neutral oil for frying
Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in boiling hot water until hydrated and tender, 45 to 60 minutes. Set a heavy plate or bowl over the mushrooms to help keep them submerged. Once hydrated, drain the water and pat the mushrooms dry. Trim off the stems and discard. Chop the caps into a small diced and transfer to a medium mixing bowl.
Into the medium mixing bowl, add the pork, garlic chives, oyster sauce, white pepper, salt, and sesame oil. Mix until well combined. Filling is ready to assemble golden bags immediately, or you can chill in the fridge up to 2 days before assembling.
Place a heaping tablespoon (about 1 1/2 tbsp) of the filling in the center of the spring roll wrapper. Gather the corners up and twist around the filling to form a small bundle. Tie a green onion stem around the twist of the bundle to secure. Place the formed golden bag on a plate or tray and repeat with remaining golden bags.
Heavy oil in a deep pot until 360-degrees. Reduce or adjust heat to maintain that temperature throughout frying. Fry in batches to not lower the temperature too much or crowd the pot. Fry the golden bags until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer them to a baking sheet set with a wire rack to cool. Continue frying all the golden bags. Enjoy once cooled down a little. They are great as is or with some sweet chili sauce.
Storage and reheating instructions: You can freeze before or after frying. If cooking from frozen, do not defrost and allow for an extra minute of cook time. If frozen after frying, simply warm up in the oven, 350 for 10 minutes or so.