Rat Dumplings For Halloween

These realistic rat dumplings went viral when a small girl in China made them while her mother went out. Let's recreate this creepy albeit delicious Halloween treat to make at home! Your Halloween dinner or party will be ghoulishly fun and delicious with these pork and mushroom dumplings that are shaped like rats.

I know that a lot of you will be completely grossed out by these rat dumplings but others might quite like these kooky, quirky pork dumplings! These are pork and mushroom dumplings that are shaped like rats, inspired by that little girl in China who made some rat dumplings and went viral in April 2024. She was so earnest and clever that I wanted to give these a go too. I have to stress that these are not made of rats!

Tips For Making Rat Dumplings

1 - For these rat dumplings we are making the dumplings skins from scratch- but don't worry! It's actually easy to make dumpling wrappers I promise! I like using a hot water dumpling dough because it produces a pliable, supple dough that is perfect for shaping dumplings like these. It consists of plain all purpose flour mixed with boiling hot water from a kettle.

2- Instead of using flour to prevent the dough sticking to the benchtop we will be using oil so that the dough stays supple and easy to work.

3 - Avoid rolling the pastry too thin for these dumplings. You want them to be thin but not super thin as we will cut into the sides of the dumplings to make little feet and ears.

4 - Please don't be discouraged if you don't get the rat shape the first time! It took me 6 dumplings before I came up with a rat that looked vaguely respectable.

5 - One of the things that make these rat dumplings so discernable are the long tails and these are very easy to do, just roll the end along the benchtop with your palm and you have one of the most distinctive features of a rat!

6 - For the filling I prefer to use dried shiitake mushrooms that have been rehydrated as I find they have a stronger flavour but you can also use fresh shiitake mushrooms.

7 - I made a mixture of black dumplings and white dumplings. I used 1/2 teaspoon activated charcoal powder for the black ones (that looked grey uncooked but turned black once steamed).

8 - We steam these rat dumplings for 15 minutes. Once the dumplings are steamed and cooled off a bit they're quite sturdy and you can pick the rat up by its tail!

Of course some people were rude about that Chinese girl but she reminded me of me when I was young and enamoured by ghoulish things while my mother was afraid of Halloween and wouldn't have anything with spirits or anything in the house. I once bought a parasol and brought it home. I didn't really pay much attention to the pattern but my mother said that it had an evil spirit in it and promptly locked it in the cupboard in the basement where it stayed for years until it came time to move house.

On the day that I made these rat dumplings, it was a particularly windy Sydney day. The sort of wind conditions where it makes front page news. And strange things were happening. My Thermomix stopped working mid-steam on the last batch of these dumplings. The wifi disconnected and both our computer monitors flickered rapidly and then stopped working. And just to make things a bit more stressful, the fire alarm batteries started beeped insistently. Then I walked past the microwave and noticed that it was making a noise although it wasn't switched on. I peered closer and saw that the turntable was moving! I called Mr NQN over to have a look at it and his eyes widened in fear. He quickly turned it off at the switch.

Who knows, maybe my mother was right, don't tempt fate with Halloween or rat dumplings. Although Mr NQN did see that there was a message from Ausgrid saying that the wind had knocked out some power lines which is probably the sensible explanation for all of these things happening at once. But the microwave turntable moving? There was no explanation for that!

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever had anything weird like that happen? What do you think was happening with the microwave?

Rat Dumplings

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Makes 24 dumplings

For Filling

• 25g/1ozs dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked in hot water for 2 hours) to become 200g

• 1 stalk green onion

• 1/4 cup coriander leaves

• 125g/4ozs pork mince

• 30ml/1floz soy sauce

• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced

• 1.5 teaspoons sugar

• 2 teaspoons sesame oil

For Pastry

• 300g/10.6ozs plain all purpose flour

• 80ml/2.8flozs hot water

• 10ml/0.3flozs oil

Step 1 - First make the mince filling as it needs to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Drain and place the rehydrated shiitake mushrooms and the green onions and coriander in a food processor and blitz until fine. Add the pork mince, soy sauce, garlic, sugar and sesame oil and blitz until you get a paste. Place in a bowl for at least 30 minutes and refrigerate until needed.

Step 2 -Mix the flour, hot water and oil together until it forms a cohesive dough. It shouldn't be dry so the exact amount of water depends on how thirsty your flour is. Cover with cling film and rest for 10 minutes. Portion out a quarter of the dough into 20g/0.7oz balls and cover up the rest of the dough so that it doesn't dry out.

Step 3 - Grease a large tray with oil and lightly grease a surface. Roll each ball into an oval around 12cm/4.7inches but don't roll it too thinly. Pinch the last quarter of the dough to mark the tail. Place 15g/0.5oz of the filling in the cup area of the dough and brush the edges with water. Seal the edges together. Then roll the tail out using the bench and your palm to roll it out long and thin.

Step 4 -Using a pair of small scissors make tiny cuts near the head and pinch with your thumb and forefinger to make triangular ears. Make two tiny cuts down the side of the body for legs on each side and pull together to make tiny legs. Place on the tray and repeat until the rest are completed. Place on parchment paper and steam for 15-20 minutes.