• Thoroughly rinse the Chinese chives. Dry the chives in a colander and finely chop them.
• Transfer the chopped chives to a mixing bowl. Mix in 1 tbsp. of salt and cover and set aside for a couple of hours to let the chives welt.
• Rinse the ginger, shiitake mushroom and tofu. Try to squeeze out as much water as possible from the mushroom. Finely chop the ginger, mushroom and tofu. Set them aside.
• Scramble two eggs. Use your spatula to chop the scrambled eggs to tiny pieces. Set aside.
• Soften the green bean vermicelli in warm water for about 5 minutes. Remove the excess water and finely chop the vermicelli. Set aside.
• After several hours, the chives should look welt. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible as the excess liquid will make the stuffing watery and hard to use.
• Combine the chives with shiitake mushroom, tofu, scrambled eggs, and vermicelli. Add the rest of the salt, white pepper, five-spice powder corn starch, one egg, oil, sesame oil, and soy sauce to the stuffing mix.
• Thoroughly mix all the ingredients together. Add additional salt if needed. Add additional corn starch if the stuffing appears to be watery. Cover and chill the mixed stuffing in the fridge for 30 minutes before making dumplings.

How to roll vegetable dumplings

In many Chinese restaurants, vegetable dumplings are folded different so they can be distinguished from other types of stuffing. Below is a step-by-step instruction on how to fold willow leaf dumplings:

• Place one tbsp. of filling in the center of the wrapper.
• Wet the edge of the wrapper with water
• Gently fold edges up to form a taco shell. Re-orient the wrapper lengthwise. Fold the right end of the wrapper into an "M" shape and pinch to close.
• Start on one side of the edge and fold a pleat angling toward the right side end. Pinch to seal the pleat.
• Move to the opposite side of the wrapper and slight to the left of the first pleat, fold a second pleat pointing toward the right side. Pinch to seal.
• Moving leftward by making alternate pleats described above. Once you are half an inch away from the left end, pinch to seal the entire remaining portion without more pleats.
• Make sure the dumpling is completely sealed, then gently push down to form a flat bottom. Repeat the above steps to finish the rest of the filling and the wrappers.
• These dumplings taste great no matter how you cook them. You can boil, steam, or make pot stickers with these dumplings.