On Thursday, March 27, Attorney General William Tong visited Newtown Community Center as part of a fundraiser for the Newtown Democratic Town Committee.

The room was packed with about 50 guests, and the committee raised about $8,000. The funds will help the democratic candidate for Municipal Office later this year.

Tong opened the event by addressing the crowd, “This is my opportunity to share with you my diversity.” He added, “This is who we are as a country,” referring to the hundreds of different cultures that call the United States their home.

After his brief address, he asked eleven people to come up and learn how to make traditional Chinese dumplings.

Tong explained his parents owned a Chinese restaurant for about 20 years in the Hartford and Wethersfield area. He said that though he and the volunteers were not making the dough from scratch, his grandma, who is reaching 101 years old, said it was okay to use store-bought dumpling dough.

He showed the volunteers a mixture of ground pork with ginger and scallion to fill the dumplings, and a vegetarian filling of carrots and cabbage, with ginger and scallion also mixed in.

After mixing both fillings separately, he then assisted with putting the right amount into the dough. The volunteers used plastic spoons, but Tong said if it was in a restaurant, they would have used knives.

He then instructed the volunteers to dip their fingers into the small bowl of water that was provided to close the dumplings. Tong folded his to resemble a taco, then pinched the dough and folded it into the center once, then twice, repeating the same steps on the other side.

Tong went to every volunteer and assisted in closing the dumplings properly, as some struggled to follow along. He took the time to ensure every person understood what they were doing.

After everyone wrapped their dumplings, Tong then went into the kitchen to boil and pan fry the tasty treats.

He had two boiling pots of water and two frying pans, one for the vegetarian dumplings, and one for the pork dumplings. He explained that the dumplings need to cook in the boiling water until they start to float, and that the dumplings can be fried after they have been boiled.

While in the kitchen, Tong told The Newtown Bee that he has done around 30-40 dumpling events, adding that he’s made more dumplings at these events than at home.

“At home, it’s a whole thing,” Tong said. “We make the dough at home.”

When asked about the dumpling-making events, Tong said, “I think … it’s such a great opportunity for our community to come together, here, literally, at the Community Center, to enjoy something that everybody loves: dumplings.”

He continued, “[The dumplings are] a great representation of who we are as a community and as a country … It’s tied to democracy.”

“I’m Connecticut’s chief legal officer … but I’m also a son of this state … This is my home, my community, and it means a lot to me, it nourishes me, to be here with the people of Newtown. It reminds me why I fight every day, who I’m fighting for. I think in many ways, a great deal is being done for me tonight, as much as I’m doing something for somebody else,” Tong said.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.