Cabbage and Pork Dumplings

Boiled, steamed, or fried, here’s how to prepare, fill, and fold Chinese pork dumplings.

Ingredients

FILLING (You can use any combo of meat and veggies, just try to keep the ratio 1:1)

• 2 pounds fatty ground pork
• 2 pounds lean ground pork
• 2 pounds Chinese chives, chopped finely
• 2 pounds cabbage, chopped finely
• 6 green onions, chopped finely (up to the root)
• 1 egg
• 8-10 garlic cloves, chopped finely
• ¼ cup grated ginger
• ½ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup rice vinegar
• ¼ cup sesame oil
• salt (to taste)

WRAPPER

• 5 packs of dumpling skins (Northern Style are thicker and easier to work with for newbies)

DIPPING SAUCE

• 6 cloves pickled garlic
• ½ cup pickled garlic vinegar
• ½ cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon chili paste
• 1 green onion, chopped

Instructions

PREP

1. Remove dumpling skins from refrigerator. If skins are frozen, leave in the fridge overnight or microwave to quickly defrost.
2. Chop veggies. If you are using watery veggies, salt them after chopping to strain out the excess liquid. Combine chopped veggies, ground pork, egg and seasonings. Stir in one direction until the mixture has come together and the ingredients are evenly distributed. Taste test your filling by frying up a small piece in a pan. Adjust seasonings accordingly.

SET UP YOUR WRAPPING STATION

1. Place a paper towel on a plate. Wet the paper towel just enough so it is damp. Use this to wet your dumpling skins as your wrap them. (The idea is to put a new one on the damp paper every time you pick up a wet one to wrap.) Lightly flour sheet pans.
2. Set the bowl of filling, dumpling skins, wet plate, and sheet pans up in a way that it is all within arms reach and easily accessible to everyone who is wrapping.

ASSEMBLY LINE

1. Pick up a damp dumpling skin, dry side down, laying it in the palm of your non-dominant hand.
2. Place a large tablespoon of filling in the center of the skin.
3. Fold closed so no filling will seep out. You can do the simplest Half Moon method where the dumpling lies flat on one side or try a more advanced pleating or squeezing technique where the dumpling sits up on its bottom.
4. Place on floured baking sheet. Repeat until the filling or the skins run out.

BOIL

1. Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a boil
2. Carefully drop in the dumplings, being careful not to crowd the pot. Cover and let it come back to a boil.
3. Once it comes back to a boil, pour in a cup of cold water. Repeat the process 2 times. Dumplings will float to the top and turn slightly translucent.

STEAM

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and place a paper towel in the steamer basket. The paper towel will help ensure that the delicate skins don’t get stuck to the steamer basket.
2. Place dumplings in the basket once the water comes to a boil and steam with the lid on for 12-15 minutes.

PAN FRY

1. Pour oil into a hot pan and place dumplings with their flattest side down. Pour enough water into the pan so there is about a centimeter of standing water and cover immediately.
2. Once the water has cooked off, uncover the pan and let the bottoms crisp up. Once the dumplings no longer stick
3. Using a flat metal spatula, flip the dumplings to crisp the remaining sides.

SAUCE

1. Finely chop pickled garlic and green onion. Mix with soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and chili paste.

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