Pork and Cabbage Dumplings

Dumplings are my favourite as well as Tony, it is one of the dish that we would order if it is in the restaurant menu. Chinese Dumpling is called Jiao Zi (饺子) or Guo Dian (锅贴) , consist of a ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together or by crimping. I have ever thought of making my own dumplings but I have procastinating throughout the years. It was because I was not confident of myself and always believe that it was difficult to make especially the dough. I have purchased 2 Chinese Recipes Book on Dim Sum when I was in Singapore before relocating here, read on it a few times and till date has not work on any of the recipes. The recipes book also travelled from Singapore to New Zealand, I thought perhaps one of theses days I would pluck up the courage to work on the recipes. It has not been materalized till date but may soon be materalized..

 

Because of late, I have been watching Poh's Kitchen, Poh is the runner-up of Australia Masterchef and is hosting her own cooking show. There was an episode on her making Pork and Cabbage Dumplings, the process was simple and easy, even the making of the dough (which all these while has been shadowing me as the hardest process and prevented me from attempting). It wasn't as complicated and difficult as I thought after watching her espisode on Pork and Cabbage Dumplings. Fuelled by confidence, I told Tony that I was going to make Chinese Dumplings for dinner, he was happy. He said that the Frozen Dumplings that we got at supermarket was average, they were of not much filling. Home made dumplings are filled with generous filling plus LOVE!  With the encouragement from Tony, we went to the supermarket that morning and got the necessary ingredients. I am very happy that I  attempted the recipe without much trouble and are now more confidence with my cooking skills and more enthusiatic in attempting the Chinese Dim Sum recipes!

 

Recipe was adapted from Poh's Kitchen.  You can also watch her Pork and Cabbage Dumplings' video at Poh's Kitchen. . Usually, I like to modify the recipe abit but this time round I did not except I did not make the spicy dipping sauce. I have provided some photos on the making process along with step by step instruction adapted from Poh's Kitchen.
 

Serving: 3-4
 

Ingredients:

Dumpling Skins

½ Cup Plain Flour

½ Cup Wheat Starch (Wheat Cornflour)

Boiled Hot Water

Dumpling Filling

2 ½ Cups Chinese Cabbage, finely shredded

½ Teaspoon Salt

250g Pork Mince

3 Teaspoon Ginger, chopped finely

1/3 Cup Spring onions or Chinese Chives, chopped

1/8 Teaspoon Ground White Pepper

¼ Cup Chicken Stock or Water

4 ½ Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce

3 Teaspoon Shaoxing Wine

1 Tablesppon Vegetable Oil

4 ½ Teaspoon Sesame Oil

½ Cup Shitake Dried Mushrooms, soaked and chopped

Spicy Dipping Sauce

¼ Cup Light Soy Sauce

6 Teaspoon Chinkiang Vinegar

1/8 Cup Sugar

2-3 Teaspoon Chilli Oil

3 Teaspoon Ginger, finely shredded

2 Teaspoon Garlic, chopped finely

Spicy Dipping Sauce

1. Mix all the ingredients together and serve with dumplings.

Dumpling Skins

1. Place flour and wheat starch in a bowl. Pour a small amount of hot water into the flour and starch mix and stir with a fork until you can tip it onto the bench top and knead into a firmish, smooth ball. If it feels a little sticky, add a small amount of equal plain flour and wheat starch and mix to the dough. Wrap in cling wrap and rest for an hour. Note: If you don’t have wheat starch the traditional way is to use one cup plain flour but follow the same method.

Dumpling Filling

1. Mix salt with cabbage and allow to sit for 15 minutes so salt can draw liquid out of the cabbage. Wash cabbage briefly before squeezing to remove as much liquid as possible.(Remember to wash else your cabbage will be full of salt) You should end up with a heaped half cup of cabbage. Mix together with remaining ingredients until everything is incorporated.

 

 

To make dumplings, sprinkle dough with some plain flour and roll into cylinders with a diameter the size of a 20 cent coin. Cut into one centimetre thick disks and flatten with the palm of your hand. Tuck the disks under an overturned plastic container so they stay moist. With a dumpling rolling pin or 20 centimetre piece of dowel, roll ONLY inwards from the outer edge of each circle, so you maintain a regular circle. If you roll outwards, you will find the circle will become misshapen very quickly.




Watch this  youtube video if you are making dumplings for the 1st time.



 

Once the dough has been rolled out to about one millimetre thick, spoon a teaspoonful of the filling onto the centre of the wrapper. When crimping, only pleat one side of the dumpling leaving the other edge straight. This will give the dumpling an attractive crescent shape and let it sit nicely.

 

There are two ways you can cook these.
1. You can just boil them in plenty of salt water. When they float, allow them to cook for a further ten seconds, then scoop out with a slotted spoon into a colander.

2.If you want a crispy bottomed finish, position the dumplings neatly in a frypan filled with about one centimetre of water and a dash of peanut oil. Cover and allow the dumplings to steam for about eight to ten minutes. When all the water evaporates, the little bit of oil that remains will help crisp up the bottom. Serve immediately with spicy dipping sauce.
 

You can pre-prepare these dumplings and storing in the freezer. Simply arrange them nicely in a airtight container lined with baking paper on each layers (for easy handling when you are going to cook them). Sprinkle a bit of flour on each dumplings to prevent them sticking together. Freeze them. You need not thaw dumplings for your next cooking.