Beijing Style Pork And Cabbage Dumpling Filling Recipes

PORK DUMPLING WITH NAPA CABBAGE (猪肉白菜水饺)

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, add water to flour gradually. Mix with chopsticks/spatula until no more loose flour can be seen. Combine and knead into a dough.
• Leave to rest (covered) for 10 minutes then knead again until smooth.
• Cover and rest the dough again for 30-60 minutes until it becomes soft (Chinese cooks would say "as soft as an earlobe").
• If using a machine: Add flour and water into the mixing bowl. Knead on low speed for 8 minutes or so until smooth. Cover and rest for 30-60 minutes.
• Cut Napa cabbage into thin slices then cut across again into tiny pieces. Put minced cabbage into a colander then add salt. Mix well and leave to rest for 10 mins or so (place the colander in a sink or over a plate to collect extracted water).
• Add minced pork, scallions, ginger, light soy sauce and ground Sichuan pepper to a mixing bowl. Mince rehydrated dried shrimp. Add it to the meat, along with the water in which it was soaked. Stir until the liquid is fully absorbed by the meat.
• Use your hands to squeeze the cabbage in batches to remove any water extracted by the salt. Then put into the bowl. Add sesame oil and mix to combine.
• Divide the dough into three parts. Roll one part into a rope then cut into 10 equal sections (cover the rest to avoid drying out).
• Press each piece into a small disc with the palm of your hand. Use a rolling pin to flatten it into a thin disc (Please refer to the tutorial video below). Dust with flour if it sticks. Repeat to finished the rest of the dough.
• Place a spoonful of filling on the wrapper. Seal the wrapper using the technique you're most comfortable with. Please refer to the tutorial video below or the methods demonstrated in "Ten Ways to Fold Dumplings".
• Bring a pot of water to a full boil over high heat. Gently slide in the dumplings (cook in two batches if using a small pot). Push them around with the back of a spoon to avoid sticking. Cover with a lid.
• When the water comes back to a full boil, add about 120 ml (½ cup) of cold water then cover.
• Repeat the procedure another two times. When fully cooked, the dumplings should be plump and floating on the surface.
• Transfer the dumplings to a colander. Briefly rinse under tap water (make sure it's drinkable water). Drain and serve immediately.
• Serve the dumplings warm with a mixture of homemade chili oil and black rice vinegar. Or read Six Dumpling Sauces for more inspirations.
• Place assembled, uncooked dumplings on a tray lined with parchment paper (or dusted with flour). Put into the freezer.
• Once completely frozen, transfer them into an airtight plastic bag/container. Use within three months.
• No need to defrost before cooking. Follow the boiling instructions explained above.

PORK AND NAPA CABBAGE WATER DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• To make the filling, put the cabbage in a bowl and toss with the 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set aside for about 15 minutes to draw excess moisture from the cabbage. Drain in a mesh strainer (the cabbage could fall through the large holes of a colander), flush with water, and drain again. To remove more moisture, squeeze the cabbage in your hands over the sink, or put on a cotton kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and wring out the moisture over the sink. You should have about 1/2 cup firmly packed cabbage.
• Transfer the cabbage to a bowl and add the ginger, Chinese chives, and pork. Use a fork or spatula to stir and lightly mash the ingredients so that they start coming together.
• In a small bowl, stir together the remaining scant 1/2 teaspoon salt, the white pepper, chicken stock, soy sauce, rice wine, canola oil, and sesame oil. Pour these seasonings over the pork and cabbage mixture, then stir and fold the ingredients together. Once the pork has broken up, briskly stir to blend the ingredients into a cohesive, thick mixture. There should not be any visible large chunks of pork. To develop the flavors, cover and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes. You should have about 2 cups of filling. (The filling can be prepared 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it to room temperature before assembling the dumplings.)
• In the meantime, make 16 wrappers from half of the dough. Aim for 3 1/4-inch-diameter wrappers (see page 24).
• Before assembling the dumplings, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (If you plan to refrigerate the dumplings for several hours, or freeze them, lightly dust the paper with flour to avoid sticking.) For each dumpling, hold a wrapper in a slightly cupped hand. Scoop up about 1 tablespoon of filling with a bamboo dumpling spatula, dinner knife, porfork and position it slightly off-center toward the upper half of the wrapper, pressing and shaping it into a flat mound and keeping about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of wrapper clear on all sides. Then fold, pleat, and press to enclose the filling and create half-moons, pea pods, big hugs, or pleated crescents (see pages 26 to 29).
• Place the finished dumpling on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the other wrappers, assembling the dumplings and spacing them a good 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheet. Keeping the finished dumplings covered with a dry kitchen towel, form and fill the wrappers from the remaining dough.
• Once all the dumplings are assembled, they can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for several hours; they can be cooked straight from the refrigerator. (For longer storage, freeze them on the baking sheet until hard (about 1 hour), transfer them to a zip-top freezer bag, pressing out excess air before sealing, and keep them frozen for up to 1 month; partially thaw, using your finger to smooth over any cracks that may have formed during freezing, before cooking.)
• To cook the dumplings, half-fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add half the dumplings, gently dropping each one into the water. Nudge the dumplings apart with a wooden spoon to keep them from sticking together and/or to the bottom of the pot. Return the water to a simmer and then lower the heat to maintain the simmer and gently cook: a hard boil can make a dumpling burst. Cook the dumplings for about 8 minutes, or until they float to the surface, look glossy, and are puff ed up and a tad translucent. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to scoop up the dumplings from the pot, a few at a time, pausing the spoon's motion over the pot to allow excess water to drip back down before putting the dumplings on a serving plate. Cover the plate with a large inverted bowl to keep the dumplings warm.
• Return the water to a boil and cook the remaining dumplings. When done, return the first batch to the hot water to reheat for a minute or two. There is no need to reboil.
• Serve the hot dumplings immediately, placing the serving plate in the middle of the table for people to reach to or pass along. Serve the soy dipping sauce either in a communal bowl with a spoon for people to help themselves or divided up among individual rice bowls or large dipping sauce dishes. To eat, pick up a dumpling with chopsticks (you can stab it if you like) and dip or roll it in the dipping sauce. Getting an assist from a soup spoon or the rice bowl, deliver the dumpling to your mouth with the chopsticks. If there are juices inside, they'll spill out into the spoon or bowl when you bite into the dumpling.