Pork and Cabbage Dumplings with Crispy Skirt
We eat dumplings at least once a week. In our house, dumplings are as much a kitchen staple as, let’s say, coffee. Before we started making our own, we’d always buy them frozen - there’s just so much flavour variety and because sometimes the prep for homemade dumps is a lot. If you have the time though, homemade is definitely the way to go. You can easily double the recipe and they freeze great so you’ll always have perfectly crispy, delicious and porky dumplings anytime you want. We like them best with the skirt but if you want them on their own or you want to add them to a bowl of instant noods, you can boil them for 8-10 minutes frozen, 5 minutes for fresh.
INGREDIENTS
Makes about 32
DUMPLINGS
1 lb of ground pork
1 pack of store bought dumpling wrappers, thawed
½ a head of a medium sized cabbage, shredded
1tbs of minced garlic
1 tsp of minced ginger
3-4 stalks of green onions, minced
½ tsp of sugar
½ tsp of black pepper
2 tbs of soy sauce
2 tsp of salt
Small bowl of water
SKIRT
½ cup of water
2 tsp of flour
2 tsp of cornstarch
1 tsp of rice vinegar
Pinch of salt
DIPPING SAUCE
1 tbs of Soy
½ tbs of Rice Vinegar
½ tsp of chilli flakes and or sesame seeds
METHOD
FILLING THE DUMPLINGS
Combine salt and cabbage in a mixing bowl and let it sit for 20 minutes to draw out the moisture from the cabbage.
Using a cheesecloth (or your clean hands), wring out as much excess moisture as possible from the cabbage and set aside.
Combine pork, cabbage, garlic, ginger, green onion, sugar, black pepper, and soy in a bowl and knead until well incorporated. A great tip borrowed from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is to microwave a tsp of the mixture until cooked throughout to test and adjust to taste.
To wrap the dumplings, place a wrapper on your non-dominant hand and add a rounded tsp of the filling to the center of the wrapper.
Dip a clean spoon in a bowl of water and moisten the edge of the wrapper using the back of the spoon.
Fold the wrapper in half and pinch to close at the center of the outer edge of the wrapper.
To make pleats, take the top wrapper layer, pull and fold towards the center. Repeat until the first half is complete and repeat on the opposite side. Place completed dumpling on a covered baking sheet.
PREPARING THE SKIRT
Whisk together the water, flour, cornstarch, rice vinegar and salt until dissolved.
COOKING THE DUMPLINGS
Add 1 tbs of cooking oil to a non stick skillet on medium heat.
Arrange dumplings on the skillet and cook until the bottom starts to slightly brown.
Once brown, arrange the dumplings pleat side up, then add the skirt mixture to the pan and cover with a lid to steam for 5-7 minutes.
Remove the lid and cook off excess water until the skirt crisps to a golden brown.
To serve, take a plate and cover the pan, then flip the pan so once removed the skirt is facing up. Serve with dipping sauce.
