dumplings with pork, cabbage, cucumber and leek
Some of my favorite store-bought frozen dumplings are pork with Korean cucumber. If you are new to the world of warm cucumbers, this is a great start - and then immediately google ‘cucumber stir fry’. This is only one of many, many ways to fold dumplings! The internet is full of tutorials if you want to go down a delicious rabbit hole. You can halve this recipe if you don’t want to make this many dumplings at a time, but I strongly recommend that you do and that you freeze them. Few things make you feel as ‘together’ as pulling a bag of homemade dumplings out of the freezer on a night when you (feel like garbage) just don’t feel like cooking!
yield 50ish dumplings
1 Persian cucumber (or 1/2 Korean cucumber), small diced
2/3 cup finely chopped green cabbage
1/3 cup finely chopped leek
2 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
2 ts grated fresh ginger
1 egg
1 T low sodium soy sauce
1 ts mirin (or shaoxing rice wine)
1 ts diamond crystal kosher salt (1/2 ts if morton’s)
1 ts sugar
1 T sesame oil
1 lb ground pork
50 square dumpling wrappers (round is fine!)
flour, for sprinkling
neutral oil
optionals for serving
chili oil
ponzu sauce (or equal parts rice vinegar and soy sauce, maybe a squeeze of lime)
nutty brown sauce (see below)
scallions, thinly sliced
toasted sesame seeds
recipe prep
In a large mixing bowl, combine cucumber, cabbage, leek, garlic and ginger. Stir to evenly combine. Add egg, soy sauce, salt, sugar, mirin and sesame oil and stir to evenly coat. Add ground pork and stir until just evenly combined (swirling chopsticks through works best!).
Fill a small bowl with water. Lightly flour a baking sheet. Place a wrapper on the palm of your hand. Scoop a rounded teaspoon of filling into the center of the wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and trace the edges of the wrapper (this will help seal things up!). Fold the wrapper in half to create a thin rectangle (or half moon if using round). Starting from the center of the long side, press the wrapper edges together to seal them, making sure to press out any air as you go (this will keep them from bursting while they cook!).
Once it’s sealed, wet one of the two bottom corners and bring it to meet the other bottom corner and press to seal, creating a round dumpling. Re-seal any edges if they burst (this may happen with your first few as you get a handle on exactly how much filling to use!). Place dumpling on floured sheet tray and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Repeat until you run out of filling and/or wrappers!
Follow directions below for freezing whatever you don’t plan on immediately eating. For the lucky little suckers you plan on eating, coat a medium-large nonstick pan (that has a lid!) over medium heat. Add enough neutral oil to thinly coat the bottom. Arrange the dumplings seam-side-up in the pan so they aren’t touching (don’t cook more than like, 12 at a time). Cook until dumpling bottoms are lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add a 1/4 cup water and immediately cover with lid. Cook until you no longer hear water boiling and bubbling, about 5 minutes, and then give it another minute longer. Uncover dumplings. Flip over for a second if you want to crisp the other side a tad.
Remove dumplings from pan and serve with dipping sauce of your choice.
to freeze Arrange dumplings on a floured baking sheet, making sure none of them touch. Freeze dumplings for at least an hour. Remove dumplings and transfer to freezer bags or containers and return to freezer. Dumplings will keep for 2 months but also definitely longer. Cook as directed above.
the nutty brown sauce I use for these dumplings
Chinese sesame paste + sesame oil + black vinegar + brown sugar + soy sauce + sriracha
for a lazy crispy dumpling skirt, sprinkle an even, light layer of flour in the pan right before adding the dumplings.
to boil them boil dumplings in a medium pot of water (no more than like, 8 at a time) for 4 minutes. Rinse with cold water. Done!
substitute the protein You can use ground beef, lamb, turkey or chicken here. Any ground meat! You could even grind up some shrimp. However! If you use a leaner meat (I’m looking at you, chicken), add 2 tablespoons oil (of your choice!) to round things out and make sure the meat doesn’t get too dry.
