Best 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.

BEIJING-STYLE PORK & SHRIMP JIAOZI (CHINESE DUMPLINGS)

Steps:

• Clean the cabbage, chop it, and put it in a large non-reactive pot with salt Set it aside and let it sweat out water for 45 min or so (you can prepare this ahead).
• If you're using a meat grinder, feed the shrimp, pork, garlic, onions, and ginger through the meat grinder, getting everything to be a smooth, yet chunky mixture. If you're using a food processor, you're going to half way freeze the meat, and chop each ingredient on it's own, and then mix them in a pasta bowl. Traditionally, all these ingredients are minced and chopped using a large cutting board and a cleaver. However you do it, it's up to you.
• Put the meat and veggie mixture into a a large bowl. Add the salt, soy sauce, egg and sugar to the mixture.
• In a heavy skillet, heat up the oil. Add the spice powders and toast the spices. Pour this mixture hot over the meat mixture in the bowl, and stir inches.
• Drain the cabbage, rinse it and drain again. Mix it in to the meat mixture.
• (Optional step) Make the dumpling wrappers: mix together 1 1/2 cup flour and pinch of salt and then slowly add just enough water to result in a springy dough. Knead it a lot to make the gluten stringy and strong. Roll the dough out into a long rope, cut the rope apart into ping pong ball sized pieces. Flatten the pieces out into small flat discs, and flour a table or cutting board, and roll them out using a beer bottle or small rolling pin. As you make them, hand them to the person wrapping the dumplings. Or just buy the pre-made wrappers.
• Wrap the dumplings in the dumpling skins, pinching together the sides and tucking in the ends.
• Cook the dumplings: boil a pot of water. Drop the dumplings in, they are ready when the float to the top of the pot. Don't boil too many at once, or they'll stick together. Scoop them out with a strainer, so you can use the water for the next batch.
• Serve with soy sauce, dipping sauce, raw garlic (for true Northern Chinese style eating!), chili sauce, or cut up green onions.