Pork, cabbage, and chive dumplings

Based on the Chinese/lunar calendar, we've just entered a new year. Which makes sense, since January 2025 felt like an entire year in and of itself and an alternate universe, with January 20 being the day we entered a time machine and began the roll back on transparency and equality in this "great" country.   

But we are now in the year of the snake—a period of transformation, renewal, and growth for 2025. Sounds like it is time to renew connections with our loved ones and pour our energy/resources into organizations that support causes that we care about. Can we grow in spite of the hate that will continue to stifle our humanity for the next 4 years? We need to figure out how to make that happen!    

It is said that eating dumplings during the New Year is a symbol of prosperity, success, and good fortune for the year. 

Which leads me to wonder: what if we continue to stuff ourselves throughout the year with dumpling after dumpling?!? Will that help? Welp, I don't know the answer to that question, but we sure can try!

These dumplings are a perfect mini project to take on if you're in need of some mindfulness from the repetition of rolling out the dough and shaping the dumplings. 

Could you buy the dumpling wrappers and make your life easier? Sure, but what's the fun in that?

I won't be giving detailed instructions in this post on how to fold the dumplings, since there are more experienced people out there who can give you much better direction than I can. And the variety of folds is simply mind boggling, so have fun with it! 

Luckily this dough recipe was very forgiving, and even though this was my first time ever making dumplings it didn't take long to get some photogenic ones.

You'll notice that my dumplings were BIG BOYS! I made them on the slightly larger size (because I increased the original 12 oz pork in the recipe to 16 oz), resulting in very hearty dumplings. But you do you, and feel free to use less meat for a daintier bite. 

But for me, the balance of juicy interior to slightly chewy and crispy wrapper was pretty incredible.

Buen provecho,
Jacqueline

Pork, cabbage, and chive dumplings

Makes 40 dumplings

This recipe was mostly adapted from Cook's Illustrated, with additional inspiration from Omnivore's Cookbook, Serious Eats, I Am Food Blog, and The Woks of Life. Here's a video from Cook's Illustrated with the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl5nSXnsgWI.

You can certainly use store bought dumpling wrappers, though I enjoyed the meditative process with making my own dough. It's best to weigh your flour to make sure your dough has the proper hydration. For an accurate measurement of boiling water, bring a kettle of water to a boil and then measure out the desired amount. 

To ensure dumplings secure well, use minimal flour when handling the dough so that it remains slightly tacky. Keep all the dough covered with a damp towel except when rolling and shaping. There is no need to cover the shaped dumplings. A shorter, smaller-diameter rolling pin works well here, but a conventional pin will also work.

I will not be giving detailed instructions in this post on how to fold the dumplings. Before starting, look up other blog posts or YouTube videos with tutorials on the shape you'd like to experiment with. 

Ingredients

Dough
2½ cups (12 ½ ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup boiling water

Filling
8 cups (1 lb) napa cabbage, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tsp Diamond kosher salt (use ½ tsp if using table salt)

1 lb ground pork
2 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP hoisin sauce
1 to 3 tsp toasted sesame oil (depending on your preference, as this is a potent flavor for some folks)
1 TBSP vegetable oil (I often use olive oil)
1½ TBSP Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 TBSP grated fresh ginger
¼ tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp Diamond kosher salt (use ½ tsp if using table salt)

5 oz (1 ¾ cups) Chinese garlic chives, chopped fine (alternative: 4 green onions, chopped fine)

For serving
Black or rice vinegar
Chili oil
Soy sauce

Directions

1. Prepare the dough. Place flour in food processor. With processor running, add boiling water. Continue to process until dough forms ball and clears sides of bowl, 30 to 45 seconds longer. Transfer dough to counter and knead until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes while you prepare the filling.
2. Prepare the cabbage. Scrape excess dough from the empty food processor bowl and blade. Pulse half the cabbage in processor until finely chopped, 8 to 10 pulses. Transfer cabbage to a large bowl. Repeat by pulsing the other half of the cabbage in the food processor, transferring to the same large bowl. Sprinkle cabbage with 1 tsp kosher salt and mix well. Let sit for 10 minutes. Using your hands, squeeze excess moisture from cabbage. Transfer cabbage to small bowl and set aside. (You'll re-use the large bowl shortly.)
3. Prepare the pork. In the food processor, pulse pork, soy sauce, hoisin, sesame oil, vegetable oil, rice wine, ginger, pepper, and 1 tsp kosher salt in now-empty food processor until blended and slightly sticky, about 10 pulses. 
4. Mix together filling. Scatter cabbage over pork mixture. Add scallions and pulse until vegetables are evenly distributed, about 8 pulses. Transfer pork mixture to large bowl and, using rubber spatula, smooth surface. Cover with plastic and refrigerate. (Note: if you want to make sure the filling is adjusted to your taste, take a small piece of the pork mixture, shape into small patty, and cook through on a small frying pan. Adjust sauces/salt/pepper, to taste.) 
5. Divide your dough. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Dust lightly with flour and set aside. Unwrap dough and transfer to counter. Roll dough into a 12-inch cylinder and cut cylinder into 4 equal pieces. Set 3 pieces aside and cover with plastic. Let's start with your first piece of dough.
6. Prepare your first quarter batch. Roll dough into an 8-inch cylinder. Cut cylinder in half and cut each half into 5 equal pieces, for a total of 10 pieces. Place dough pieces cut-side down on lightly floured counter and lightly dust with flour. Using palm of your hand, press each dough piece into 2-inch disk. Cover disks with damp towel. (Go to the ~6 minute mark of this video from Cooks Illustrated for a visual of the process.)
7. Get ready to roll. Roll 1 disk into 3 ½-inch round (wrappers needn’t be perfectly round) and re-cover disk with damp towel. Repeat with remaining disks. (Do not overlap disks.) When rolling the disks, make sure the edges of the wrappers are a bit thinner than the center.
8. Fill 'em up. Using rubber spatula, mark filling with cross to divide into 4 equal portions. Transfer 1 portion of pork filling to small bowl and refrigerate remaining filling. Working with 1 wrapper at a time (keep remaining wrappers covered), place 1 tablespoon filling in center of wrapper. Brush away any flour clinging to surface of wrapper. Shape and seal the dumplings based upon your preference. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling in bowl. If you're using pre-made dumpling wrappers, dip your finger into a small bowl of water to wet the edge of the wrapper.
9. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Repeat dumpling-making process (steps 6 through 8) with remaining 3 pieces dough and remaining 3 portions filling.
10. Time to cook. Follow one of the following methods below to cook your dumplings. You can also Google "dumpling skirt" if you want a lacy, crispy, crackly tuile-like layer on the bottom of the dumplings. 
1. TO PAN-FRY: Brush 12-inch nonstick skillet with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Evenly space 16 dumplings, flat sides down, around edge of skillet and place 4 in center. Cook over medium heat until bottoms begin to turn spotty brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Off heat, carefully add ½ cup water (water will sputter). Return skillet to heat and bring water to boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to medium-high, and cook until water has evaporated and bottoms of dumplings are crispy and browned, 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer dumplings to platter, crispy sides up. (To cook second batch of dumplings, let skillet cool for 10 minutes. Rinse skillet under cool water and wipe dry with paper towels. Repeat cooking process with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and remaining dumplings.)
2. TO BOIL: Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven or pot over high heat. Add 20 dumplings, a few at a time, stirring gently to prevent them from sticking. Return to simmer, adjusting heat as necessary to maintain simmer. Cook dumplings for 8 minutes. Drain well.
11. Time to eat. Serve dumplings hot, passing vinegar, chili oil, and extra soy sauce separately for dipping.
12. Planning ahead? Place uncooked dumplings on rimmed baking sheet and cover with clean plastic bag. Place in the freezer overnight, or until frozen solid. Transfer to zipper-lock bag and keep frozen (up to 2 months for best quality). To pan-fry, increase water to 2/3 cup and covered cooking time to 10 to 12 minutes. To boil, increase cooking time to 9 to 10 minutes.