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Pork and pickled cabbage dumplings
Suāncài jiǎozi (酸菜饺子) — hearty Dongbei boiled dumplings with sour cabbage and pork
These are the dumplings north-eastern families make together on New Year's Eve and on any snowy Sunday, with the whole household rolling, filling and boiling around the kitchen table. Tangy fermented cabbage, chopped fine and squeezed dry, is mixed with fatty pork and sizzling Sichuan-pepper oil, so the filling is juicy, sour and warmly numbing at the same time. The wrappers are slightly thick and chewy, the way Dongbei cooks like them. Pile them on a plate and serve with black vinegar, garlic and a spoon of chilli oil; a bowl of the cooking water to drink afterwards is a northern habit. Chef's tip: pour the hot pepper oil straight onto the spring onions in the filling; the sizzle releases their fragrance into every dumpling.
- Total time
- 90 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 5
Ingredients
For the dough
For the filling
To serve
Method
0/10 doneStep 1: Mix 16 oz plain flour and ½ tsp salt, add 1 cup cold water a little at a time and knead for 8 minutes into a firm, smooth dough. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
10 minStep 2: Rinse 12 ½ oz Chinese fermented cabbage (suan cai), chop it very finely, then squeeze it in a clean tea towel until no more liquid drips out. This matters more than anything: wet cabbage makes the filling weep and the wrappers split.
8 minStep 3: On a separate board, put 16 oz fatty minced pork, ½ oz fresh ginger, 1 ½ tbsp light soy sauce, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp sugar and ½ tsp ground white pepper in a large bowl. Stir in one direction with chopsticks, adding ¼ cup cold water or chicken stock a spoonful at a time, until the pork is sticky and has absorbed it all.
4 minStep 4: Put 3 spring onions in a small heatproof bowl on top of the meat. Heat 3 tbsp neutral oil with 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns in a small pan over a low heat for 2–3 minutes until the peppercorns darken and smell toasty, then strain the hot oil straight onto the spring onions.
3 minStep 5: Stir the sizzled spring onions, the squeezed cabbage and 1 tbsp sesame oil into the pork until evenly mixed. Keep the filling in the fridge between batches.
Step 6: Roll the dough into logs and cut into 50 pieces. Roll each into a 7–8 cm round, thinner at the edge.
Step 7: Put a generous teaspoon of filling in each wrapper, fold over and press closed, then pinch a row of small pleats along one side so the dumpling curves like a crescent. Set on a floured tray.
30 minStep 8: Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil and add about 15 dumplings, stirring gently so none stick. When the water returns to the boil, pour in 150 ml of cold water.
3 minStep 9: Let it come back to the boil and add another 150 ml of cold water; repeat a third time. This old Dongbei trick cooks the thick wrapper and pork through without bursting the skins. The dumplings are ready when they float, look puffed and the filling of a test dumpling is firm with no pink, at 160°F (160 °F).
8 minStep 10: Lift out with a slotted spoon and serve straight away with vinegar, garlic and chilli oil. Cook the rest in batches.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 540 kcal
- Protein
- 22 g
- Carbs
- 66 g
- Fat
- 20 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does pork and pickled cabbage dumplings take?
- About 90 minutes in total: 60 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 5 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of chinese fermented cabbage (suan cai)?
- Savoy or spring greens, same weight.
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