Ingredients
- 2 cups green cabbage, finely shredded
- 8 shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped, diced
- 3/4 cup firm tofu, finely chopped, diced
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp minced ginger
- 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
- 3 spring onion shoots, very finely chopped
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp chilli oil (optional)
- 1-2 pinches of salt
- 1-2 pinches of sesame seeds
- 1-2 pinches of ground white pepper, or to taste
- 1 tbsp flour
- Small dish of water
- Pack of pre-made dumpling wrappers
- 1 tbsp Korean ssamjang paste
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1/4 tsp sesame oil
- 2-3 sprigs of Chinese chives
- 1 pinch of sugar
Method
- Finely shred the cabbage with a mandolin (or a sharp knife if you don’t have one) so that it is quite wispy. Set it aside in a bowl and sprinkle with salt to help draw out extra water. This should take around 20 minutes so you can leave it while you prepare other ingredients.
- Finely chop and dice the mushrooms and tofu. Cut the spring onions into rounds and chop again into smaller pieces, almost like a mince. Add all of these to a mixing bowl. Take the cabbage you prepared earlier and wring it out a little to squeeze out any extra water. You don’t want your dumplings to be watery inside so this step is very handy!
- Add 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp minced ginger, 1/2 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tsp sesame oil and 1-2 pinches of ground white pepper and mix well. If you would like your dumplings to have a little spice, you can add 1-2 tsp of chilli oil.
- Prepare your work area for wrapping the dumplings. Lightly dust your chopping board and the surface you will be storing your dumplings on with flour and put some water in a small dish. Take your dumpling wrappers out and scoop roughly a bite size amount of filling into the middle of the wrapper. Dip a finger into the water and trace around the bottom half of the wrapper. This will help the wrapper stick together when you fold it up. Fold one end of the wrapper to the other and make approximately six pleats at the top by pinching and folding the wrapper. You will know if you’ve added too much filling as it will be too hard to close and may ooze out the top. Don’t despair if this is tricky, it takes some time to practice!
- When you are setting your finished dumplings down, it’s a good idea to place a clean damp kitchen towel lightly over the top of them so that they don’t dry out. The same applies to the opened packet of dumplings - place a damp towel over the top so they don’t dry out either as the process can take some time if you are doing it by yourself.
- Steam the dumplings in a rice cooker according to its instructions. I lay some baking paper down onto the steamer, add 2 cups of water to the bowl below and set to cook. Mine takes around 20 minutes. The Gold Star brand of wrappers I use don’t turn very translucent after steaming so don’t fret if you can’t see through to the filling inside. Optionally, you can also pan fry them lightly with some vegetable oil until they are a golden colour if you would like a crispier texture!
- For the dipping sauce, finely chop your sprigs of Chinese chives and set aside. Add 1 tbsp of ssamjang paste, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, pinch of sugar and 1/4 tsp sesame oil to a bowl and mix well so that the sauce isn’t clumpy. Once it is mixed, add the chives and a pinch of sesame seeds.
Product used in recipe
- LEE KUM KEE - LKK PREMIUM SOY SAUCE 500ML
