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–+ servings
Chinese steamed pork and cabbage dumplings / jiaozi / potstickers

Chinese Pork & Cabbage Dumplings

Vijitha Mammen
This recipe gives you classic Chinese Pork and Cabbage dumplings that are tender and juicy! You can use the same recipe with any meat of your choice. Follow the tips to ensure the meat is moist every single time, to make the filling ahead, to freeze dumplings and more!
5 from 9 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 45 dumplings

Ingredients
  

  • 450 g Napa Cabbage (Refer to notes)
  • 450 g Ground Pork (or any ground meat eg. lamb, chicken, beef) (Refer to notes)
  • 4 nos. Scallions / Green Onions (chopped)
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • ¼ tsp White Pepper
  • 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 3 tbsp Shaoxing WIne
  • 2 tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil
  • 2 tbsp Canola oil (Refer to notes)
  • 3 tbsp Water
  • Dumpling wrappers (homemade or store-bought)
  • 1 small bowl of water

Instructions
 

  • Chop Napa cabbage as fine as you can. (I make it small enough so that I can easily wrap the dumplings without the cabbage pieces coming out, but not too fine because I like to bite into the cabbage as well.)
  • Put the chopped napa cabbage into a large bowl, and sprinkle 2 pinches of salt. Mix well and leave aside for 15 minutes so that the cabbage starts releasing its natural water content.

Making the filling

  • In a separate bowl, combine ground pork, scallions, salt, white pepper, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, toasted sesame oil and canola oil. Mix well till combined.
  • Add water in parts to the meat mixture. Each time the water is added, beat it in and swirl the meat mixture in the bowl till the meat absorbs all of the water and you no longer see any water. I used a total of 3 tbsp of water. Leave the bowl aside.
  • Using a cheesecloth or bare hands, squeeze the napa cabbage to remove as much water as possible.
  • Combine the drained napa cabbage and the meat mixture. Do this only when you are ready to wrap the dumplings, or else the cabbage will release more water during the wait and the filling will be watery. The dumpling filling is now ready.

Wrapping Dumplings

  • Take a dumpling wrapper. Place 1 - 2 tbsp (depending on the size of your wrapper) of dumpling filling on the center of the wrapper.
  • Dip your finger in a small bowl of water & wet the outer edges of the dumpling wrapper.
  • Fold the circular dumpling wrapper in half and pinch the middle points together at the top.
  • Hold the dumpling with one hand. Using the other hand, start folding the edges into pleats to seal the dumpling. Once all the pleats have been made, press the pleated side of the dumpling firmly to ensure it is sealed well.
  • Place the dumplings on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Make sure the dumplings don't touch each other or they'll stick together.

Steaming the dumplings

  • Line the steamer with napa cabbage leaves. Place the dumplings (at least a finger-width apart) on the lined steamer.
  • In a large wok or pan that can fit the steamer, add about 2 inches of water (The height of water should be such that when boiling, the water does not reach up to the leaves on which the dumplings are placed).
  • Place the steamer in the wok. Cover and cook over high heat for 10 minutes.
  • Serve immediately with dipping sauce.

Freezing the dumplings

  • Place the uncooked dumplings in a freezer-safe container ensuring the dumplings are not sticking to each other. (If using sheet pan lined with parchment paper, seal the sheet pan tightly with plastic wrap after placing the dumplings on it.)
  • Allow the dumplings to freeze completely. (I leave them in the freezer overnight.)
  • To save freezer space, transfer the frozen dumplings to Ziploc bags and return to the freezer for later use.
  • Cook frozen dumplings without thawing. If steaming, it should take about 15 - 20 minutes for the frozen dumplings to cook through.

Video

Notes

  1. Ground meat: Use ground meat with at least 20% fat. Since most ready-to-use ground meat available in stores these days are lean meat, you can buy a meat cut with a high fat content and grind it yourself using a food processor or mince it using a cleaver. If you are using lean ground meat or simply don't want to use animal fat, you can add some neutral-tasting oil.
  2. Adding canola oil: You can use any neutral-tasting oil in place of canola. Eg. sunflower oil, vegetable oil. You don't need to add canola oil if you are using meat with fat content of 20% or more.
  3. You can substitute Napa Cabbage with Bok choy, Savoy cabbage or Green swiss chard.
  4. The number of dumplings you get depends on the size of the wrappers.
 
Refer to the main blog post above the recipe card for more tips.
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