Rice paper dumplings

Method9 steps · about 50 min

1. 1

   Step 1: Remove the core from the quarter small cabbage, wash and roughly chop it. Blitz this cabbage in a food processor until finely chopped. Toss it thoroughly with the half teaspoon cabbage salt (½ tsp) and let it stand for fifteen minutes.

   Rest salted chopped cabbage · 15 minUses ¼ small white cabbage, cored and roughly chopped · ½ tsp salt for cabbage resting

2. 2

   Step 2: Tip the rested cabbage into a clean tea towel and squeeze out as much water as possible; discard the squeezed-out liquid. Peel and grate the carrot (1), clean and finely chop the shiitake mushrooms (100 g), crush the peeled garlic (2), peel/grate the ginger (20 g) and wash/finely slice only the three filling spring onions. Put all these prepared vegetables and the squeezed cabbage in a bowl with all the raw ground pork (400 g), only the two teaspoons filling soy sauce and all two teaspoons sesame oil. Keep the separate dipping ingredients untouched.

   Uses All salted cabbage after its 15-minute rest · 1 carrot, grated · 100 g shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped · 400 g raw ground pork · 2 garlic cloves, crushed · 20 g ginger, peeled and grated · 2 tsp soy sauce for filling · 2 tsp sesame oil for filling

3. 3

   Step 3: Season the filling with ground black pepper to taste. Scrunch the ingredients thoroughly together with clean hands until evenly combined. Do not taste the raw pork filling. Wash your hands and raw-contact tools before making the clean dipping sauce.

   Uses All the filling bowl ingredients · Ground black pepper to taste for filling

4. 4

   Step 4: Lightly oil the chopping board with some of the separate board/plate oil. Put warm wrapper-soaking water in a shallow dish. Soak one rice-paper sheet for a couple of seconds and transfer it to the oiled board. Put one heaped tablespoon of the combined raw pork filling in the middle, then fold the bottom of the sheet up over it.

   Uses One heaped tablespoon from the filling · One rice-paper sheet for the first dumpling · Warm water in a shallow dish for briefly soaking rice paper · Extra vegetable oil to lightly grease the board and plate

5. 5

   Step 5: Fold down the top of the sheet, then fold in both sides to fully enclose the filling in a neat square. If this dumpling feels fragile, briefly soak a second rice-paper sheet in the warm wrapper water and wrap it again; otherwise keep the single wrap.

   Uses The first partly folded dumpling · One extra sheet only if the dumpling needs double wrapping · Warm water in a shallow dish for briefly soaking rice paper

6. 6

   Step 6: Lightly oil a holding plate with the separate board/plate oil and put the first dumpling on it. Repeat the same brief sheet soak, heaped-tablespoon filling and square folding with the remaining filling to make twenty dumplings in all. Use one sheet per dumpling, adding a second only for fragile wraps, so twenty to forty sheets may be needed. Keep the formed dumplings on the oiled plate until frying.

   Uses The first wrapped dumpling · Only the unwrapped filling remaining · Only the remaining rice-paper sheets, with second wraps when needed · Warm water in a shallow dish for briefly soaking rice paper · Extra vegetable oil to lightly grease the board and plate

7. 7

   Step 7: Heat the measured seventy-five millilitres frying oil (75 ml) in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat, keeping the pan no more than one-third full. Fry the formed dumplings in uncrowded batches for three to five minutes on their first side until golden. Turn carefully with a slotted spoon, cover with the lid and cook the other side for three to four minutes.

   One batch: 3–5 minutes on the first side, then 3–4 minutes covered on the second · 9 minUses The formed dumplings, fried in uncrowded batches · 75 ml vegetable oil for frying, separate from board/plate oil

8. 8

   Step 8: Remove the lid and cook the batch for another one to two minutes until crisp. Check the centre of the raw-pork filling reaches at least 71 °C /160 °F with a food thermometer; continue cooking as needed. Lift out the fully cooked dumplings and repeat the complete frying sequence with any remaining formed dumplings, using the same frying oil.

   Uncovered final crisping of one cooked dumpling batch · 2 minUses Each batch after its covered stage

9. 9

   Step 9: Using clean utensils, wash and finely slice the two dipping-sauce spring onions. Combine them with only the separate two tablespoons dipping soy sauce, all the rice vinegar (2 tbsp) and half tablespoon toasted sesame seeds in a small clean bowl. Serve the fully cooked dumplings with this dipping sauce on the side as a starter or side dish.

   Uses All fully cooked dumpling batches · 2 tbsp soy sauce for dipping sauce · 2 tbsp rice vinegar for dipping sauce · ½ tbsp toasted sesame seeds for dipping sauce · 2 spring onions, finely sliced for dipping sauce