China
Veggie Potsticker Party
In China, families gather around one table to fold dumplings together — grandparents, parents and children all folding and talking. It is not just cooking, it is a get-together.
What your child practised
- Salting and squeezing cabbage
- Chopping vegetables with a knife
- Filling and sealing dumpling wrappers
- Pleating dough by hand
- Mixing a dipping sauce
Ingredients makes 8–14 portions
- 30–45 round dumpling wrappers (egg-free)
- 1/2–1 head Napa cabbage
- 2–3 carrots
- 1 bunch green onions
- 1/2–3/4 tsp ground ginger
- 2–3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1–1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 2–3 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 3–4 Tbsp cooking oil
- 1 Tbsp salt
How it is made
- Salt the chopped cabbage and wait 5 minutes, then squeeze the water out over a bowl. Look how much comes out — this is the secret to crispy, never soggy, dumplings.
- Mix the squeezed cabbage with the carrot, green onion, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil.
- Put one teaspoon of filling on a wrapper. Dip one finger in water and run it around the edge like drawing a rainbow — that water is the glue.
- Fold in half, press out the air, and seal. Add pleats if you like.
- An adult pan-fries them: sizzle 2 minutes, add a splash of water, then cover with a lid for 4 minutes. Listen for the sound.
- Mix soy sauce with rice vinegar for dipping, then dip and devour.