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Recipes / Family table

Pork & cabbage dumplings

Big kids & familyTime: 60 min · Serves: Makes ~40 dumplings

Ingredients

  • 400 g ground pork
  • 300 g napa cabbage, finely chopped and salted
  • 2 scallions, minced
  • 1 tbsp grated ginger
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 egg
  • 40 round dumpling wrappers
  • Black vinegar for dipping

Steps

  1. 01Salt the chopped cabbage 10 minutes, then squeeze out the water hard — watery filling is why dumplings burst.
  2. 02Mix the pork, cabbage, scallions, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, and egg, stirring in one direction until sticky.
  3. 03Set up a family assembly line: a spoonful of filling, wet the wrapper's rim, fold and pinch. Kids' lumpy ones cook just as well.
  4. 04Boil in batches: when the pot returns to a boil, add a cup of cold water; when it boils again and the dumplings float, they're done.
  5. 05Serve with black vinegar for dipping. Freeze the rest raw on a tray before bagging.

Why it works

Dumpling night is dinner and the activity at once — kids who fold their own dumplings eat their own dumplings. One session stocks the freezer with a two-week supply of 10-minute meals.

Tips

  • A sticky, one-direction-stirred filling holds together instead of crumbling out of the wrapper.
  • Frozen dumplings go straight into boiling water — never thaw first.

Cooking for a baby too? Set aside an unseasoned portion before the salt and sauces go in, then check the food's own page for the safe form at their age.

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