Pork and Cabbage Potstickers

Ingredients

• 400g plain flour
• 230ml just-boiled water
• 3g salt
• 400g minced pork (about 25% fat)
• 400g napa cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt (for the cabbage)
• 3 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 tbsp neutral oil, for frying
• 300ml water, for steaming
• Black vinegar with slivered ginger, to serve

Before you cook

• Mix the flour and 3g salt, pour in the just-boiled water while stirring with chopsticks, and let it cool for 5 minutes.
• Knead the warm dough for 8 minutes until smooth, then cover and rest for 30 minutes.
• Toss the chopped cabbage with 1 tsp salt and leave it for 15 minutes.
• Squeeze the cabbage hard in a clean cloth to wring out as much water as you can.

Steps

1. Combine the pork, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, ginger, white pepper and sugar in a bowl.
2. Stir the mixture in one direction for 2 minutes until it becomes sticky.
3. Fold in the squeezed cabbage, spring onions and sesame oil.
4. Roll the rested dough into a rope and cut it into 40 pieces.
5. Roll each piece into a thin round about 8cm across.
6. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of filling into a wrapper and fold it into a half moon with three or four pleats along the front edge.
7. Press the base of each finished dumpling gently on the board so it will sit flat in the pan.
8. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large lidded non-stick pan over medium-high heat.
9. Arrange half the dumplings flat-side down in tight rows.
10. Fry them undisturbed for 2 minutes until the bases are golden.
11. Pour in 150ml of water and clamp the lid on immediately, standing back from the steam.
12. Steam for 7 minutes, until the water has almost gone and the wrappers look translucent.
13. Take the lid off and let the last of the water cook away, about 2 minutes, until you hear the sizzle change back to frying.
14. Fry for 1 more minute to re-crisp the bases.
15. Invert a plate over the pan and turn the whole thing out so the crisp sides face up.
16. Cook the second batch the same way and serve with black vinegar and slivered ginger.