I had a barbecue the other week, and bought too much cole slaw. I only made dressing for one of the bags, and still had the other, and thought to myself, what can I do with a bunch of pre-shredded carrots and cabbage? Turn it into dumpling filler, of course! So I bought some premade gyoza wrappers from a supermarket in New York’s Koreatown, and went for it.
Ingredients (makes about 50 dumplings):
- 1 bag of cole slaw mix (or I guess you could buy half a cabbage and some carrots and shred them yourself, but ugh the work)
- 4 oz shiitake mushrooms, cut into small cubes
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced (whites separated from greens)
- 3 tbs minced ginger
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 package of gyoza wrappers, 50 count
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbs fish sauce
- 1 tbs ponzu sauce
- 1 tbs sesame oil
For the dipping sauce:
- Ratio of soy sauce to ponzu sauce 3:1
- Throw in some scallion greens if you’d like (optional)
In a large wok or pan with sides, heat a dollop of olive oil over medium heat. Add the ginger, garlic, and white parts of the scallions and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, green scallions and sesame oil. Cook stirring occasionally until softened, 10-15 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce, fish sauce, and ponzu sauce. Season with a bit of pepper and salt if needed (should be enough salt in there with the sauces, but hey, your tastebuds). Remove from heat and set aside.
Make yourself a little working area where you can make your dumplings. Get a small bowl and put in a bit of water, you’ll be using this to seal your dumpins. Put about a tsp to a tsp and a half of filling in the center of each gyoza wrapper. Wet your finger and wet the edge of the dough. Fold in half, then fold the folded edge in to seal shut. You can make a pretty little pattern this way.
Now, I like to steam my dumplings, but you can fry them, too. Up to you! If you fry them, fry them over medium high heat for about 3 minutes each side. To steam them, fill a steamer with about 1-2 inches of water, and steam the dumplings with the lid on for 5 minutes. Cook the dumplings in waves, you don’t want them to stick to each other while they’re steaming — I fit about 8 dumplings per steaming session. Fold the next batch of dumplings while the first batch steams, keep going until your filling is gone.
Make a little dipping sauce for the dumplings while they cook.
These reheat really nicely, too, I made them for lunch to bring in to work all week last week. Enjoy!
Hilary's Kitchen 