Napa Cabbage Pork Dumplings (白菜猪肉饺子 Bai Cai Zhu Rou Jiao Zi)

Rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimp. Put them separately in small bowls. Immerse them with hot water and cover the shiitake mushroom bowl with a lid. Leave both for 20 to 30 minutes or until soft.

Peel and mince the ginger (the finer the better). Chop the green onions into small pieces.

In a large mixing bowl, add the 2 lbs (~900g) of ground pork, minced ginger, chopped green onions, 2 teaspoons of kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon of table salt), and 1 tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine, mixing either clockwise or counterclockwise until well mixed. Cover the mixing bowl with a plastic wrap and put in the fridge. Let the ground pork marinate a bit while preparing the other ingredients.

Line a large mixing bowl with a cheese cloth.6 Peel the leaves of the napa cabbage and clean them under running water. Drain thoroughly. Take 2 to 3 large leaves out at a time and cut the leaves first in half crosswise. Then cut the halves along the grain of the napa into thin strips, as shown. Finally, stack the strips and cut them into small pieces. (The pieces need to be quite small but not to the point that after squeezing the water out, there is nothing but fiber left.) Put the chopped napa in the cheese-cloth-lined bowl. Repeat the same process until all the napa leaves are chopped into small pieces.

Add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (or 0.5 teaspoon of table salt) to the chopped napa leaves, mixing well. Wait at least 15 minutes to let the salt do its magic of pulling the water out. Meanwhile, take the softened shiitake mushrooms4 and lightly squeeze the water out of the mushrooms. Remove the mushroom stems, and chop them into tiny pieces (even smaller than the chopped napa). Chop the dried shrimp4 into equally small pieces. Set the shiitake mushroom and dried shrimp pieces aside.

When at least 15 minutes have passed, lift the cheese cloth and wrap it tightly around the chopped napa to force the water out. If you don't have a cheese cloth, grab a handful of chopped napa and close two palms together tightly to squeeze the water out (like making a tightly packed snowball). There should be substantial water squeezed out from the napa. Save the napa water.

When quite a lot of water has been squeezed out of the napa, add the napa pieces to the ground pork mix. Then add the chopped shiitake mushrooms, chopped dried shrimp, and 3 tablespoons of sesame oil, slowly mixing with a pair of chopsticks either clockwise or counterclockwise. Slowly add 2 tablespoons of squeezed napa water until everything is incorporated. If the filling seems dry, add more napa water.

Follow steps 5-8 from my other dumpling post for detailed instructions on how to fold the dumplings (the pleated way) as well as the two cooking methods I normally use (the pot sticker method and the boiling method).

Dipping sauce: for every 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, use 2-3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. For more flavors, add some chopped cilantro and minced garlic. For a spicy kick, add a few drops of chili oil or chili sauce.

Frozen Dumpling: Line a thin cutting board or baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the dumplings in an orderly fashion until the board is filled. Make sure to leave some space between each dumpling so no two dumplings touch. Put the entire board flat in the freezer section of the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or until the dumplings have become hard. Take them out of the freezer and quickly put them one by one in a large Ziploc bag. Seal the bag then immediately return the Ziploc bag with the dumplings to the freezer. These frozen dumplings can be stored in a freezer for up to 3 months. To cook frozen dumplings, follow the same cooking method described above. It usually takes only slightly longer than the freshly made ones.