Food, like music, has the ability to conjure up memories of people, places and situations in a way that few things can. Making dumplings reminds me of my late grandmother; who was the undisputed dumpling queen in my family. As a child, I spent many afternoons sitting around the wooden table in gran’s kitchen, watching her knead and roll out the dough to make perfectly formed dumplings, deep-filled with a range of delicious fillings (wild blueberry ones that she always made in summer were my favourite).
Sadly, back then I wasn’t into cooking, so I didn’t manage to pick her brains about any of her culinary secrets. I wonder what she would have said if she could try today’s invention? Would she think it’s an abomination (traditional Polish cabbage filling is a mixture of sauerkraut, white cabbage and dried mushrooms)? Or would she like my slightly spicy, aromatic, Asian-inspired filling? Either way, if she could see the array of little white hand-rolled shapes I would like to think she would be proud that I was (in some small way) continuing the family legacy. The trick to making good cabbage dumplings is rolling the dough as thin as it can be without splitting when filled. As red cabbage is, well, red, don’t be put off if you see this red peeking through your cooked dough; that’s a sign of a good, thin dough. You can eat the dumplings boiled, but I think that pan-frying them after boiling takes them up a few notches. Just a word of warning, these are highly addictive! If you are planning to make an extra batch for another day, keep it out of sight. After his long Sunday run, Duncan managed to polish off 40 of these cabbage dumplings and was still sniffing around the kitchen for more.
450 g red cabbage, very finely shredded 150 g sauerkraut* 1 onion, finely diced 2 garlic cloves, finely diced 2 tsp Sriracha (or chilli to taste) 2 heaped tsp grated ginger 2 handfuls of fresh coriander, finely chopped 2 handfuls of peanuts, finely chopped 2 tbsp dark soy sauce 2 tbsp olive oil freshly ground pepper 1 tsp miso paste** (optional)
DOUGH
2 cups plain flour ½ cup + 2-3 tbsp of hot water 1 tsp fine sea salt 1 tbsp olive oil
DIPPING SAUCE
4 tbsp dark soy sauce 4 tbsp lime juice 2 tsp brown sugar 1 tbsp sesame oil chopped spring onion to garnish
