"Crack" Dumpling With Crispy Rice (Guoba)

1. 1

   Mix the pork, cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, and garlic together. Let sit while frying the rice.

2. 2

   Sprinkle the red cabbage with two healthy pinches of salt. If making a vegetarian version of this dumpling, you may need to add soy sauce as well. Mix well.

3. 3

   To create the crispy rice, it needs to be deep-fried. Heat the oil in a shallow pan over medium heat. The oil is ready when you touch a wooden chopstick to the bottom of the pan and a steady, neither too slow nor too fast, stream of bubbles emerges from the bottom of the chopstick.

4. 4

   Break up the rice into individual grains as much as possible and add it to the frying pan in a single layer. Here is a *great* time to use your splatter screen, as the rice will pop and oil will splatter around, so be careful. Gently move the rice around so it cooks evenly. When the bottom layer is a light yellow brown (about 1 minute), flip the rice and fry until golden brown (about 30 more seconds). Remove and drain on a paper towel. If using a small pan, you may have to do this in two batches.

5. 5

   When the rice is cool enough to handle, crumble the rice again into individual grains (again, as much as possible).

6. 6

   Mix with the cabbage, sprouts, and pork . This filling will be quite loose (unlike most meat-heavy dumpling fillings). Mix very well to make sure the meat is dispersed evenly throughout the filling.

7. 7

   To wrap dumplings, first moisten the edges of one side of the wrapper by dipping your finger in water and running it around the edge. Put in about a generous amount of filling (approximately a heaping teaspoon, but it will depend on your wrapper). Leave about 1/4 inch around the rim, so you can squeeze the wrapper tightly closed. Pleat the wrapper to make more attractive dumplings by by folding a little of wrapper back on itself and pinching together. Make sure the whole dumpling is sealed, if it is not sealing, moisten with more water or press harder.

8. 8

   At this point, you can flash freeze the dumplings and keep them until you are ready to cook. To cook: add water to a deep pot, to about halfway. Bring the water in a deep saucepan to a boil. Add dumplings. When the water boils again, add a cup of water (this amount will vary depending on how many dumplings you are cooking and the amount of water in the pan. If making just a few dumplings, a teacup is sufficient; if making more, then you may need to use a coffee mug's worth of water). Let the water come to a boil again, and then add another cup of water. The dumplings are done when the water comes to a boil for the second time.

* Per serving · 4 servings · Values may vary.