Happy St. Patrick’s Day! St. Patrick’s Day has become a quintessential American holiday and something I look forward to each year. I also love it for all the fun holiday decor, food and festivities. While I do appreciate corned beef and cabbage, it’s not the most exciting meal and if I’m going to eat corned beef I might prefer an epic sandwich from Katz Deli rather than a plain roast with bland veggies. To spice things up I decided to put an asian spin on the classic holiday dish, but keep the best of the classic flavors. Corned beef and cabbage potstickers seemed like the perfect idea. Potstickers are fun also a great vehicle for combining the typically boring side of cabbage with flavorful beef. I love the portable/portionable nature of potstickers too. Making them green seemed very festive too! This recipe is also great for using up your leftovers if you’ve already made corned beef. To finish off this dish serve it with our kale and cabbage salad. It’s a light and refreshing side dish alternative to the traditional rib-sticking (and dare I say boring) sides of potatoes and carrots. I had a lot of fun developing this recipe and even more fun eating it! Served with grainy mustard for dipping it’s sure to liven up your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations!
Note: For a BIG shortcut you can buy wrappers from the store and use leftovers or pre-made corned beef for your filling
Corned Beef and Cabbage Potstickers
Ingredients
For the Wrappers:
- 4 cups flour + extra for workspace or if dough is too moist
- pinch of salt
- 1¾ cup boiling water
- Green food coloring I used 6/7 drops
For the Filling:
- 1 lb ground beef I used 80% lean
- 2 TBSP McCormick pickling spice
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 yellow onion
- 4 cups nappa cabbage 1 small head
- 1 TBSP flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Make the dough for the wrappers
- Start by making the dough for the wrappers as it will need time to rest
- Into a bowl add the flour and salt and stir in the boiling water. I’d recommend using a spatula.
- Stir the mixture until the flour is mostly absorbed by the water.
- Dump the flour mixture onto your counter or a clean surface.
- Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes until its soft and smooth. You may need some extra flour to keep the dough from sticking to your work surface.
- Shape the kneaded dough into a log and cut into four equal sections.
- Take each section and form them into a round ball. Then poke a hole in the center of each ball and shape into an "O" or bagel.
- Cover the four bagels with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rest for 20 minutes.
Make the Filling
- Grind 2 tablespoons of pickling spice in a spice grinder
- If you don’t have a spice grinder place into a plastic bag and break up larger pieces by pounding with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer.
- Add finely ground spices to ¼ cup water and blend with 2 cloves of garlic using an immersion blender and set aside (you can skip this step if you used a spice grinder).
- Finely dice the yellow onion and finely chop the napa cabbage
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of oil to a saute pan and add the onions. Cook onions until translucent.
- Once onions are fairly well cooked add in the cabbage and cook until well done. It should reduce in volume by half.
- Add in the ground beef and the spice mixture breaking up the meat with a spoon or spatula and mixing with the cabbage and onions.
- Continue to cook until well done
- Once fully cooked with limited liquid in the pan add in the tablespoon of flour and mix in. This will bring all of the juices together and thicken the liquid into a sauce.
- Once finished transfer the filling to a bowl for dumpling assembly. If you have time let the filling chill in the fridge or freezer as it's easier to handle when its cool and the sauce is firmer.
Assemble the dumplings
- Once your filling is ready set up a station to start forming the dumplings.
- Lightly flour your work surface, and fill a small bowl with water.
- Take out one of your ‘bagels’ and cut the dough into even 1-inch portions to roll out. Each round of dough will make roughly 15 wrappers.
- Keep newly cut dough pieces and remaining ‘bagels’ covered to keep them from drying out.
- Take one piece of dough and roll into a ball. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a circle about 3-4 inches in diameter.
- Place wrapper into the palm of your hand and using a spoon or cookie scoop place roughly one tablespoon of filling into the center of the wrapper.
- ‘Seal’ the wrapper by dipping your index finger into the bowl of water and swiping it across the bottom outer edge of the wrapper.
- Fold the wrapper in half creating a half-moon shape and joining the moistened bottom edge to the top edge.
- Pinch edges together to complete the seal
- Be careful not to overfill the wrappers as the extra moisture from the filling will make it hard to seal and add the dumpling pleats
- To add the classic dumping folds/pleats start from one end and make fold towards the center of the dumpling and pinch to seal. Add three or four symmetrical pleats as you reach the other end of the dumpling wrapper.
- Place finished dumplings on a cookie sheet or flour dusted surface and repeat process with remaining dough pieces. You can cover them to keep them from drying out.
Cook/Fry the dumplings
- Select a large non-stick pan with a lid. The lid is very important!
- Place 1-2 tablespoons of oil into your pan on medium heat.
- Once pan is hot, place dumplings in the pan leaving space between them so they don’t stick together.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the bottom turns a golden brown.
- Grab your lid and using a ladle or large spoon place 4-5 tablespoons of water into the hot pan and immediately cover with the lid and reduce the heat to medium low. The lid is very important as it will keep the steam and heat in the pan, cooking the top of the dumplings. The lid is also important because it will prevent you from getting splashed and possibly burned by the hot oil/water.
- Let the dumplings steam for 5-8 minutes until thoroughly heated and water has evaporated from the pan.
- Serve finished dumplings with grainy mustard
Below is the perfectly paired Kale and Cabbage Salad
Kale and Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 2 cups Nappa cabbage
- 2 cups Lacinato kale
- 2 Large Carrots
- 1 cup Edamame
For the Dressing:
- 1/2 cup White vinegar
- 1/4 cup Whole grain mustard
- 1/2 cup Olive oil
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
Instructions
For the Salad:
- Wash and dry your produce as it's going to be served raw
- Finely and evenly chop the napa cabbage
- For the Kale, remove the center ‘vein’ or stem from all of the leaves and finely and evenly chop
- Grate the two large carrots
- Measure out the cup of edamame. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix.
For the Dressing:
- In a separate bowl measure out all of the dressing ingredients and use a whisk to combine
- Pour dressing over the salad and mix together. Serve immediately or store for a few days in the fridge. The salad will keep in the fridge for a few days and not get soggy as the kale and cabbage are fairly substantial veggies.
