Chicken and Napa cabbage dumplings
Hand-chopped chicken thigh and squeezed-dry Napa cabbage wrapped into dumplings and boiled until plump — silky, sweet and juicy, with a short ingredient list you can trust.
- 53 min
- Serves 2
- Boil
- Medium
Why it suits you: Special, allergy-prone constitutions do best with simple, fresh, easily digested food, and Bailu's changing weather can set off runny noses and itchy skin. Chicken warms the middle and boosts qi, while Napa cabbage clears heat, eases restlessness and keeps the bowels moving. With no seafood or nuts and every ingredient made by hand, these are dumplings you can eat with confidence.
Method
Prep 45 min · Cook 8 min- 1Finely chop the cabbage, mix with ½ tsp salt and leave for 10 minutes, then squeeze dry in muslin. Chop the spring onions.
- 2Chop the chicken finely and mix with the ginger, remaining salt, soy sauce, cornflour and pepper, stirring in one direction until sticky. Stir in the cabbage, spring onion and sesame oil.
- 3Put a teaspoon of filling in the centre of each wrapper, brush the edge with water, fold in half and pinch firmly to seal.
- 4Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the dumplings, stirring gently. When it returns to the boil, add half a bowl of cold water; repeat twice more until the dumplings float and puff up.
Cautions
- Avoid these if you're sensitive to wheat or chicken; uncooked dumplings freeze well and can be boiled straight from frozen.
Chef's tips
- Salting and squeezing the cabbage stops the filling weeping through the wrappers; adding cold water twice while boiling cooks the filling through without splitting the skins.
The TCM view
Chicken is sweet and warm, entering the spleen and stomach, warming the middle, boosting qi and replenishing essence. Napa cabbage is sweet, neutral and slightly cold, clearing heat, easing restlessness, generating fluids and easing the bowels; ginger settles the stomach; wheat wrappers support the heart and spleen. Simple and balanced, they help strengthen defensive qi.
