Pork and Chinese celery dumplings
Chopped Chinese celery and water chestnut in a juicy pork filling. Wrap a tray at the weekend, freeze, and breakfast is just ten minutes' boiling away.
- 40 min
- Serves 4
- Boil
- Medium
Why it suits you: Phlegm-damp people tend to be heavy-set and sluggish, and the hot, humid Summer Solstice leaves them feeling weighed down. Chinese celery clears heat and drains damp, and water chestnut clears heat and resolves phlegm, keeping the filling crisp rather than greasy. Boiling instead of frying keeps the oil down, and a vinegar dip cuts the richness, so you're full without feeding the damp.
Method
Prep 30 min · Cook 10 min- 1Sprinkle the chopped celery with a pinch of the salt, leave for 5 minutes, then squeeze out the water. Peel and finely chop the water chestnuts.
- 2Mix the pork with the remaining salt, the soy sauce, ginger, pepper and cornflour, then add 3 tbsp water a little at a time, stirring in one direction until sticky. Mix in the celery, water chestnut, spring onion and sesame oil.
- 3Put a teaspoon of filling on each wrapper, fold in half and pinch firmly to seal. To freeze, spread them on a tray until hard, then bag them up.
- 4Drop the dumplings into a large pan of boiling water. When it returns to the boil, add half a bowl of cold water; repeat twice. They're done when they float. Serve with black vinegar.
Cautions
- Celery is cooling, so go easy if you have a cold, weak stomach or loose stools.
Chef's tips
- Squeeze the celery well or the filling will turn watery; cook the dumplings straight from frozen.
The TCM view
Chinese celery is sweet, pungent and cool, calming the liver, clearing heat and draining damp. Water chestnut is sweet and cold, clearing heat, resolving phlegm and easing food stagnation. Pork is sweet, salty and neutral, nourishing yin, and vinegar is sour and warm, aiding digestion. Boiled with little oil, the dumplings clear damp-heat while staying light — just right when heat and humidity steam together at the solstice.
