Until I moved away from home, I didn’t realise dumpling-making was supposed to be a communal activity, with everyone lending a hand. When I was growing up in California, our family visited our paternal grandparents every Sunday for lunch, and often we’d arrive to find my grandmother sitting at the table with a huge pile of meaty filling and a stack of ready-made dumpling wrappers, patiently folding wonton or sui gau – enough to feed 15 to 20 people. Without being told to, my parents and I – and maybe one or two aunts – would sit down and start to fold dumplings. My brothers went off to play with our cousins, and my other aunts and uncles sat at another table gossiping. I thought this was rather unfair, especially because I also had to help wash up after we all devoured the dumplings. But when I spoke to friends, they mentioned how everyone in their families helped out – first chopping ingredients for the filling and making the dough, then rolling out the wrappers (which we didn’t do, thank goodness), and filling and pleating the dumplings. With so many helping, the dumplings were ready relatively quickly. Spiced lamb and cumin dumplings A true northerner might scoff at commercial wrappers, but really, it’s so much easier, even for a small batch like this (and before you ask, yes, I can roll my own – albeit slowly). The best and cheapest place to buy wrappers is at shops that make fresh or dried noodles. The pei (“skins”) are available round or square (buy round for this recipe), and often, in two thicknesses. Buy the thicker ones, if you have the choice – they are still quite thin, but the texture is a little more resilient and there’s less chance of the skin tearing during cooking. Some recipes suggest making a whole batch of dumplings at once and freezing any uncooked ones. I find it easier to just freeze the excess filling, packed into an airtight container, and then fill the skins next time you want dumplings. It takes less room in the freezer and you don’t have to worry about the dumplings breaking – the skins can become brittle when frozen. I mix some iced water into the filling, because it makes the dumplings juicier. But if you have any unsalted meat broth in your fridge or pantry, use that instead – just make sure it’s cold. If you have time, chill the filling until it’s very cold – another trick to juicy dumplings. For the dumplings: 500 grams minced lamb 15ml light soy sauce 10ml rice wine 10 grams fine sea salt, divided 2-3 tsp chilli flakes, or to taste 5 grams granulated sugar ½ tsp finely ground white pepper 10ml sesame oil 2 tsp cornflour 90 grams Chinese (napa) cabbage leaves 5 grams whole cumin seeds 10 grams thinly sliced peeled ginger 4 spring onions 60 grams flat chives 1 large garlic clove, peeled 3 water chestnuts, peeled and rinsed 60-80 round dumpling wrappers For the dipping sauce: Light soy sauce Chinese brown vinegar Sesame oil Spring onions, minced Peeled ginger, thinly shredded Bird’s-eye chillies, thinly sliced Garlic cloves, peeled and minced Sichuan peppercorns, toasted and crushed Chilli oil or chilli sauce 1 Cut the cabbage leaves lengthwise into 1cm-wide strips, then slice them as thinly as possible. Put the pieces in a bowl, sprinkle with five grams of salt and combine. Leave for about 10 minutes, then drain the cabbage in a colander. Spread the pieces on a clean, dry dishcloth, roll tightly and squeeze out the excess moisture. 2 Put the lamb in a bowl and add the soy sauce, rice wine, five grams of sea salt, chilli flakes, sugar, pepper, sesame oil and cornflour. Mix thoroughly. 3 Put the cumin seeds in an unoiled pan placed over a low-medium flame. Shake the pan almost constantly until the cumin seeds are lightly toasted. Cool to room temperature, then crush the seeds in a mortar (I use a Japanese suribachi ) until they are roughly ground – it’s fine if some are whole. 4 Finely mince the ginger, spring onions, chives, garlic and water chestnuts. 5 Add the cabbage, cumin, ginger, spring onion, chive, garlic and water chestnut to the lamb mixture and mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed. 6 Pour 60ml of iced water into the bowl. Mix the filling vigorously with your hand, stirring in one direction until you see long, white protein threads forming. 7 Shape some of the filling into a flat patty. Heat a skillet and, when it’s hot, pan-fry the patty until cooked. Taste it to check the seasonings, then correct, if necessary. 8 Transfer the rest of the filling to a flat dish and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (although longer is better). 9 Fill a small bowl with water. Put some of the dumpling wrappers on a small plate, keeping the others covered. 10 Place one of the wrappers in the palm of your left hand (if you are right-handed). Use a spoon to scoop up some of the filling into an oval-shaped ball and place it on the wrapper. Use a fingertip to lightly dampen slightly more than half of the perimeter of the wrapper, then fold up the other side to enclose the filling. Pleat the wrapper as you like: my easy method is to firmly pinch the centre of the two sides together, then use the forefingers of each hand to form a single pleat on each side, equidistant from the centre, and shaping the dumpling into a crescent. Place the dumplings on a tray, flattening their bottoms slightly. Chill the finished dumplings while shaping the others. 11 To cook the dumplings, bring a large pot of water to the boil over a high flame. Add some of the dumplings, leaving plenty of room for them to swim. When the water comes back to the boil, add about 250ml of cool water. Let the water boil again, then add another 250ml cool water. (This cooks the dumplings gently, lessening the chance of them falling apart as the water boils.) When the water comes to the boil the third time, the dumplings should be floating on the surface, which indicates they are cooked. If necessary, add more cool water and bring to the boil one more time. 12 Scoop the dumplings out of the water and drain them briefly before dividing them into individual bowls. 13 If you want to pan-fry the dumplings, chill them until very cold. Heat a skillet (preferably cast-iron) over a medium-high flame and oil it liberally. 14 Lay the dumplings in the skillet so they are just touching each other and pan-fry them until their bottoms are lightly browned. 15 Pour in 80ml of water, then immediately cover the pan and turn the heat to low. Let the dumplings cook for three to five minutes, or until done. If the water evaporates too quickly, sprinkle in a little more. 16 Remove the lid and let the dumplings pan-fry until their bottoms are medium brown. Lift them out of the pan and place them brown-side up on a serving dish. 17 Let each diner mix the ingredients for their own dipping sauce.