• (see the pictures and extra detail below)

Marinate the grund pork (or other ground meat chicken or turkey) the night before or 2 hours prior cooking

• Add the Chinese Five Spice Powder, Anise Powder, minced ginger, salt and Soy sauce to the ground pork. Mix them well. Cover the meat and store it overnight in the fridge.

Dough prep

• Pour the flour to a big mixing bowl, add the water to mix and knead the dough until its surface is pretty smooth. When you're done kneading and mixing, the dough should have a slightly smooth surface.
• Cover the bowl to let the dough rest at least for one hour.

Stuffing

• While the dough is resting, we can get the stuffing ready.
• Bring the meat out of the fridge.
• Take apart the cabbage and wash all the leaves
• Cut them to 2 inches pieces, and load into the food processor until it's half-full.
• Use the Pulse button to dice the cabbage to small pieces instead of pressing the On button, to avoid the mushy texture
• Pour the diced cabbage to a large cheese cloth in a strainer. Leave it for 10 minutes to let juice drain from the cabbage
• Dice the green onion in the food processor. Add it to the marinated meat and mix them well.
• Squeeze 95% of the liquid out of the cabbage that’s in the cheese cloth.
• Pour the dry cabbage over the meat, coat with the vegetable oil, then sprinkle the 1/2 teaspoon salt over the cabbage to mix. This method prevents the cabbage from leaking its liquid to the meat. Then the last step is to mix the cabbage and the meat together well.

Dumpling shells

• It’s time to make the dumpling shells. This is a labor intensive process. But it’s fun for me, even more fun to do this with my kids. Prepare a large wooden cutting board or a large kitchen counter for making the shells. And 1 cup of dry flour on the side.

  (You can always skip this part to use the store bought shells to save you a lot of time.)
• Poke a hole in the middle of the dough, work both of your hands in the hole to stretch the dough outward to make a dough ring. Keep stretching and working on the dough until it becomes about an inch thick. The ring will get quite long.
• Cut the circle into two even lengths, add some flour on them to avoid having them stick. Roll them on the board to make sure they have the similar size and the round shape. Cut the dough into many 1 inch thick slices.
• Add more flour to the slices to separate them. Make sure each slice is covered with the flour on both sides. Flatten each piece somewhat with the palm of your hand.
• You need a rolling pin and a cup of flour on the side. I’m right handed so I roll the dough by my right hand, and my left hand rotates the dough shell. It takes a lot of practice to synchronize the two hands with a rolling pin. Roll the pin on the dough from the edge to the center with some pressure. Make sure to form a little bump in the center of the dough to prevent the broken shell in the process of stretching the shell to hold the stuffing.

Finally, it’s time to make some dumplings!

• First step: don’t be intimidated!

  Set an easy goal if this is your first time to make dumplings. The goal should be to seal each dumpling well no matter how it looks. You succeed if there is not broken dumplings in the pot.
• Use a teaspoon to scoop the stuffing and place it in the center of the shell. Fold the shell together, pinch the top center part of the shell first, then pinch the left and right side. Make sure to seal the shell well. If the shells are too floured, dip your finger in a small dish of water and wet the outer edge, so that it can stick to the other half of the shell. Here you have made a dumpling! 
• My videos below will show more ways of folding the dumplings. They’re easy to learn. 
• We’re almost there.

  Heat the big saucepan over high heat. Have a strainer ladle ready and a 1/4 cup of cold water ready near your cook top. Put in the dumplings once the water is boiled, while taking care to not splash yourself. Gently stir the dumplings to prevent the dumplings from sticking to the bottom of the pot right away once they’re all in the pot. Stir them every minute. It should take less than 5 minutes to have all the dumplings float in the pot. Pour in the cold water to the pot for the second boil. Your dumplings are ready!

Dumpling sauce

• Soy sauce, Chinese Black vinegar and sesame oil are essential for the sauce. We love to add our homemade Sichuan Chili oil to the base since everyone loves spicy taste in my family. You can find any Asian hot sauce if you prefer a little kick to the sauce.