Get your Chinese food fix by making these gluten-free pork and cabbage dumplings. Using Isabel’s Pizza Base Mix is a simple way to make the dough, which can be filled with vegetables for a vegetarian option. This version uses pork mince and cabbage.
The provision of gluten-free foods has increased dramatically recently even just in the last two years. However, there is one genre of food that is not very gluten-free friendly and that is Chinese. Most dim sum contain wheat, and then there’s noodles, those delicious steamed buns… the list goes on. The list of things I can’t eat, that is.
Back in the days of gluten, I had a bit of a dumpling fetish, specifically from a local takeaway. They sold fried dumplings with a kind of sausagey filling, garnished with, I don’t know, crack or something. They were so good I judge every dumpling I come across in comparison to those ones. But gluten-free Chinese is something that’s not easy to track down.
Le sigh.
So I made them myself.
As you will know, I am a big fan of Isabel’s pizza base mix. In fact, I love it so much that my boyfriend often jokes about me running off with her so I can eat it every day. Well, one day I had cooked the pizza base for a little less time than usual, and it had a sort of glutenous consistency, and I thought to myself: “Dumplings! I could use this for dumplings!”
The pizza mix is mostly made up of cassava (tapioca) which gives it a great elasticity that I thought would work either steamed or fried. When I finally tried it, it had been a long day so some fried food was in order.
The filling can be prepared in advance, and this is recommended because if you have a small kitchen, like we do, you don’t want to have to make the filling AND the dough at the same time.
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Published: January 4, 2013 A gluten-free version of a Chinese takeaway favourite.Gluten-free pork & cabbage dumplings
Ingredients
Instructions
Soak the cabbage leaves in boiling water for a few minutes until soft, then chop finely. Add to a large bowl and add the pork, spring onion, ginger, salt, sugar, soy sauce and rice vinegar, working in thoroughly with your hands. Set aside.
Prepare the pizza mix according to the instructions: essentially mix everything together and knead until you have a smooth ball
Using small amounts of the dough, roll out thin discs no more than 15cm in diameter. Scoop a small amount of the filling into the middle and use your fingers to crimp the edges shut.
Using a large frying pan, fry the dumplings on all sides until golden brown all over. Cooking time will vary according to how big/thick you made your dumplings, but this should be about 15 minutes.
Leave to cool a little before serving with a little gluten-free soy sauce to dip!
Ooh that’s such a clever plan, using a pizza mix! A lot of gluten free recipes I’ve seen suggest purchasing ‘gluten free wonton wrappers’ or whatever, as I’m sure you can in the USA. But in the UK it isn’t quite that easy I’ve found. Marvellous plan – my Chinese=style dumpling craving will be satisfied! Thank you.
Ooh, let me know if you try steaming them – I think they’d be really good that way but haven’t got round to trying it yet! Good luck 🙂
I can’t wait to try this!! I love Isabel’s pizza base mix and we always have tons of it in the cupboard, but I never thought to make anything else from it. Great idea!
Hi Samantha! I have just come across your blog. In Australia, it is also very difficult to buy gluten-free Chinese goods. I spent a lot of time studying in China before being diagnosed and I ate (my body weight in) dumplings many times! I bought a bamboo steamer set a couple of years back and have tried making dumplings using rice wrappers but have struggled. I would love to hear when you perfect your recipe, or any other delicious Chinese recipe for that matter. Happy experimenting!
Hi Elise, thanks for stopping by and commenting 🙂 I am currently experimenting with glutinous (sweet) rice flour and tapioca flour, so I am hopeful that it will work. It’s a lot of work though, just for a craving…. 🙂
Oh thank you so much for this great website with such informative details.
My sister has been on a gluten free diet and I was happy to forward her your website.
Thank you for the great work!
and i have to say brilliant with the gluten free pizza dough for dumplings!!
Lisa 🙂 nyc . supporting gluten free
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Lisa! Glad you found it useful 🙂