Blossom Design Series | Rose-shaped gyozas

Method

1. Finely chop cabbage or use a food processor to process into confetti-size bits. Do not overprocess; it just needs a couple pulses. Transfer to a sieve set over a large bowl. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon salt on chopped cabbage and mix lightly. Let sit for 20 minutes. Gently press cabbage to squeeze out as much water as you can.
2. Grind pork shoulder using KitchenAid Stand Mixer with Meat Grinder Attachment. The medium blade works best for this.
3. Combine drained cabbage, ground pork, ginger, garlic, chives, soy sauce, sesame oil and the remaining 1 teaspoon (6g) salt in a large bowl and mix thoroughly just until everything is evenly distributed.
4. Place filling in refrigerator to marinate until you need it.
5. To prepare dough, get all your tools ready. You will need a sheet pan lightly dusted with cornstarch, a damp kitchen towel to cover wrappers, a lightly dusted work surface to cut dough, a 9cm round cutter and a plastic bag for scraps.
6. Remove sifter + scale and replace whip with dough hook. Pour the poolish and water mix into dry ingredients. Knead for 2 to 3 minutes on Speed 2, until dry flour is fully incorporated and dough looks sticky. At this stage, the dough is unfinished and will not be smooth. Remove the dough and put in a separate bowl.
7. Place flour in stand mixer bowl. Add boiling hot water to the flour. Place bowl on the stand mixer with dough hook attached.
8. Start at speed 1 to incorporate dry flour. Set to Speed 3 and knead for 5 to 8 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down any dry flour on the bowl walls with a rubber spatula. The dough should be tacky but not sticky, and it won’t look completely smooth yet. Make sure the dough is cool enough to handle, then remove.
9. Knead by hand into a smooth disc. Pinch off any seams. Wrap in plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator. Let stand for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.
10. To make wrappers, attach the pasta roller to your stand mixer.
11. Divide dough into four parts and keep in plastic wrap until ready to use. Squeeze one portion of dough just enough to get it into the thickest setting #1 of the pasta roller. Work the dough through the thinner settings until you reach #8.
12. Lay dough sheet on a lightly cornstarch sprinkled surface. Using a 9cm round cutter, cut out wrappers as close together as possible. Cover rounds with the damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap, then gather scraps into a plastic bag.
13. Repeat with the remaining dough. Knead the scraps and let rest for 5 minutes before rerolling and cutting. You can begin making the roses while you wait.
14. To shape dumplings, fill a small bowl with water. For each dumpling, place 4 round wrappers down in a straight line on a dusted surface and make sure they overlap on the sides by 1.5cm. Dampen the sides where they overlap and press down well. Spoon 1 teaspoon filling into the center of each round. Wet the top of the wrappers with your finger all the way across. Take the bottom edge of the wrappers and fold up over the filling to meet the top. Seal all the edges and the dough where overlapping. Starting at one end, roll the dumplings all the way to the other end, making sure you wet the last section with water to seal.
15. Serve immediately with the dipping sauce. Wipe the pan clean and repeat to cook the remaining dumplings.
16. Combine dipping sauce ingredients (soy sauce, rice vinegar and brown sugar) and whisk together, tasting and adjusting as needed. Set aside.
17. To pan fry dumplings, you will need a lidded 25cm nonstick pan or a well-seasoned carbon steel pan. Heat 1 ½ tablespoons canola oil in the pan over medium heat and swish around the pan. Add 5 or 6 rose dumplings at a time, flat side down with flower petals up, and cook until browned on the bottoms, 2 to 3 minutes. Add enough hot water to come a quarter of the way up the dumplings (about ½ cup, depending on how many dumplings you have in the pan), cover pan with lid, and let the water cook away until the pan is dry and dumpling wrappers have softened completely, 20 minutes. Do not peek. If water evaporates before the 20 minutes is up add ¼ cup more. Remove the lid, increase the heat to medium-high, and let any excess water cook off. The dumplings can then crisp up on the bottoms for another minute or two, depending on how crisp you like them.