Spring is here! All the plants are blooming! Our allergies are annoying! There’s day light until 7pm! We booked a wedding venue full of cacti! We have a dog on our couch!

It’s been a hectic and exhausting week for us all over here. We’re now in day five of dog parenting and we’ve never been more tired. But it’s a happy tired because when Olive curls up into a doughnut between us on the couch and sleeps so hard it melts my heart and it all feels worth it. Our Olive Loaf is a near perfect house dog but gets a little nervous outside, so we’re working through that together.

In between belly rubs, walks, and training sessions, I’ve finally started to get more into wedding planning! Now that we have a date for next year it feels a little more real and I have the motivation to coordinate caters, design invites, and debate if I should attempt to bake something for our dessert table… everyone is telling me “no” though.

Springy dumplings for St. Patrick’s Day!

So far, Olive has been pretty good at ignoring or just gently sniffing the food I have around in the kitchen! She’s polite. But I’m not so sure she would have been able to resist one of these Beef and Pickled Cabbage Dumplings!

I’m obviously not Irish and neither is Reuben, but I love any occasion to make a themed dumpling! I made a spinach dumpling dough for that bright verdant color. The filling is ground beef with all the classic seasonings, but with the addition of Chinese pickled cabbage, which packs a strong salty and fermented flavor. I think it’s really delicious with rice or as a little bundle on the side of noodle soup. I buy the pickled cabbage, but I may have to try pickling it myself because I have a whole napa cabbage staring back at me in the fridge. Kimchi would be an excellent substitute for it! Just another form of pickled cabbage!

Beef and pickled cabbage felt like a natural flavor combo for St. Patrick’s Day! I don’t think I’ve ever celebrated this day in my life… but if it includes dumplings I’ll partake!

The four-leaf clover dumpling fold is just so cute and a variation of my star dumpling fold. You can the fold process as a Reel on my Instagram! It is deceptively easy, but just takes a little practice to get the spacing of each “petal” right. The more you make, the faster each dumpling will be!

Beef and Pickled Cabbage Dumplings

makes 32 dumplings

spinach dough:

2 cups packed spinach
150g (2/3 cup) just boiled water
300g (2 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
pinch of salt

filling:

1lb ground beef
1/2 cup Chinese pickled cabbage, finely chopped (sub with kimchi!)
4 green onions, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sriracha
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar

flour for dusting

to make spinach dumpling dough:

1. Place spinach in the cup of an immersion blender or regular blender. Pour just boiled water over the spinach and blend for 45 seconds until smooth.

2. Strain spinach puree through a fine mesh sieve and into a glass measuring cup. Press the puree through the mesh using a rubber spatula until you have 150g (2/3 cup) of dark green water.

3. Place flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour the spinach water into the center. Mix with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until you have a clumpy dough. Begin kneading the dough for 2-3 minutes until you have a smoothish dough ball. Place dough in a ziplock bag and allow the dough to rest for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

to make dumpling filling:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine beef, pickled cabbage, green onions, salt, white pepper, oyster sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, and sugar. Use a flexible spatula to mix until evenly combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes or until ready to assemble dumplings.

to assemble dumplings:

1. Lightly flour your work surface. Uncover the dough. Cut dough in half and keep one half covered. Roll out one half of your dough into a 1” thick rope. Cut into 16 equally sized pieces. Cover the pieces of dough to prevent drying out. Roll out 1 piece of dough into a 3.5” to 4” disc with a small rolling pin. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of your round dumpling wrapper, avoid over filling. Fold according to desired shape. This four-leaf clover fold can be found as a Reel on my instagram! Repeat process with remaining dumplings and place dumplings on a lightly floured baking tray until ready to be cooked.

2. To steam dumplings, bring a pot of water to a boil. Line a bamboo steamer, that’s the same diameter as the pot of boiling water, with perforated parchment paper or cabbage leaves. Fill the steamer with dumplings. Make sure the dumplings are not touching. Cover the steamer with the lid and steam for 6-7 minutes. Remove the steamer from the pot and lift the lid to allow the steam to release. Allow the dumplings to cool slightly.

3. Serve immediately with chili oil and/or soy sauce!