I promise this will be G rated post.
These are called Nude Dumplings. They are nude because they are not wearing the wonton wrappers like the traditional dumplings would. For being a very modest cook, I thought of covering them with fig leaves (joking!), but I decided to go with a different material instead. There is a thin shear layer covering them to hold their shape, which makes these guys almost see through look.
Anyhow they are very simple to make dumplings and takes far less time than traditional kinds. And they taste awesome!
You can use any dumpling filling you like. I used ground pork, cabbage, and Asian chives — my favorite combination. Since they don’t wear any wonton wrappers, they can be great gluten free dish as long as you use naturally brewed soy sauce for seasoning.
Shall we start the today’s nude episode?
First, chop the cabbage into small pieces.
Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and toss well. Let it sit 10-15 minutes. This will extract the moisture and your cabbage will pretend dead.
Squeeze them out as hard as you can to show your love.
When you love someone, don’t you feel like squeezing them? Or is it just me being weird…?
Now combine ground pork, the nearly-squeezed-to-death cabbage, Asian chives (or green onion), garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper, and an egg yolk.
Wait! I think I am forgetting someone again.
Ahhh! Ginger. Grate her in an elegant manner.
Mix well together.
Roll the mixture into 1″ balls or whatever size you desire.
Coat them with corn flour. You want to coat them twice to hold their shape during cooking.
Here, the ready to go dumpling balls! Make sure you boil a pot of water on the side while you are rolling them.
When the water comes up to a gentle boil, drop these guys.
Boil them for about 3 minutes stirring occasionally so they don’t stick to the bottom of pot. They will float to the top when they are fully cooked.
Take them out and serve with soy sauce+vinegar dipping sauce.
I like my dumplings served in a broth to keep them moist. I used simple anchovy-kelp stock but any broth will be fine. Or you can simply serve as is, as soon as they come out of water
You will love these dumpling balls, especially if you can’t have gluten. It is simple to make, quick to cook, low in calorie, gluten free, and most importantly, delicious!!!
What else is better?
Ingredients
Directions
- Toss chopped cabbage with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl and let it sit for 15 minutes to wilt. Squeeze out the cabbage with hands to remove as much moist as you can.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine pork, cabbage, chives, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Mix all together and make into 1" balls.
- Bring a pot of water to boil.
- Pour cornstarch in a shallow bowl and roll the balls to coat evenly around. You want to coat them twice to hold their shape.
- When the water comes to gentle boil, drop the balls a few at a time to cook, about 3 minutes, stirring with a spoon occasionally so that they don't stick to the bottom of the pot. They will float to the surface when they are fully cooked.
- Take them out and serve with the dipping sauce while hot.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Brilliant! Thank you. I have been contemplating GF dumpling wrappers for the celiac members of our family, but this is even a better idea. We lived in China for 4 years and miss this tummy-warming meal. Very exciting.
What a cute idea! I love homemade dumplings but don’t really love the tedious process of making them. This is a wonderful shortcut!
Yup, sounds like my type of dumpling! No need to wrap. Almost like chinese meatballs. Now i am getting hungry…douh.
Fun recipe title! And a really great recipe. These are so easy, no one now has an excuse not to make their own dumplings. Excellent post – thank you.
Love how you call these nude dumplings! And yes, I like to pinch and squeeze my loved ones as a sign of affection. (Hopefully they are used to it by now…)
Haha! I love your title/recipe name! I’ve never coated in corn starch to make dumplings like this. I have to make this. Especially the weather has been cold and this reminds me of comfort food. Looks delicious!!
I just made these for dinner and they taste fabulous! The dipping sauce sends it right over the top! We added some ginger to that and some chili oil for heat. I am curious how you got yours coated so well…our coating almost all came off.
Make sure your water is not a full vigorous boil, otherwise your dumplings will dance around up and down in the pot which cause their coating to come off. Gentle boil over medium-low to low heat will be sufficient.
This is such a great idea! I’ve missed dumplings since I went gluten-free over 5 years ago. Great to know I can make them at home quite easily. Fantastic!
I love dumplings. Polish ones are a bit different, but also very tasty. I like the filling so much!
Noona, thank you for your recipes…reminds me of home-cooked food! I enjoy your blog a great deal.
Thanks Ken.
Great idea to coat in cornflour! I am married to a dumpling-loving mainly-GF man, and I’ve never considered this! Brilliant idea, thank you so much for posting!
I bet these would be great in a broth, with some noodles and green veg – wonderful. And yet more beautiful pictures, Holly!
Hi Holly, It is just one of our favorite meals: easy, quick, and delicious. Versatile too. I make some variation of it, and my men can’t have enough of it. Served with kimchi it flies out of the plate in seconds!
what a great idea for a less heavy sort of dumpling! for chinese new year last year, I decided to do away with dumpling skins too, but instead, I used cabbage as wrappers! go do a search for cabbage dumplings if you’re interested. It was a lot lighter and pretty to boot, but of course took a fair bit of work as compared to yours, which I’m definitely going to try! they look delicious!
Hi, I have just stumbled on to your blog and I love it!! Thank you! I was inspired to buy a bunch of new products online, because of your recipes, and I came home last week to a huge, smelly, fantastic package and I couldn’t be happier. My only problem is that I didn’t notice until today that the dried anchovies needed to be frozen…I don’t know who else to ask…do you think they will be okay (they were on the counter for 4 days)? I tend to air on the side of not waisting food so I want to use them, but do you think it is dangerous? I don’t think so, but I don’t know. I can’t wait to cook your delicious recipes and the idea of ordering and waiting, well, it’s torture! Help!
Hi Kathryn
The reason we keep the dried anchovies in freezer is so that they don’t get damp in a humid climate, which tend to attract mold. You can definitely use the anchovies even if they were sitting on the counter for over 4 days. No worries!
It is advisable to keep some Korean dried goods, such as anchovies, chili flakes, seaweeds and etc, in the freezer for longer storage. I am glad that you found my blog. Please, let me know if you need any assistance.
Thank you!! I’m going to start cooking now! Yay!!
These look delicious! I am definitely excited to try them out.
Looks great! I just stumbled uppon this recipe on Pinterest and I know it’s gluten free but what if I want to use something else instead of cornstarch? Will coconut flour work? Do you have any grain free suggestions?
Hi Natalie, I don’t have any experience with coconut flour so I can’t assure you if it would work. But I think as long as it has some binding capacity in them it should work. Also Potato flour will be another option.
Hello! Be very careful about the gluten-free thing here. I’m sure you all know that naturally fermented sauces are the best choice.
Just be careful too about people who are also wheat sensitive or intolerant. For those people, any wheat in any form is a painful experience that will not go unnoticed.
Some of us can’t have soy either, but that’s another thing altogether.
Eggs either.
Or peanuts.
Or anything with citric acid…like chilies and stuff. :’(