You don't always get what you want

My husband and I planted a half dozen cauliflower seedlings in our garden that grew up to be extremely large and beautiful cabbage plants. Apparently we either misread the label or the seedlings had been placed on the wrong shelf.

At any rate, I’ve enjoyed watching them grow but am not certain at this point what to do with the six heads of curly-edged cabbage now maturing magnificently in my yard.

Obviously, I will eat them. Cabbage is of course the most famous of the healthy cruciferous vegetables, which not only fight cancer but also instruct our bodies to create more and more of the enzymes that rid our systems of cancer- and disease-causing compounds.

Cabbage also has an astonishing amount of vitamin K, which is one of those vitamins no one ever talks about but which is important in blood and bone management. One cup of cabbage supplies 91.7 percent of your daily recommended dose of K.

Cabbage is also a good provider of vitamin C; one cup supplies 50 percent of your daily recommended dose of C (which is one of the most powerful cancer-fighting antioxidants).

So the question is not whether I will eat all that cabbage, but how. There’s cole slaw, of course. And I’ll probably roast one head, with oil and butter at high heat, as they do at Big W’s in Wingdale.

I also plan to adapt my cabbage for use in an Asian recipe: panfried dumplings.

Normally, you would use napa cabbage in this, but curly savoy cabbage is often used instead. This is my own very casual recipe, and is more of a guideline than anything. I always use a quarter pound of pork, though; any more than that is too exhausting!

                                                       Asian panfried dumplings

1 package potsticker wrappers, available at most grocery stores; 1/4 pound ground pork;  a 2-inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and grated, strings removed as much as possible;  2 cups thinly shredded, cored savoy cabbage;  1 cup chopped scallions;  a mild cooking oil such as canola;  some green tea;  soy sauce, peanut oil,  grated ginger and chicken broth for dipping sauce.

First, make the dipping sauce by boiling about a half cup of chicken broth, letting it cool and then adding a teaspoon or so of ginger, a teaspoon of sesame oil and soy sauce in small increments, until it tastes the way you like it. Sorry to be so vague about it, but I find dipping sauce is very personal.

Then take all the dumpling ingredients (pork, cabbage, scallions, ginger) and run them through a food processor until they almost turn into paste. You can add any number of other ingredients, including shredded carrot and mushroom. This is a very stripped-down and basic dumpling recipe.

If you want, quickly stir-fry all your ingredients before you make them into dumplings (if  you’re worried about thoroughly cooking your pork).

There are many websites that will show you photos of how to make dumplings (try asiandumplingtips.com). But in a nutshell: Keep a moist papertowel over the package of potsticker wrappers, and keep a small bowl of warm water next to you while you work. Lay a single wrapper on your work surface. Drop about a teaspoonful of filling into the center of the wrapper. Dip a finger into your water bowl, moisten the edges of your wrapper and then fold it over. Use a fork to press the edges of the triangle together.

When I’ve finished filling the wrappers, I heat up about 1/8-inch of oil in a skillet (nonstick is nice but not necessary). I often toss dry green tea leaves into the skillet, to add some flavor.

Cook each dumpling until it is brown on both sides.

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