A delicious take on lasagne!
Friends who know how much I love Asian dumplings have been urging me to try the viral ‘dumpling lasagne’ that’s been making the rounds online lately. When I glanced at a few recipes, what struck me was the need to simplify. This version requires no hot water bath to steam the casserole, dampens the wontons during assembly to eliminate their floury flavour and gets a boost of flavour and nutrition thanks to added vegetables. Speaking of vegetables, you can find the recipe here for the marinated cucumbers pictured below – it’s a super side dish for the casserole. If you’re similarly smitten with dumplings, I encourage you to check out my delicious Asian salad with dumplings and sesame vinaigrette plus my Asian dumpling soup.
Ingredients
- 4 cups (300 g) finely chopped Napa cabbage
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 lb (454 g) ground pork (or chicken, or turkey)
- 1/3 cup (90 mL) cold water, plus more for assembly
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon (6 g) freshly grated ginger root
- 1/2 teaspoon Sambal Oelek or Sriracha (or more, to taste)
- 1/4 cup (25 g) thinly sliced scallions (green onions)
- 1/2 cup (50 g) grated carrot
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon (5 mL) oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon (5 mL) sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) rice vinegar
- Few grinds black pepper
- 1 tablespoon (7 g) cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) canola or other neutral oil
- 1 package 3 x 3 inch (7.5 c 7.5 cm) wonton or egg roll wrappers
- Optional garnishes: chili crisp, soy sauce, sliced green onions, sesame seeds
Method
- Place finely chopped cabbage in a colander or sieve and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stir to blend and let sit 10 minutes so cabbage releases moisture. After 10 minutes, scoop out cabbage by hand, squeezing each handful as you do so to release more moisture. Put drained cabbage in a large bowl.
- Add to the bowl with the cabbage the ground pork, water, garlic, ginger, Sambal Oelek, scallions, carrots, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, pepper and cornstarch and blend with your clean hands until evenly mixed.
- Spread the canola oil evenly on the bottom of an 8×8 inch (20×20 cm) or 7×10 (17.5×25 cm) oven-safe, non-metallic casserole dish, with sides at least 2 inches (5 cm) high.
- Have a small bowl of water at the ready. Brush both sides of a wonton wrapper with water and place in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with additional wrappers to completely cover the bottom of the dish in a single layer, overlapping slightly if needed to fit.
- Add one fourth of the pork mixture to the casserole dish in teaspoon-sized pieces, spreading evenly with your fingers to cover the wonton wrappers.
- Top with another layer of water-brushed wonton wrappers, pressing down slightly to adhere to the pork.
- Drizzle 2 tablespoons (30 mL) water on top of the wonton wrappers then add another fourth of the pork mixture to the dish, spreading evenly.
- Top with another layer of water-brushed wonton wrappers and drizzle another 2 tablespoons of water over top. Repeat the pork, wonton and water layers two more times (for a total of four layers of pork and five of wontons), ending with wontons. At this point, the dish can be tightly covered with well-fitting lid OR a piece of parchment paper followed by aluminum foil and refrigerated for up to 8 hours. Don’t skip the parchment paper – if you use only foil, it will stick to the top layer of wonton wrappers.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400F. While oven heats, drizzle an additional 1/2 cup (125 mL) of water over the top layer of wontons then cover with the lid or with parchment and foil once again.
- Bake until centre of casserole measures 160F on an instant-read thermometer and top layer of wontons looks wrinkly and moist, about 40-45 minutes.
- Cut into slices (like lasagne), top with preferred garnishes and serve hot.
Serves 4-6.
