Noodle Dumplings and Cabbage

Ingredients

• 1/4 recipe Noodles for Wonton (1 ball)
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/4 small cabbage head
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• red chili oil
• soy sauce
• 1 each scallion — shredded
• 2 tbs peanuts, dry-roasted unsalted

Directions

1. Pinch off bits of the noodle dough between thumb and forefinger to make little pillow shapes, and drop them onto a plate.

2. Boil them in salted water and drain.

3. Remove the core from the cabbage and cut it into about 1 1/2 inch squares and separate the leaves. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan, and saute the cabbage and onion briefly. Add the drained dumplings and saute them along with the cabbage. Add red chili oil (yu lada) and soy sauce to taste. Top with shredded scallion and peanuts.

You can buy crushed garlic and chiles in oil or just plain red oil in a Chinese grocery, or you can break up red chiles and saute in oil. Drain the oil which will have the hot flavor in it. The crushed chiles and garlic in red oil is the best flavor buy in the world. You never got so much flavor in one place as an 8 oz jar!

Notes: This is meant to be a very simple dish. Cabbage is a most important Chinese vegetable, and they enjoy eating lots of it. You could use round cabbage or Napa cabbage, which is very popular in China. The rest of the cabbage could be used for Lo Be Tsai, which is a popular appetizer salad, consisting of raw cabbage squares marinated in vinegar, water, chiles and red hot oil, a little water and a pinch of sugar.