Unlike other parts of China, Beijing dumplings are typified by an astounding variety of fillings beyond the standard shrimp-pork-cabbage mixture. Most restaurants that specialize in dumplings will have dozens of fillings available, including tomato-and-egg, the Muslim-influenced lamb-and-cilantro, eggplant-and-egg, zucchini-and-egg, preserved vegetable-and-green beans, peanut-bacon-and-green pepper (another favorite), and so forth. <br /> <br />This recipe is a recreation of the house specialty dumpling from one of the best dumpling restaurants in Beijing. The dumpling wrappers at this place are chewy, not flabby, and dyed shocking orange, green, and purple using vegetable extracts, but the real reason this restaurant stands out is due to their exceptionally creative fillings. <br /> <br />Guoba, or crispy crunchy rice, is the slightly burned rice crusted to the bottom of a pot after cooking rice. It's prized for its toasty flavors and crackly texture; Koreans and Japanese have also found ways to make and utilize this cooking 'mistake.' This rice is the secret to this recipe - it combines the crispy rice with brightly colored red cabbage, with a toss of bean sprouts to lighten the filling and ground pork to add a burst of flavor. At the restaurant, the skins are dyed purple to match the red cabbage, creating visual harmony. We use plain wrappers here, but the combination of guoba cabbage and pork makes this recreation so addictive that we can confidently call it the 'crack' dumpling. <br /> <br />A couple notes: the recipe is scalable, and the cooking method is important for chewy, pliant skins. Pleating will give the dumpling more textural variation. This dumpling is perfect dipped in a tiny bit of vinegar. And many thanks to a friend, who named and introduced us to the crack dumpling. - beijinghaochi

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