So when you have a Sleeve Gastrectomy surgery, there is a 6-8 week period after surgery where you can’t eat any solid foods. You’re put on a diet that tarts with clear liquid and in stages you increase to “soft -solid” food little by little. This is to ensure that everything heals properly, but also really sucks because you still crave actual food- and all I did was crave Chinese Takeout soooooo badly (plus I was watching Crazy Rich Asians and reading the book series, so that didn’t help much.. (great series by the way). So when I got to the “soft-solid” food stage, about 4 to 5 weeks into recovery, I was able to eat ground meats and well cooked vegetables. So after trying out a few ideas, finally discovered that cabbage leaves is a great low-carb replacement for dumpling dough. You need to try out this recipe!
Ingredients:
Dumplings:
Dipping Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
- 1 tablespoon Teriyaki Sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon Ground Ginger
- ½ teaspoon Sriracha
- Chopped Green Onions for garnish
Instructions:
Dumplings:
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Use about 14-16 cabbage leaves and cook them for about 10-12 minutes until softened and pliable. Put cooked leaves in a strainer, and dip them quickly into a large bowl of cold water so they are cooled enough to handle.
- In a separate bowl, mix together all dumpling ingredients except the cabbage leaves. Knead with your hands until the mixture is combined (like a meatloaf).
- Cut the leaves to allow enough of a size to wrap about a tablespoon of meat and fill each piece of cabbage leaf with the meat filling right in the center. Fold and pinch the cabbage leaves into a dumpling, pinching hard at the top where the leaf edges meet helps hold it together (if some meat rips through it’s no big deal). If the spine of the cabbage leaf is too thick, it makes it hard to form the dumpling so either cut the spine off, or trim the spine so it is not as thick.
- Lightly brush the steamer basket with some sesame oil. Add the Dumplings to the steamer basket and steam for 10-15 minutes until cooked through.
Dipping Sauce:
Mix the dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl until combined. Top with a few chopped green onions for garnish. Serve with the steamed Dumplings. Enjoy!!
Healthy With a Spoonful of Sugar 