Easy Chinese-Style Dumpling Tacos

I get a lot of inspiration lately from viral recipes on social media. You'll be getting a few of these simple recipes here this fall. They are often fusions of different cultures, simplified twists on traditional recipes, or healthy versions of favorite foods. For instance, you can look forward to a creative, low-carb twist on the Big Mac in the near future.

Here's a cultural mash-up: Chinese fried dumpling tacos! It allows you to create the delicious filling and sauces of traditional dumplings but replace the dumpling dough with a ready-to-eat tortilla. This makes it much less intimidating since most of us know how to make tacos, and more useful for a weeknight meal.

This recipe comes from Allrecipes.com and we followed it loosely: We added shredded carrot to the cabbage, and substituted mint and basil, since we didn't have cilantro. And we used corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas. I imagine flour would be extra yummy but I didn't feel anything was missing using corn.

Also, the meat didn't stick well to the corn tortilla so perhaps a binder of some kind would help with that. For this you could add egg and some form of starch like flour or bread crumbs.

You could simplify further by putting all the vegetables in the meat mixture and then skipping the "fill the taco" step. Just watch how thickly you apply the meat because it will be folded in half for serving.

Smashed Dumpling Tacos

1 pound ground pork

2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic

5 green onions, thinly sliced, divided

1/4 cup chopped cilantro, divided

3 cups shredded cabbage, divided

1/3 cup soy sauce, divided

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

10 (4 inch) mini flour tortillas

2 tablespoons avocado or canola oil, plus more as needed

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

2 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons Sriracha or other hot sauce

Directions

Add pork, ginger, garlic, 1/2 of the green onions, 2 tablespoons cilantro, 1 cup slaw mix, 1 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper to a bowl and mix until combined.

Spread pork mixture in a thin layer all the way to the edges of each tortilla and set aside.

Combine remaining soy sauce with vinegar, sugar, water and hot sauce in a small bowl and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

Working in batches in a large skillet or griddle, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Place tortillas, meat side down in the hot pan and cook, undisturbed, until browned and mostly cooked through, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until browned and lightly toasted, another 1 to 2 minutes. Flip once more and cook 30 seconds. Remove from pan and repeat with remaining tortillas.

Top tacos evenly with remaining green onion, cilantro, and slaw mix. Serve drizzled with sauce or serve sauce on the side for dipping.

Serve with a cucumber salad on the side