Homemade Dumplings

When I decided to make dumplings this week I had to ask myself what a dumpling was. So in this generation of accessible knowledge, I asked google.

“dump·ling

ˈdəmpliNG

a small savory ball of dough that may be boiled, fried, or baked in a casserole.
- a pudding consisting of apples or other fruit enclosed in a sweet dough and baked.
- humorous
  
  a small, fat person.”

I learned that there many ways to make a dumpling and that you can be as creative with them as you are capable. Today, I decided to make vegetable and rice dumplings. Let’s start with the dough. Keep in mind that there are many ways to make the dough, and lots of recipes for different kinds, try new ones until you find the one you enjoy the most.

Mix all dry ingredients. Once mixed, make a hole in the middle.

Add wet ingredients. Pour water into the hold in the middle of the bowl and mix lightly with a spatula.

Knead. Once the mixture is combined lightly, use your hands to form the dough until there is no flour or chunks left in the bowl. Knead this dough for roughly 3 minutes, or until it’s soft.

Let dough rest. Allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes, cover bowl with plastic wrap.

Divide dough. Separate into two balls, then roll out dough like a log. Cut these logs into 10 equal pieces, you should have enough to make 20 wraps.

Roll out wraps. Using a rolling pin, roll out pieces into thin round wraps.

Now let’s move onto the filling.

Cut up vegetables. Dice desired vegetables finely, I used fresh ginger, green onion, 2 cloves of garlic, half of a carrot, and 6 bell mushrooms.

He was a 250-pound dumpling.

Place 2 cups of rice into a saucepan. The saucepan should have higher edges, so that nothing can spill out.

Put oil in pan. Add 1tbsp of Olive oil, or oil of your choice to the rice and mix. Let this sit for 2-3 minutes on high while occasionally stirring.

Create hole in middle. Place all diced vegetables into center of rice, allow to sit for 2 more minutes on high, stirring occasionally.

Mix in water or broth. I added 3 cups of water per 2 cups of rice. Cover and put on low for 20-25 minutes.

Add taste. I put in roughly 1 1/2 tbsp of sesame seed oil, and 3-4tbsp of Tamari (you can use regular soy sauce as well!).

Now let’s wrap!

Add 1tbsp of filling per wrap.

Fold. You can either pleat the edges (a skill I do not have), you can fold the edges over and together, or create a circular dumpling. I chose just to fold over the edges and seal with water because of the lazy in me.

Place onto base. When using a bamboo steamer the dough will stick to the bamboo, by using a base it makes your life easier. I put some cabbage in the boiling water to help it become flatter and easier to work with, then laid it on the bottom of the steamer sections.

Set dumplings in steamer. No dumplings should be touching, and they should all be on the base.

Steam! Place steamer on a bowl of boiling water and allow to steam for 8-10 minutes, do not disturb the steaming process. Set a timer, sit back and wait 🙂

Enjoy 🙂 They are best served as soon as they are done steaming, you can even do half as regular dumplings, and half as pot-stickers! Do this by placing dumplings on a frying pan with a bit of oil and soy sauce, and lightly browning on both sides.