Recipes

The Yummy Dumplings


What You Need

4 eggs [1 raw, 3 scrambled] 3/4 lb ground beef, tofu, or vegetarian ground beef substitute. (I recommend Yves ground beef substitute.)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbl minced leek (the white part of the leek only) You can also do 1 tbl leek and 1 tbl green onion. That’s what we do. You can also substitute the leek entirely for green onion.
1 cup finely shredded nappa cabbage
dumpling wrappers

Directions

1. Prepare your leek and cabbage and scramble your eggs first! Use only the white part of the leek and make sure they’re minced well. Remember that these little pieces are going into a dumpling, so make them small.

2. Place the pork and water into a bowl and mix with chopsticks. (Around 50 strokes.)

3. Add the raw egg and mix again. (Another 20-30 strokes.)

4. Add soy sauce, garlic, ginger, salt and leek and stir.

5. Add scrambled eggs and cabbage and stir.

6. Now you’re ready to wrap them! Go ahead and sit down, and place a small bowl of water and plate beside you, your mixture, and your dumpling wrappers. You’ll probably also want to grab a regular-to-small sized spoon. Place the dumpling wrapper (round) in the palm of your left hand. Dip your right hand fingers into the bowl of water and wet the outside edge of the dumpling wrapper. Next take your spoon and a dollop size of your mix and put it in the middle of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half, sealing the edges shut tightly by pressing them between your fingers. You can also use a plastic dumpling wrapper thingie (pictured below) if you have one. We made these several times without one though.

To Cook

There are three ways to cook dumplings. You can fry them, boil them, or steam them. I’ve tried both boiling and frying with this. Boiling is my favorite, as fried dumplings tend to be a bit heavier, but most Americans like them fried best, so if you’re only going to try one the first time- make sure it’s one you think you’ll like! (There’s no reason why you can’t do a little of both.)

To Boil

Put a medium to large size pot on the stove 2/3 full of water and bring to a boil. Place up to 20 dumplings at a time and let them return to a boil. Once boiling let sit for 5 minutes. Remove into strainer over the sink or another bowl and let drain. They are ready to serve with or without sauce. Be careful, they’re hot!

To Fry

Add oil to your pan and cook over med/high heat for 2-3 minutes until golden. Flip these constantly. Ready to serve with or without sauce.

The Sauce

The sauce is easy and flexible, if you decide to use any at all. You can use plain soy sauce, or you can add soy sauce and garlic, spicy Asian sauce, dumpling sauce, or anything you feel like, really. (We did soy sauce and garlic, and then there was a spicy version.)

Things You Should Know

This recipe makes about 60/64 dumplings, depending on how small our dollops are. Obviously that’s quite a bit so you may want to half this recipe. Or you can do what we cool cats do and just have lots of leftovers. Be prepared as it takes quite a while to prep, wrap, and cook. (2-3 hours) So if you’re looking for a fast meal, this is definitely not it. But it’s totally fantastic to munch on through out the day.

Here’s a video!


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8 Comments

  • Reply
    Miki
    25 Jan 2012 at 1:51 am

    Oh, wow! This is the first time I see a recipe to make dumplings! And so nicely photographed ;). Love your blog!

  • Reply
    Fall Festival at the Japanese Botanical Gardens « In the Wabe
    26 Oct 2010 at 8:42 pm

    […] (and I will definitely be making these again), they’ll get a post of their own. Until then, here’s the link to the recipe. I assembled them with help from Catherine and her boyfriend Mark, and […]

  • Reply
    Apple Hand Pies « In the Wabe
    20 Mar 2010 at 9:21 am

    […] Next up: hand pies of varying fruits (I’m dreaming of blackberries once the price drops a bit) and Kara’s dumplings […]

  • Reply
    Alyssa
    1 Mar 2010 at 7:18 am

    Yum! You’ve inspired me to buy a dumpling press right now. I just hope I’ll be able to find some wrappers here!

  • Reply
    Heather
    13 Sep 2009 at 10:29 am

    I really have to try and make these. I’m a little nervous to! Maybe I can get Brock to help. Wesley LOVES dumplings way too much. He would freak out if we made these!

  • Reply
    Samantha
    11 Sep 2009 at 1:58 pm

    i cannot wait to try these! thank you for the recipe!!!

  • Reply
    Lysha
    10 Sep 2009 at 9:58 pm

    Oh my god I could just stare at those dumpling pictures alllll day! Getting hungrier and hungrier by the second! NOMNOMNOM.

  • Reply
    Bronwyn
    10 Sep 2009 at 6:36 pm

    I’m really hesitant to attempt these on my own! Dumplings should be a group activity. 🙂

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