Simple Chinese Dumpling Recipe Boiled or Fried
This Chinese Dumpling Recipe is going to have a traditional wrapper made from flour and water. The fillings can include meat, vegetables, seafood and even fruit. Our dumplings will be filled with a simple vegetable mixture.
Chinese Dumpling Wrapper Ingredients
Flour
Luke warm water
Sea Salt
Optional vegetable oil
Chinese Dumpling Wrapper Method
Take some flour and pour into a bowl. Add in some salt and stir it well. Make a hole in the middle and gradually add the water until it forms into a dough like mix. Sprinkle some more water on the dough and stir by hand to form a paste and smooth it out. You might like to also include a little vegetable oil in the mix too but it’s not necessary. Seal the bowl with cling wrap and put the dough away to be fermented at room temperature for 10 – 15mins.
Now, start kneading the dough. Add some more flour and water if needed to get the right mixture. The dough should be silky smooth but don’t ever work it. As you knead, it will become elastic and shiny.
The dough is ready to be rolled into wrappers as soon as it is smooth.
You can either create little balls of dough, one at a time, and roll them into circular wrappers. Or, you can opt to roll the dough into a thin, flat sheet and cut out long shaped or circular wrappers.
Make sure that the rolled wrappers are not too thin, otherwise they will break where the fillings is placed. Sprinkle flour into each wrapper as you place them on top of each other.
Vegetables should be either steamed or wok fried and have these ready to place into the dumpling wrappers.
Now you can start wrapping the dumplings. The good thing about wrapping with homemade, fresh dough is that there is no need to wet the edges with water. The wrappers are naturally sticky.
Cooking the Chinese Dumpling
Pan Fried
1. Add some veggie oil in a large pan. When the oil is heated up, place the dumplings neatly to fill up the pan. Don’t ever crown them.
2. Allow the skin to get golden and brown.
3. Pour a little hot water into the skillet and cover for 5 mins, so that the steaming can cook the dumplings through. Once there is no more water left, serve the dumplings.
Boiled
1. Heat 1 pot of lightly salted water .
2. Prepare another pot of room temperature water.
3. When the first pot of water starts to boil, drop in the dumplings and allow them to cook for about 4 minutes.
4. Serve them up with your favorite Chinese sauce as below.
Chinese Dumpling Sauce
In a small bowl. add some sea salt, chicken or seafood stock, lime or lemon juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, finely chopped ginger and finely red chili. Stir it well. You can also add in some chopped spring onion to enhance the flavor. Pour it into a dish and serve with the dumplings.
