LunchJenny PanMarch 14, 2018dumplings, veggie dumplings, plant powered, vegetarian, vegan, cabbage, taiwanese cabbage, no onion no garlic, asian cuisine, white pepper, soy sauce, homemade dumplings, dumpling filling, the cooking pan1 Comment

Delightful Dumplings

Making dumplings is one of my favorite childhood memories. The whole morning would be spent doing all the prepping and cooking, and we would soon settle into a rhythmic pattern of forming the dumpling shapes. Once lunch rolls around, we would fry batches of dumplings at a time and eat them in between each dumpling we make!

The dumplings will knock your socks off! The secret is in the veggie prep and the cook method! Because it is a fairly labor intensive meal to prepare, I would recommend freezing the dumplings. These dumplings freeze well! (Directions are down below!)

Look at these gorgeous veggies! This is level of finely chop that should be achieved!

Delightful Dumplings

2 heads of Taiwanese cabbage
1 pound carrots
1 pound of fresh shiitake mushrooms
1 tbsp of minced ginger
Salt
Soy sauce
White pepper
6 packets of dumpling wrappers

The Filling

Fine chop the cabbage, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and ginger

Sprinkle salt evenly over the entire container of cabbage and mix until well combined

Heat oil in a pan on medium high heat and wait until it is hot

Add the ginger, carrots, and mushrooms into the pan one at a time so they dont mix together

Saute the veggies until you can smell the fragrance coming together, add more oil if the veggies begin to stick to the bottom

Once it is fragrant, add 3 tbsp soy sauce and stir all the vegetables together

Add in about 2 tsp of white pepper

Taste here, it should taste a bit saltier than you might think dumpling filling should taste, add salt if needed

Allow the mixture to cool

Squeeze excess water out of the cabbage that have been released

Combine the cabbage to the cooked mixture

Taste here again and adjust with salt, soy sauce, and/or white pepper as needed

The Wrapping

Prepare the work surface by sprinkling it with flour

Prepare a large plate or tray by sprinkling it with flour

Set the filling close by with a medium sized spoon

Open up the pre-made dumpling wrappers

Prepare a small bowl of water

Take a wrapper and using your index finger, dip into the water, and line the outermost rim of the wrapper

Spoon the veggie mix into the wrapper, you want to fill it enough here so you end up with a full dumpling after the cook

Begin to create the pleats on the dumpling: fold in half, then take one side and accordion fold into the center repeat a little further down to close the dumpling. Do the same thing on the other side until the entire dumpling is closed. Use more water to press the opening together if needed

The goal is to create a plump crescent shaped dumpling! Just remember, practice helps (and your stomach doesnt know the difference!)

To Eat