Homemade Dumplings

The family that cooks together, stays together. Take your time and give this homemade dumpling process lots of love—餃子 (jiao zi) are often made in the company of loved ones around Chinese New Year to celebrate families gathering together. Their shape resembles Chinese gold ingots, a currency that was used during the Ming dynasty, and are meant to represent prosperity, wealth, and health. May each one bring you a bite-sized pocket of blessing!

The dough

Basic dumpling dough is extremely simple: no yeast, and no flavorings for the most part. Many dumpling dough recipes use just two ingredients: flour, water. In our version, we are using a few more ingredients: cornstarch for tenderness, salt for flavor and gluten strength, and boiling water for a softer doughiness. These components help to achieve my ideal dumpling dough texture, best described as the intersection between bouncy al dente pasta and plushy, chewy mochi.

If the dough feels a little too dry, don't rush to pour more water in: keep working the dough with dampened hands and introduce moisture in minimally. Make too moist of a dough and you risk working with a dough that is too soft and too delicate to fold easily when pleating. When rolling out each disc, make sure to rotate frequently to maintain that circular shape, rolling the outer edge thinner than the center. Lightly swipe a tiny bit of flour over each disc before stacking them together and keeping them covered underneath a clean kitchen linen while you work on the rest of the batch.

The filling

Once you have the dumpling dough down, you can basically wrap any variety of filling inside. Here, I'm going with a childhood favorite: a surf-n-turf mixture of minced pork, diced shrimp, and shiitake mushrooms. Spiked with a handful of aromatics, white pepper, and a little cabbage for health, this bite of this combo eats like a well-balanced diet.

If you're vegetarian, substitute the meats out for marinated tofu, cooked rice vermicelli noodles, more mushrooms, egg, or minced, hearty vegetables like carrot and potatoes. Do what you like—the possibilities for variation are endless!

The sauce

Dumpling sauce is so simple and flexible—as a Northerner from Beijing, I like lots of Chinese black vinegar in my mix. You can add salt in place of the soy sauce, a little grated garlic for extra pungency, and thinly sliced green onions for freshness. You can also leave out the sugar or spicy chili oil to keep the flavors more baseline. Much like the dumpling filling, the sauce can be adjusted to personal taste.

How to cook dumplings

I grew up eating mostly boiled dumplings and love them this way: gently plopped in boiling water just like you would a pot of pasta, stirred occasionally, then fished out once they float to the surface. As a bonus, the dumpling cooking water can be consumed as a palate cleanser: It's lightly starchy with a hint of sweetness from the flour and savoriness from the filling, surprisingly soothing.

You can also steam the dumplings in a similar parchment-steamer set-up to how you would cook steamed buns or pan-sear them as potstickers.

How to store dumplings

If you don't plan on eating two dozen of these all at once, freeze them (before cooking) on a tray for 2 hours, then transfer to a resealable plastic bag once they've hardened. They can keep indefinitely in the freezer, but are best when consumed within 3 months. The longer they sit beyond that, the more the flavors will dissipate.

Once cooked, dumplings should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge and consumed within 2 days. You can reheat in a microwave, or in a lightly-oiled skillet for a crispier bottom—or just eat it cold, straight from the fridge at 2 a.m. while thinking about your life choices up until that point.

If you've made this recipe, drop us a line down below: leave a rating, leave a comment, and let us know how it went!