EASIEST Recipe for Dumpling Dough- 3 Ingredients (2024)

FAQs

What are the three components of dumplings? ›

Dumplings are made from a simple dough consisting of all-purpose flour, water, and salt. The shaped dumplings are either fried in a pan until golden brown or boiled in a soup.

From-scratch dumpling dough requires only two ingredients — flour and water — and the water temperature yields different types of wrappers. Cold water is best for boiled dumplings because it causes the flour's proteins to form the gluten that makes dough chewy and able to withstand vigorously boiling water.

Dumplings can be steamed (zhēngjiǎo, 蒸饺), pan-fried (jiānjiǎo, 煎饺), or boiled (shuǐjiǎo, 水饺, literal translation: water dumpling). They are then served with a dipping sauce, like Chinese black vinegar or our favorite dumpling sauce recipe. They can also be eaten with hot pot meals or served in soup!

Hand-mincing meat and adding more pork belly results in the juiciest dumplings. Traditionally, some Chinese cuisine uses hand minced meat for their dishes. For example, lots of dim sum items like siu mai, pork buns, beef meatball, and more use hand minced meat to control the texture and fat content of the dish!

For dumplings made with wheat flour, all purpose or plain flour will suffice. If your recipe calls for leavening, you'll need to add baking powder and salt. Alternatively, you can use self-rising flour which has the leavening included. For a lot of dumplings, plain flour is all that is required with no baking powder.

What are dumplings made of? The dumpling dough is made of three main ingredients: flour, water and salt.

Plain flour.

You don't need speciality dumpling flour to make these wrappers – regular plain, all-purpose flour is absolutely fine. You could also use bread flour if you have it.

I have found some recipes that do include egg, but most of the frozen varieties I've eaten (Bibigo and multiple Trader Joe's dumplings) are all free of egg. Korean dumpling wrappers are typically made with wheat (and possibly soy as well), not egg.

While wontons are technically a type of dumpling, they go by a different name in Chinese from the "jiaozi," and one of the main distinctions between a wonton and a dumpling is that wontons are made with a much thinner dough that is usually square-shaped.

A pinch of salt seasons the dumplings and enhances the flavors of the other ingredients. Cold butter or margarine is cut into the flour mixture to bind the dry ingredients together. It also keeps the dumplings light and tender. Whole milk helps create a smooth, moist dough.

Do you cook dumplings covered or uncovered? ›

The second secret to making really good dumplings is to keep the lid closed while the dumplings cook. With the soup simmering over a low flame and the dumpling dough ready, you'll drop spoonfuls of the dough onto the surface of the simmering broth, then cover the pot with a lid.

Traditionally, dumplings are made on the eve of Chinese new year, and a small coin is hidden inside one. Whoever finds the coin is said to have good fortune for the new year! This is particularly the case for 'water dumplings' (水饺) – those boiled in water rather than pan fried.

Li seeks the help of Aunt Mei, a local chef. Mei cooks her some special dumplings which she claims to be effective for rejuvenation. She tells Mrs. Li that the secret ingredient for her rejuvenating dumplings is unborn fetuses imported from an abortion clinic in Shenzhen, where she used to work.

As legend tells it, it was a difficult winter and many were experiencing ill effects from the cold. To help people warm up, Zhongjing took mutton, herbs, and chilis and wrapped them in dough, then steamed them to bind everything together and keep them warm.

They are typically recognized by their English translation — pot stickers. Originating in Northern China, these dumplings are filled with ground meat and vegetables, such as cabbage, scallions, garlic and ginger and wrapped in a thin, circular-shaped wrapper made of flour and water.

Dumplings: In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder and shortening with a fork. Add egg and 1/2 cup milk; mix to form dough. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness on floured surface. Cut into four-inch strips with sharp knife.