Asian Dumpling Tips

Korean Shrimp Dumpling Recipe

When I saw the photo of these dumplings, I had to make them. The image was in Cooking Light magazine, in a poignant story on a Korean homecoming of sorts by my friend food editor Ann Taylor Pittman. This unusual mandu (the generic Korean term for dumpling) was at the top of my list of recipes to try. The concept is brilliant and the look is adorable -- perfect for casual snacking, a light lunch, or entertaining!

As with most Korean dumplings, tofu is involved, so are garlic and green onion. A little pork goes a long way to enriching the filling; use chicken thigh if you’re not porky. The shiitake mushroom contributes extra umami. 

Jump over to Vietworldkitchen, where the full recipe is posted. 

Stir-Fried Green Garlic and Chinese Sweet Sausage Recipe

I first had the preparation in October 2009 in Sydney, Australia. I was there to speak at the Sydney International Food Festival (called "Crave"). Whenever I had the chance, I went out to eat as much amazing Asian food as I could. At the Sydney oupost of Din Tai Fung, I ordered a similar dish as this one to accompany a steamer tray of xiao long bao Shanghai soup dumplings.

It's taken me a few years but I found a way to replicate the flavors and experience in California. See the recipe on Viet World Kitchen.

Fried tofu and Egg Pancake Recipe (Tahu Telur)

Remarkably easy and versatile, Indonesian tahu telur (tahu means tofu and telur means eggs) is like egg foo yung with pieces of fried tofu. In its elemental state, a block tofu is subtle in flavor, a canvas for receiving other ingredients. However, if you fry tofu, it gets a little crunchy and nutty tasting, almost like crisp chicken skin. 

For these pancakes, small flattish pieces of tofu get fried and then mixed with egg. Then the mixture is dropped into hot oil and fried as amoeba-like pancakes with crisp surfaces and edges. The delicately rich and eggy result gets crowned with crunchy vegetables and savory-sweet-spicy sauce, typically peanut sauce or chile-spiked sweet soy sauce; both sauces are in the photo above. The combination of texture and flavors is amazing.

You can do a lot with these pancakes, including presenting them as an accompaniment to Southeast Asian dumplings. My thoughts drift to the following recipes in Asian Dumplings:

• Vegetarian crystal dumplings (chai kuih, p. 139)
• Curry puffs (karipap, p. 125) and sticky rice
• Spiced chicken in banana leaf (lemper ayam, p. 173)
• Baked or steamed curried chicken bao (p. 102)

As usual, jump to Viet World Kitchen for this Indonesian fried tofu and egg pancake recipe. 

Pan-Seared Egg Tofu "Scallops" with Sweet Chile Sauce Recipe

I went to a venerable dim sum restaurant in Los Angeles during the Christmas holiday. The dumplings were great but what really got me was a dish of fried egg tofu in sweet chile sauce. It was among the dim sum menu's small plate options. I had to make it once I got home. 

Get information on egg tofu and grab the recipe at Viet World Kitchen.

Deviled Sriracha Crab Rangoon -- Wonton Skins Repurposed

If you don’t want to deep fry crab Rangoon, how about baking them up in little wonton skin cups? The result is a mini deviled snack. They're great with cocktails and are a good way to expand the use of wonton skins. I used packaged ones for these. The recipe is posted on Viet World Kitchen.

For more on crab Rangoon and Sriracha, see: 

• Crab Rangoon history
• Sriracha and Crab Rangoon wonton
• Classic Trader Vic’s crab Rangoon recipe
• Rangoon Ruby cocktail recipe
• Tackling Sriracha Myths, Truths, and Confusion

Gluten-Free Stuffed Buns (Bao): Dough, Baked Buns, Steamed Buns

I have poked and held enough loaves of gluten-free breads to know that it would be a challenge to create fluffy, chewy dough that could be baked and steamed. But knowing that Filipino cooks prepare a rice flour based dough for siopao (stuffed bao) gave me hope for creating gluten-free bao dough.

I ended up adapting a gluten-free Western cinnamon roll dough for the stuffed Asian buns. I tested out the dough with a char siu pork filling for these baked buns and steamed buns:

    

Gluten-free bao is not like what you get at dim sum but they do have a rustic appeal of their own. If you follow a gluten-free diet, I hope this satisfies your Chinese bao cravings. If you do not, this is a recipe that helps you better understand flours, starches, and dough. It was a cool experiment.

I’m structuring this trilogy of posts like the recipes in Asian Dumplings. There are three posts related to this subject on Viet World Kitchen:

• Gluten-Free Bun (Bao) Dough (in the lead post called "Gluten-Free Bun Trilogy")
• Baked Gluten-Free Bun (Bao) Recipe 
• Steamed Gluten-Free Bun (Bao) Recipe

Related Posts:

• Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial & Dough 3 (sorghum, sweet rice, and tapioca starch dough)
• Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial & Dough 2  (millet, sorghum, tapioca, and potato dough; includes tips on working with GF dumpling dough)
• Gluten-free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial 1 (on Asiandumplingtips.com)

Deep-fried Apple Spring Rolls

Consider this a tasty experiment in mutant cooking: an apple-pie like filling inside and Asian dumpling skin. Deep-fried and served warm with a bit of powdered sugar, it's a head turner. I was inspired by a number of things, one of which was a fried fruit pie at a McDonald's in Beijing. Seriously. You can read more about this concoction and get the recipe on Vietworldkitchen.com.

Note that the pineapple filling in Asian Dumplings (page 195) can also be used to create a deep-fried pineapple spring roll. I was also thinking that instead of the spring roll recipe, you could use the simple flaky pastry (page 113, like what you'd use for samosa). One of the gluten-free dumpling doughs would work too. 

Gluten-Free Asian Dumplings: Uses Beyond Pot Stickers

I suppose that you could say that I've displayed signs of OCDD (obsessive compulsive dissorder for dumplings). With a fine amount of dough and filling leftover from making the gluten-free pot stickers, I wanted to see how versatile the dough is. The great thing about dumplings is their versatility, right? With the basic dumpling dough in your back pocket, you can use different fillings, create different shapes, and cook your dumplings in a variety of ways.

So I put both kinds of gluten-free dumpling doughs (see the links below to the three recipe trials) to the test. My findings about how they worked with the various shapes and cooking methods are posted on VietWorldKitchen.com in this post.

Related posts:

• Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial & Dough 3 (sorghum, sweet rice, and tapioca starch dough)
• Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial & Dough 2  (millet, sorghum, tapioca, and potato dough; includes tips on working with GF dumpling dough)
• Gluten-free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial 1 (on Asiandumplingtips.com)
• Guide to Building an Asian Dumpling Pantry
• Tolerance Test: Are Gluten-Free Asian Ingredients for You?

If you have the enhanced e-version of Asian Dumplings, these technique videos are included. Otherwise, see the printed book for details and/or watch my videos below, which are on Asiandumplingtips.com:

• How to roll out Asian dumpling wrappers
• Basic Asian dumpling shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug
• Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent
• Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent
• How to shape a rope edge (for empanadas, turnovers, curry puffs)
• How to Fold a Closed Satchel