Steamed Vegetable Dumplings

     Hello! My name is Wontun and my favourite food is dumplings. Dumplings are essentially dough wrapped around filling. The dough can be anything from flour, bread, or even potatoes. The filling is also full of variety depending on the meats, veggies, and spices you can put into them. Then you can steam, boil, or panfry them depending on the type of dumpling! There are also many dipping sauces made for the enjoyment of dumplings. Dumplings are made all over the world of Neopia, and every land has its own versions of them. I think dumplings are wonderful because of their variety and versatility, and I hope to share my love for dumplings with you!

     I am writing about dumplings today to share dumpling recipes so that you can make delicious dumpling at home! I hope that with my recipes, one can easily transverse the world of dumpling making. Perhaps one day, you will start making your own dumplings that you create yourself!

     Today, I am going to share the recipe for classic Steamed Vegetable Dumplings. These dumplings are vegetable-based, so they are vegetarian friendly. My favourite part of these dumplings is their vibrant green colour because of the use of spinach in the dough. The filling should also be filled with delicious vegetable flavours that any vegetable lover would enjoy. These dumplings are quite simple, so for beginner dumpling chefs, this may be a good place to start. You will be getting hungry while reading and making these, I am sure!

     Ingredients:

     For the dough:

     30 g Spinach

     300 g Wheat Flour

     For the filling:

     200 g Green Cabbage

     60 g Carrot

     5 g Dried Black Mushrooms

     1 Organic Spring Onion

     1 Keno Egg

     1 White Squid Root

     1 tsp salt

     4 fl oz of boiled water

     For the sauce:

     1 tsp sugar

     1 tsp hot water

     2 tbsp Brown Sauce

     1 tsp rice vinegar

     1 tsp garlic

     1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

     ½ tsp sesame oil

     Steps:

     1. Boil enough water for the spinach and then blanch the spinach by turning the heat off and putting the spinach in for 10-30 seconds. Remove the spinach from the water so as not to overcook it.

     2. Puree the spinach in a processor. Set 2 fluid oz aside for colouring the dough and the rest will be for the filling.

     3. Add 2 fluid oz of the spinach puree and half of the hot water to the flour slowly. Mix the dough slowly until the flour and water feel incorporated and it starts to clump together. Add the rest of the water as needed, making sure not to add too much water as it can make the dough too wet and sticky.

     4. Knead the dough by hand and start forming it into a ball. You can add water if the dough is still a little too dry or flour if it is too sticky.

     5. Stop once the dough is firm and holds its shape. You should be able to poke the dough and it will bounce back.

     6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for 1 – 2 hours at room temperature.

     7. Meanwhile, make the filling. Mince the Green Cabbage, Carrot, Dried Black Mushrooms, Organic Spring Onion, and White Squid Root.

     8. Mix all the minced ingredients together.

     9. Squeeze out the excess water from the vegetables with your hands and use a paper towel to get rid of the water or drain it through a sieve. This is important to not make the filling too wet as this can make the dumpling not hold itself well.

     10. Stir in the rest of the spinach puree and Keno egg.

     11. Add salt and mix.

     12. Now to make the dipping sauce, dissolve the sugar in 1 tablespoon of hot water.

     13. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Stir and mix so that it is well incorporated.

     14. Once the dough is rested, on a flour-dusted counter, roll the dough out into a 1 inch diameter log. Cut into 1-1.5 cm portions.

     15. Roll out each portion into a 3-4 inch flat circle. Place a spoonful of filling in the middle of each circle. Fold the wrapper in half and then seal it any way you like.

     - One easy technique for beginners is to fold the wrapper in half, and simply pinch the edges closed.

     - Another way is to fold the wrapper in half, and then pinch and fold a small bit of the edges to one side, repeating this along the edge of the wrapper until you get to the end to get a pleated look.

     - You can also use this technique, but only pinch toward the middle of the dumpling so that the folds are toward the middle.

     - There are so many ways to design a dumpling, you can look at other dumpling designs to get a feel for how to make them! Or make your own dumpling designs, the world is your dumpling!

     16. Put the dumplings into a bamboo steamer. To avoid the dumplings from sticking, you can use cabbage or wax paper to line the bottom and then place the dumplings on top of them.

     16. Add the steamer to a pan and fill the pan with enough water to come up to between a quarter and half an inch. Let the water boil for about 10 minutes. Turn the stove off and remove the steamer carefully.

     17. Enjoy your steaming hot dumplings! Remember you also have a dipping sauce to eat them with.

     These steamed dumplings can be tweaked in any way you like such as the ratios of the filling, adding or removing things from the filling, making your dipping sauce spicy with chili oil, etc. Or you can also enjoy these dumplings pan-fried instead of steamed. To panfry, simply add oil to the pan and cook until the bottoms are a lovely brown colour. With dumplings, anything can be changed or modified to your liking! I hope you enjoyed my recipe for these Vegetable Steamed Dumplings, and I hope to be back with more dumpling recipes for you to try out.