Eesha Kulkarni

In the realm of gastronomy, few dishes possess the magical ability to unite people from diverse cultures and backgrounds quite like dumplings. These pockets of delight, filled with an array of sumptuous ingredients, transcend borders and languages, evoking feelings of warmth and nostalgia wherever they’re found.

As we come together to celebrate World Dumpling Day, let’s explore six easy-to-recreate recipes from the kitchens of renowned chefs from illustrious establishments like The Westin, Taj Hotels, and more. After all, what better way to celebrate this day than to prepare delicious dumplings from scratch right from the comfort of your home?

6 Easy-To-Make Dumpling Recipes

1. Mei’s Veggie Dumplings: A Taste of Tradition by Chef Amandeep Singh, Executive Sous Chef, The Westin Mumbai Garden City

©The Westin Mumbai Garden City

Ingredients

• 1 cup finely chopped Napa Cabbage
• 1 cup finely chopped Mushrooms (shiitake or oyster)
• 1/2 cup finely Shredded Carrots
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp Ginger, grated
• 2 Green Onions, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Sesame Oil
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
• Dumpling Wrappers (store-bought or homemade)

Method

1. Begin by preparing the filling. In a large mixing bowl, combine the finely chopped Napacabbage, mushrooms, shredded carrots, minced garlic, grated ginger, green onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and black pepper. Mix thoroughly until all ingredients are well combined.
2. To assemble the dumplings, take a dumpling wrapper and place a spoonful of the vegetable mixture in the centre. Moisten the edge of the wrapper with water and fold it in half, creating a half-moon shape. Seal the edges by pressing firmly. You can choose to create pleats for an attractive finish.
3. Place the assembled dumplings on a tray lined with parchment paper to prevent sticking.

Cooking options:

• Boiling: Bring a pot of water to a boil and gently add the dumplings. Boil for about 5-7 minutes or until they float to the surface.
• Steaming: Arrange the dumplings on a steamer basket or in a bamboo steamer, making sure they don’t touch. Steam for approximately 10-12 minutes until the wrappers turn translucent and the filling is cooked through.
• Pan-frying: Heat a bit of oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the dumplings and cook until the bottoms are golden brown. Then, add water to the pan (about 1/4 cup), cover with a lid, and steam for 5-7 minutes.

Serve the vegetable dumplings hot with a dipping sauce made from soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a dash of sesame oil.

2. Pan Seared Chorizo Dumpling with coriander mayo sauce by Num Bahadur, Chef de Partie – Asian Section Taj Fort Aguada Resort & Spa

©Taj Fort Aguada Resort & Spa, Goa

Ingredients

For the stuffing:

• 250 gm Sausage Pork Goan Chorizo
• 50 gm chopped Onions Large
• 2-3 chopped Pimentos Green
• 2 Tomatos
• 100 gm Fresh Coriander Leaves
• 100 gm Ketchup Tomato Kissan
• Black pepper to taste
• Salt Table to taste

Method

1. Remove the chorizo from the casing and roughly chop it up.
2. Take a pan and saute chopped onion and chopped pimentos.
3. Cook it till it gets mushy and add the chopped chorizo in it.
4. Check the seasoning and add chopped coriander in it

For the Dumpling wrapper

Ingredients (makes 24 dumplings)

• 4 cups All-Purpose flour (500 g)
• 2 tsp Salt, divided
• 1 ¼ cups Warm Water (300 mL)

Method

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, and the warm water and mix until well combined.
2. Roll out dough on a floured surface and knead until smooth.
3. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts.
4. Roll out 1 piece of dough into a thin log and divide into 6 or 8 pieces.
5. Lightly flour the dough pieces and roll out 1 piece into a thin circle roughly.
6. Keep the dumpling wrappers separated with butter paper/parchment paper.
7. Add 1 tablespoon of filling to the centre of a dumpling wrapper, and lightly coat half of the outside of the wrapper with water.
8. Fold the moistened half of the wrapper over the filling.
9. Pan-seared the dumplings on low frame and cook them in batches.
10. Add some water in the pan and cover the dumpling, this will help to cook evenly.
11. Drizzle some sesame seed and spring onion, and serve hot with dipping sauce.

For the Dipping sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh Coriander Leaves, Green Chilies, Onion, Garlic, White Vinegar, Salt and Water
• 2-3 no Green Chilies
• 1/ 2 cup chopped Onion
• 1 tsp chopped Garlic
• 2 tsp Lemon Juice
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise

Method

1. Finely blend coriander, chilli, and garlic.
2. Add mayonnaise and chopped onion, and lemon juice and mix it well.
3. Check the seasoning and serve the pan fried dumpling with the dipping sauce.

3. Korean Veg Dumpling by Chef Juliano Rodrigues, Thea, Mumbai

©Thea Mumbai

Ingredients

• 300 ml Vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp Oil
• 1 tsp Garlic chopped
• 1 tsp Ginger
• 1 tsp Fresh Thai Chilli
• 1 tbsp Green Zucchini small dice
• 1 tbsp Yellow Zucchini small dice
• 1 tsp Mushroom dice
• 10 gm Broccoli Florets Small
• Salt as required
• Pepper as required
• ¼ tsp Dark Soya
• ¼ tsp Vinegar
• ¼ Nori Sheet for garnish

Method

1. In a medium stock pot, heat oil and add all the ingredients (except the Nori sheet, veggie stock, seasoning and soya sauce) and saute the veggies nicely.
2. Then, add the stock and give it a boil. Pour in the soya sauce and adjust seasoning.
3. Thicken the broth with cornstarch if required, or can be served as ‘un-pass Broth with veg dumpling’ and garnish with Nori sheet.

4. Chicken Gyoza by Krishna Tiwari, Executive Chef at Kyma

©Kyma

Ingredients

Dough

• 2 cups All-purpose flour
• ½ tsp Sea Salt
• ½ cup Hot Water
• 1 Egg
• Vegetable Oil for greasing

 Filling

• 500 gm Ground Chicken
• 25 gm finely Chopped Carrots
• 25 gm Water Chestnut
• 2 tbsp finely chopped Coriander
• 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
• 1 ½ tbsp Potato Starch
• 1 ½ tbsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Aromat Powder
• Sea salt to taste
• 10 ml Sesame Oil

Method

1. Stir together flour, salt and hot water, and oil in a medium bowl. Knead it into a soft dough and set aside.
2. Stir together all the filling ingredients in a large bowl until ground chicken is completely broken up and the mixture is well blended.
3. Divide dough and filling into 34-36 balls.
4. Roll each dough circle into a large 4-inch circle and place one ball of chicken. Pinch the upper edges together firmly and create a half-moon shape.
5. Add the dumplings in a wooden basket steamer for 6-7 minutes. Remove and pan-fried the gyoza.
6. Serve hot with chilli oil or sauce as per your choice

5. Sichuan Crystal Dumplings by Chef Alok Das, Escobar Mumbai

©Escobar Mumbai

Ingredients

For the Crystal Dumpling Skins:

• 14 tbsp Wheat Starch (14 tablespoons = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons)
• 3/4 cup Tapioca Starch
• 3 tbsp Cornstarch (plus more for kneading)
• 1 ¼ cups Water
• 2 tsp Vegetable Oil

For the Crystal Dumpling filling:

• 4 medium dried Shiitake Mushrooms
• 3 cups Baby Spinach (or other stemless leafy greens)
• 1 small Carrot and Water Chestnuts (finely diced)
• 1 tbsp Chilli Oil
• 2 tsp Cornstarch
• 1 tsp Salt
• ¼ tsp Sugar
• ⅛ tsp White Pepper
• ½ tsp Sesame Oil
• 2 tsp Oyster Sauce
• 2 tsp Vegetable Oil

Method

Make the dough for the wrappers:

1. In a bowl, whisk together the wheat starch, tapioca starch, and cornstarch.
2. Add exactly 1¼ cups of water to a medium pot along with the vegetable oil. Cover and bring to a boil. The second it comes to a boil, immediately remove it from the heat (you don’t want too much of it to evaporate away).
3. Immediately add about a third of the starch mixture to the just-boiled water in the pot, and stir vigorously with a stiff rubber spatula or wooden spoon. The starch will begin to form both opaque and translucent lumps. Add another third of the starch mixture and mix it for 1 minute until you get a paste-like consistency. Finally, add the rest of the starch and mix for 2 minutes until it forms a shaggy dough. It will look dry, with some starch still not mixed in. Cover the pot tightly, and rest the dough for 5 minutes.
4. Lightly dust a clean, dry work surface with some cornstarch. Uncover the pot and begin kneading the dough with the rubber spatula, folding it over repeatedly for 3 minutes. Dust your hands with cornstarch and knead the dough by hand on the work surface until it is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. The dough should now be smooth, pliable, and relatively stretchy.
5. Roll the dough into a log about 1½ inches thick and 15 inches long, dusting the work surface lightly with additional cornstarch as needed.
6. Divide the dough into about 36 pieces, each about 12-14g (a digital scale helps!). Keep the dough pieces from sticking using a light dusting of cornstarch, and cover them with a large overturned bowl while you make the filling.

Make the filling:

1. Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for about 2 hours to rehydrate. Finely dice them. Fill a wok or medium pot about halfway with water, and bring to a boil. Also prepare an ice bath.
2. Add the spinach and/or leafy greens to the boiling water, and stir for 15-30 seconds until just wilted. Use a Chinese spider or metal strainer to transfer the blanched greens to the ice water bath. Then use the strainer to remove the greens from the ice bath, squeeze the leaves dry, and set aside on a cutting board.
3. Next, add the diced carrots and mushrooms to the boiling water, and stir for 1 minute. Transfer to the ice water bath.
4. Finely chop the cooled spinach greens and put them in a bowl along with the drained carrots and mushrooms. Add the chilli oil wine, cornstarch, salt, sugar, white pepper, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and vegetable oil. Mix until well combined.

Assemble the dumplings:

1. Dust a rolling pin with cornstarch. On a surface lightly dusted with cornstarch, roll each piece of dough out into a round disc about 3 to 3½ inches in diameter.
2. Add about 1 tablespoon of filling (about 14g) to the centre of the wrapper. You can either wrap it like a traditional dumpling or create a triangle or four-sided shape (see photos). Continue assembling until you’ve used all the wrappers and filling.

Cook the dumplings:

Place the dumplings in a bamboo steamer lined with perforated parchment paper, and steam the dumplings over boiling water at medium-high heat for about 6 minutes, until translucent. Serve these crystal dumplings immediately with some hot chilli oil on the side!

6. Cream Cheese and Truffle Mushroom Dumplings By Chef Sonam Sherpa, Baale Resort, Goa

©Baale, Goa

(makes about 6 dim-sums)

Dim Sum Shell Ingredients

• 40 g Wheat Starch
• 10 g Potato Starch
• 20 ml Boiling water

Method

1. In a mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
2. Add boiling water slowly into the mixture until well combined. Texture should be smooth and spongy.
3. Divide mixture into 6 balls.
4. Take a small hand rolling pin and roll it into a thin circular shape.

Filling ingredients

• 50 g Cream Cheese of choice
• 10 g Chopped Garlic
• 10 g Grated Ginger
• 15 g finely chopped Shiitake Mushroom
• 10 ml Truffle Oil
• 20 g chopped Spring Onion
• Season to taste with salt & pepper

Method

1. Combine all the filling ingredients including seasoning until well combined.
2. Divide mixture and shape into 6 small circular balls.
3. Place wet stuffing in the centre of the rolled out wrapper.
4. Start folding into the desired shape.

Cooking method

1. Prepare the banana leaf with a thin layer of oil and place dumplings onto the banana leaf.
2. Insert banana leaf into steamer.
3. Steam for 4-6 minutes.
4. Serve it hot and enjoy!