Crazy Delicious Vegan Dumplings
I love how food, especially dumplings, plays a part in this year’s blockbuster romantic comedy, Crazy Rich Asians. If you haven’t seen it, go out and do it now!
In honor of the movie, I was inspired to make some delicious vegan dumplings. Don’t be intimidated, once you wrap your head around how to wrap up the dumplings it’s not so bad.
The recipe calls for chopping up a few ingredients, sautéing, mixing in spices, combining everything and wrapping.
Umami Plant-Based Dumpling Recipe
For this recipe I wanted something flavorful. Usually in most dumplings, also known as potstickers or gyoza, the filling is quite mild and the sauce is where you get a lot of flavor. Here I wanted to make the filling flavorful so you can actually eat them without sauce and still feel satisfied without missing anything. However, there is still a dipping sauce for those of you who can’t live without.
The dipping sauce is simple, rice vinegar, tamari, maple syrup, red pepper flakes and minced garlic. Add everything to a bowl and whisk or you can drop all the ingredients into a mason jar and shake.
The dumpling filling combines sautéed shiitake mushrooms, shallots, garlic, ginger, carrots and Napa cabbage. If you never had Shiitakes before you are in for a treat. The combination of these vegetables are not only mouthwatering but healthy too.
Powerful Nutritious Ingredients
Shiitakes have a lot of health benefits including high antioxidant content, helps reduce the plaque in your arteries, and may help in reducing your risk of breast cancer.
Ginger also has some healthful advantages including: combating nausea, reducing muscle pain, lowering blood sugars, helping with digestion and menstrual cramps and lowering your cholesterol level. See more advantages here.
Garlic is also good for you. “Claims for the health benefits of garlic include lower blood pressure and cholesterol, an anti-inflammatory effect, a reduced risk of cancer, and a stronger immune system.”
Wrapping the Dumplings
Once you have the veggies sautéed and combined with the rest of the ingredients then you will need to wrap the dumplings or as Nick (Crazy Rich Asians) describes the way he was taught, place the baby (the filling) on the bed (dumpling wrapper) and then tuck the baby into the bed (folding the wrapper). Check out this Rouxbe video (about 1 minute into the video) to help you “tuck your baby.” You can buy your dumpling wrappers (round) at any Asian store, just be sure to consult the ingredient list to make sure it is vegan.
Cooking the Dumplings
There are two ways to cook your dumplings. First way is to simply place them into a steamer basket and steam for about 4-5 minutes. Second way (my favorite), is to sear the bottoms. Place a pan on medium heat with about 1/2 a tablespoon of olive oil spread out on the bottom of the pan. Have a few tablespoons of water or broth and the pan cover ready, this process will happen quite fast once you place the dumplings in the pan. Wait a few minutes for the pan to heat up, then place the dumplings on the pan, you will hear it sizzle and the bottoms will become golden brown, maybe about a 30 secs to a minute. Once they are golden add the water/broth to the pan (it will sizzle some more) cover the pan, turn down the heat a bit and steam until the water/broth has evaporated. This should take about 4-5 minutes.
Eating the Dumplings
Take the dumplings out of the steamer basket or pan and then you “eat the baby.” This dumpling is so delicious it hits all the spots! Nice umami flavor with just a hint of heat.
- 1.5 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1.5 Tbsp tamari
- 1 Tbsp maple
- ½ Tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
- ¼ cup shallot or white onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1½ cups shiitake mushrooms, de-stemmed and diced into small pieces
- ¾ cup shredded carrots
- 1 cup Napa cabbage, shredded into small pieces
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp Sambal Oelek*
- 2 Tbsp tamari
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- 1 pack vegan round dumpling wrappers
- In a small bowl whisk all ingredients together then put aside.
- In a fry pan on medium heat add 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil, when the pan is hot enough add the shiitakes and sauté for about 3 minutes until they start to brown a little, then add the shallots and sauté for a minute, then add the garlic and ginger and sauté for an additional 1 minute then add the carrots and cabbage sauté for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Allow to cool for a few minutes.
- In a mixing bowl add the tamari, cornstarch, maple syrup, Sambal and white pepper and the cooled sautéed vegetables. Mix until well combined.
- Open the pack of vegan round dumpling wrappers and prepare a small cup of water for moistening.
- On a sheet pan, lightly sprinkle some cornstarch to prevent the wrappers from sticking to the pan.
- Place about 2 teaspoons of the dumpling filling in the center of the dumpling wrapper. Dip your finger into the water and moisten the top edge of your dumpling wrapper. Fold in half like a taco. Start at one corner of the wrapper facing you and begin to press and crimp the edge until the dumpling is sealed. See the video here.
- Place in a steam basket and steam for 4-5 minutes.
- In a fry pan at medium heat add ½ tablespoon of sesame oil or olive oil.
- Once the pan is hot add about half the dumplings (work in batches) and sear the dumplings until golden brown on the bottom. Add a splash of water or broth, cover and reduce heat. Allow the dumplings to steam for about 4 minutes.
- Take out of the pan and eat!
Enjoy!
