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Over 30 years ago, my mother-in-law took a Chinese cooking class. While she wasn’t a passionate cook, she did it because she loves Chinese cuisine and wanted to learn how to make it for her family. She always tells me how much she enjoyed that class and that she regrets not following through over the years recreating the meals she learned. Whenever it comes up, my hubby never fails to remind her how he’s still waiting for the big Chinese banquet she promised him decades ago (as if she’s forgotten or stopped feeling guilty about it). Believe me, I’m patiently waiting for the guilt my kids will dump on me years down the road for something I will promise them and no doubt never quite get around to. But I digress.
Without fail, whenever we go out for Chinese food, my kids (following hubby’s lead) order dumplings. If you happened to walk past our table on any given occasion, all you would see is a blur of hands big and small grabbing for and dipping a variety of different dumplings, each kind filled with an array of delicious ingredients. This dumpling craving of my husband’s dates back to his childhood and his family’s Sunday night tradition of eating in and ordering takeout from New York City Chinese restaurants.
As delicious as dumplings are, whenever we’re in a restaurant and I look at the heavenly little stuffed pillow-like gems in front of us, I’m daunted by the work that must go into preparing them. But recently, Kenya pointed won ton wrappers out to me at the grocery and I decided to take a leap of faith, set aside a good amount of time, and try making homemade dumplings.
It wound up being seriously easy and not taking me much time at all. Why I made such a big deal about all the effort it would require to make these is beyond me. And when it was time to serve them for dinner, the hands started flying and it was just like when we go out — not a darn one remained on the plate.
Now I just have to get my MIL to prepare that long overdue chinese meal she’s been promising so we can both be absolved of that horrible mommy guilt that we all hold onto way too often!
Simple Pan Seared Dumplings
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground chicken or turkey
- 1/2 cup grated carrot
- 1/2 cup grated zucchini
- 1/4 cup chopped scallions plus 1 tablespoon, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 large egg
- 4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce, divided
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar
- wrappers
- oil
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together the chicken, carrot, zucchini, 1/4 cup scallions, garlic powder, onion powder, egg, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, and sesame oil until combined well (this part is easiest to do with your hands).
- Place 2 teaspoons of the mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper.
- Moisten the edges of the wrapper with a fingertip moistened in water, fold over into a semicircle or triangle (depending on the shape of the wrapper you buy) and pinch the seams together to seal.
- In a small bowl, mix together the remaining 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, rice vinegar and the 1 tablespoon of scallions. This will be the dipping sauce.
- Use enough oil to just coat the bottom of a large sauté pan over medium heat. Pan-sear dumplings for 1 1/2 minutes on each side, until the chicken is cooked through and the dumpling is crisp.
- Serve with dipping sauce.
Nutrition
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How long did you bake them? At what temperature?
Made these for dinner last night and my fiance was totally impressed! I made a big batch, baked them in the oven, and then froze them for easy weeknight dinners. The flavors are fantastic together and the apartment smelled so good when they were done!
Made these tonight – AMAZING! I just love your recipes!
Ok I will try this recipe
I apologize for my short comment-I also meant to say thank you for sharing this recipe! I look forward to trying it my 2 1/2 year old who seems to think bunnies are the only animals who eat carrots!
The dipping sauce is in Step 3!
Do you have a recipe for a dipping sauce?
I haven’t steamed them, but I did try boiling them and they held together so I think steaming would work as well!
These look great, thank you, and will appeal to my children. Have you tried steaming them instead of pan frying? I am wondering if they would hold together or just fall open?
I make this Daikon Radish Slaw into spring rolls sometimes! http://b12.ba4.myftpupload.com/2010/04/12/daikon-radish-slaw/
I think it would be easy enough to sub the cabbage and maybe a vegetarian “lunch meat” for the meat. You could also use soy crumbles. Check out the freezer section. There are so any meat substitutes that are good. These sound amazing!…I’m still looking for an egg free wrapper if anyone has a suggestion.
do you have an easy veggie wrap, maybe with coleslaw? These look wonderful!!
After you place the dumplings in the oiled pan, you can add about a 1/4 inch of water to the pan and cover it. That way the dumplings get a little steamed. After the water boils off, remove the lid and wait for the sizzling sound so you know the dumplings are ready and crisp.
There is such a small amount of chicken in each dumpling that it cooks super quick. I tested these at many different heats and time intervals to find out exactly when the chicken would be cooked through! If you’re nervous, you could always open one up to check it! If that one is cooked through then you know the others will be, too! Cooking the chicken beforehand will cause it to become overcooked once you cook it the second time, and it won’t mix in with the rest of the ingredients easily, so I would advise against that.
Hi, this sounds delicious! I’m concerned the chicken won’t be cooked thoroughly. How can you tell it’s ready if it’s inside the dumpling? Would it ruin the recipe if I cooked the chicken first before stuffing? Thanks!
This looks so yummy. Thank you for posting. Approximately how many dumplings might the recipe yield? I have a partially-consumed pack of wonton wrappers in the freezer…