Asian Dumpling Tips

Dumplings make everyone smile. Make and eat lots.

Technique Videos and Photos

Easy Dumpling Folding Strategies — Video

Cooking Tips & Tricks, Technique Videos and Photos


In July I traveled back East to do a consulting job, stopping enroute in New York City to see my friends at Saveur. (I’ve been a contributing editor at the magazine since 2007.) We’d been talking about making a video of me giving a cooking tip or two and settled on one about folding dumplings.

If you have Asian Dumplings, you know my motto about shaping dumplings. If you don’t have the book, it’s this: Get the wrapper closed. Practice pretty shapes later.

Senior video producer Anique Halliday is a veteran of doing wonderful, fun educational videos; she worked on PBS projects before coming to Saveur. We strategized and planned on the phone in June and then in July, spent a couple of hours at the Saveur test kitchen to produce this:

Saveur’s “Test Kitchen Tips” videos have run the gamut from the viral one on how to peel garlic in less than 10 seconds to the practical one on dipping truffles in chocolate. Asian food-wise, editor in chief James Oseland has shown folks how to tie a knot with lemongrass and how to use and chop kaffir lime leaves into fine hairs. (James wrote the amazing Cradle of Flavor cookbook, which I reference and use all the time.)

If you’re looking for more Asian dumpling tips, jump over to this page.

Nifty Dumpling Tricks from Chengdu

Cooking Equipment, Cooking Tips & Tricks, Technique Videos and Photos

image from www.flickr.com
I just came back from a 3-week trip to Asia, where I went to Taipei, Tokyo, Kyoto, Beijing and Chengdu. There was much to learn, eat, and observe. Of course, I had to check out lots of dumplings. I watched the professional dumpling makers wherever and whenever I could. On this trip, I had my digital and Flip video camera.

In Chengdu, China I captured some footage that reinforced authentic, time-honored dumpling traditions but also showed me some modern techniques too. Check out the post and video at Vietworldkitchen.com:

Asian Dumpling Tips from Chengdu Pros

How to Fold a Closed Satchel (video)

Asian Dumplings Cookbook, Technique Videos and Photos

Don’t be daunted by the task of making bao – the pillowy filled buns that you may have eaten lots of at dim sum. The shape is akin to cinching up a satchel (think of a hobo bag). You need this shape to master stuffed buns (Chinese bao, Filipino siopao, Vietnamese banh bao) and the graduate level Shanghai soup dumpling (xiao long bao, XLB). “The Perfect Shanghai Soup Dumpling” video I taped with the Chinese chef at Shanghai Dumpling King gives you a sense of rapid fire closed satchel making. You can work up to that but he started decades ago.

The video below slows thing down quite a bit to help you along. Do note that this shape only works for wrappers that you make from scratch. Do not try this technique on purchased pot sticker or wontons as they are not moist enough to seal properly. That said, review the instructions in Asian Dumplings on how to roll out dumpling wrappers and watch the video. That will bring you up to speed on where this video takes off!

 

A dumpling makeover tip: When making yeast-leavened bao, you can steam the dumpling with the pleats facing down to hide imperfections! No one will be the  wiser.

Related how-to videos:



Basic Wonton Shapes (Triangle, Flower Bud, Nurse’s Cap)

Asian Dumpling Basics, Asian Dumplings Cookbook, Technique Videos and Photos

I made my first wontons when I was in elementary school. They were triangles. Because my mother would give me about 3 packages of wontons to fill and fold, I started with the simple triangle and graduated to more complicated shapes. Then I had friends show me their nifty ones. I've also watched plenty of Chinese restaurant cooks fold wontons using a single chopstick or a bamboo spatula. They work at lightning speed. Those wonton professionals have folded thousands, if not tens of thousands of wontons. It just takes practice.

You can devise your own fanciful wontons but it helps to have a foundation to work off of. Here's a video that I taped with CHOW.com for their 2010 Lunar New Year dumpling-a-thon. If you're new to wonton folding or need extra detail aside from what is already in Asian Dumplings, this is the video for you!

 
Video presented courtesy of CHOW.com

Some other helpful links:

How to Shape a Rope Edge (Video)

Asian Dumplings Cookbook, Technique Videos and Photos

Earlier this year, Mike Miller requested that I put up a video on this nifty technique for gussying up a turnover-like dumplings. He has been a diligent dumpling maker and reminded me in his comment on the pleated crescent video that I owed him this one.  I promised Mike and now am delivering.

You’ll find this advance shaping technique referred to in the following Asian Dumplings cookbook recipes:  Mongolian meat and caraway pockets (p. 50), baked Filipino empanadas (p. 111), Southeast Asian curry puffs (p. 125), and my childhood favorite — Vietnamese shrimp, pork, and jicama turnovers (banh quai vac chien, p. 118). Aside from using the technique for dumplings, you can certainly put a rope edge on a pie crust. Enjoy and practice lots. Eat your way to perfection.


Related videos:

Advanced Asian Dumpling Shapes: The Pleated Crescent (video)

Asian Dumpling Basics, Asian Dumplings Cookbook, Technique Videos and Photos

A commonly seen Asian Dumpling shape (think pot stickers and har gow), the pleated crescent is a bit more advanced than the half moon, pea pod or big hug. I watched a lot of dumpling masters perform this shape and then figured out how to do it myself. 

Remember to work with both hands holding the wrapper in the air as that allows you to manipulate the dough better. You can certainly use this folding technique for store-bought wrappers. Be sure to moisten the wrapper first to create a decent seal.


More how-to videos: