Vegan dumpling recipes Archives - Asian Dumpling Tips

Giant Fried Jiaozi Dumplings Recipe

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Chinese cooks excel at making interesting and tasty vegan dumplings. Here is a recipe that I made today from Beyond the Great Wall by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. Filled with cellophane noodles, napa cabbage, shiitake and wood ear mushroom and pressed tofu, the Hunanese dumplings are deep fried to a crisp. (I tried shallow-frying them too!) They are enormous for dumplings as each one is about 7 to 8 inches long. You can make them smaller, if you like.

For details on these supersized Chinese dumplings, see the post on Viet World Kitchen.

Chinese Steamed Rolls Recipe

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Chinese yeast dough is extremely versatile and easy to prepare. In fact, I usually let the food processor do the work so that the dough comes together in minutes. With the dough, I make filled buns to create steamed or pan-fried bao. Or I form the dough into little rolls that can be served alongside rich meats, such as Cantonese roasted pork, roasted duck, deep-fried duck or braised pork belly. You may have seen these types of rolls at Asian weddings, celebrations and the frozen food aisle at Chinese markets. They’re also the ones at places like Momofuku Ssam Bar and Noodle Bar in New York City. No Ancient Chinese secret here. Just an easy yeast dough made from grocery store ingredients. As a bonus, you can freeze the steamed rolls for up to 3 months. Just thaw and resteam to refresh and reheat.

Makes 16 large, 24 medium, or 32 small rolls

1 1/4 pounds Basic Yeast Dough (see Asian Dumplings, page 92, or “The Trick to Making Bao” in the Los Angeles Times)

1. Cut the dough into 16, 24, or 32 pieces for large, medium, and small rolls, respectively. Then roll out the dough pieces to form circles that are a scant 1/4 inch thick. There’s no need to make a belly here.

2. Brush a little canola oil on one half of the dough circle to prevent it from sticking and make it easier to pry open later. Fold the circle over into a semi-circle and then put on a parchment paper square.

3. Place in a bamboo steamer or on a baking sheet, let rise for 20 to 30 minutes, and then steam over boiling water for 6 to 8 minutes, until puffy and dry looking. When done, the rolls will resemble pairs of thick lips. Serve the rolls with the sliced meat or pre-assemble the little sandwiches for your guests. Moisten the roll with some of the cooking juices, if available.

Vegetarian Daikon Rice Cakes a la Slanted Door Recipe (Luo Bo Gao)

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To test drive Wai Chu’s recipe for Chinese daikon radish cakes, I bought a lot of daikon radish. You never know how much you’ll need and I didn’t want to keep running back to the store. Wai’s luóbo gāo (lok bok gow in Cantonese, 蘿蔔糕) from The Dumpling cookbook worked out like a charm on the first run-through so I had several pounds of leftover radish, some of which were used for Vietnamese daikon and radish pickles (do chua) that I’ll be stuffing into banh mi sandwiches.

Watching Charles Phan compete against Cat Cora on Iron Chef America’s battle almond got me thinking about Slanted Door’s vegetarian version of the daikon radish cakes. I recalled Phan proudly telling me in an interview how he infused a lot of umami into the cakes so that people wouldn’t miss the traditional dried shrimp and Chinese sausage. The Vietnamese cooks at Slanted Door who are in charge of the radish cakes said that it’s a perennial favorite; they should know as they’ve worked with Phan for many years. In tribute to Phan and his hardworking staff, I decided to take Wai’s recipe and make it vegetarian.

With all of that in mind, I used dried shiitake mushroom, soaking them and using the soaking liquid to infuse the mushroom and daikon with savory depth. I also sautéed the mushroom with scallion to further punch up the flavor, and added chopped cilantro. Beyond that, I just treated the mixture like the daikon radish cake recipe from The Dumpling. Voila – vegetarian daikon radish cakes that were full of flavor. Fried up, the cakes were just delightfully flavorful. In side by side taste tests with my husband Rory and our house guests Robyn Eckhardt and Dave Hagerman (EatingAsia blog) it was hard to choose which we liked more – the traditional version or the vegetarian one. Here’s the recipe for you to try and decide for yourself:

(For information on rice flour and wheat starch see the post on Asian dumpling ingredients. The glossary in Asian Dumplings, pages 8 to 17, has more details.)

RECIPE

Vegetarian Daikon Rice Cakes
Luobo Gao

Serves 6 to 8 as a snack or side dish

Dumpling
9 ounces (2 cups) regular rice flour, preferably a Thai brand, such as Erawan
1 ounce (scant ¼ cup) wheat starch
1 teaspoon and 1/4 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 pound daikon radish
4 large dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in 1 1/4 cups of water, stemmed and finely chopped
1 tablespoon canola or peanut oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon light (regular) soy sauce
2 scallions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (stems and leaves)

Canola oil, for panfrying
Light (regular) soy sauce
Chile Garlic Sauce, homemade or storebought

1. Combine the rice flour, wheat starch, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a large bowl and set aside near the stove.

2. Peel the daikon and grate it through the small holes of your grater onto a nonterry kitchen towel. Or, use the smallest shredder blade on your food processor and transfer to a nonterry kitchen towel. Bring together the ends of the cloth and twist to squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible into the measuring cup. Transfer the daikon to a medium pot.

3. Remove the mushrooms from their soaking liquid. Measure out 3/4 cup of the liquid and add it to the daikon juices. Add enough water to the daikon juice and mushroom soaking liquid to make 3½ cups. Add this liquid to the daikon in the pot. Set aside.

4. Trim away the mushroom stems and then finely chopped the caps. You should have about 3/4 cup. Set aside.

5. Heat up the 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add the mushroom, stirring, for about 45 seconds until aromatic. Sprinkle in the 1/4 teaspoons salt, sugar, and soy sauce. Cook, for about 2 minutes, until there is little liquid remaining and the mushroom is sizzling a bit. Add the scallion and cilantro, cook for about 30 seconds more to develop the flavor, then remove from the heat. Set aside.

6. Bring the pot of daikon to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to simmer. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the mushroom mixture and let simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Whisk in rice flour in 4 batches, doing your best to incorporate the flour to avoid large lumps. In the final addition of flour, switch to a wooden spoon as the batter will stiff and thick (you can stick a spoon into the pot).

7. Oil a high sided, 9-inch wide round cake pan. Add the dumpling batter, spreading it out to fill the pan. Smooth out the top with a spatula, dipping it into water, as needed.

8. Steam over boiling water for 40 to 60 minutes, replenishing the water as necessary. The radish cake is done with a toothpick inserted comes out relatively clean. Cool on a rack completely before using.

9. To unmold the daikon radish cake, run a knife around the edge and then cut a small piece. Wedge a dinner knife of spatula into the cake and then lift it up from the pan. The first piece and cut is the hardest. Beyond that, it’s easy and the cake should lift off the pan without a hitch.

10. You can eat the radish cake as is, but I love to panfry pieces of it. Cut the cake anyway you want, into thick slices like 1/2-inch thick dominos, 1-inch cubes, whatever. (You can refrigerate the cake, up to a week, slicing and frying right before eating.)

11. To panfry, coat a large skillet with oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the radish cake slices, with one their large flat sides down. Let them fry, undisturbed, for about 4 minutes, until crisp and golden brown. They’ll stick at first but will eventually release. Turn them over to brown the other sides. Serve hot with a soy sauce and chile garlic sauce.

Slanted Door’s Hue Rice Dumplings Recipe (Banh Xep Chay)

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I know you’ll think me crazy, but to mark the release of Asian Dumplings this week, I made a new dumpling. It’s one that I can’t get out of my mind. Every time I’ve ordered the Hue rice dumplings at Charles Phan’s Slanted Door restaurant in San Francisco, I’m tickled by their dainty appearance and rich mung bean and caramelized shallot flavor. The garnish of rich scallion oil and spicy soy sauce imparts extra plush and savory qualities. The dumplings are slightly chewy and soft and a bit translucent, a result of the wrapper being made from rice flour and tapioca starch. Slanted Door names these morsels Hue rice dumplings as they are similar to a tapioca-based Hue dumpling called banh bot loc, a classic dumpling from the central region of Vietnam, which many associate with the former imperial city of Hue. (For a banh bot loc recipe, see Asian Dumplings, page 147).

But the restaurant’s dumpling is actually more akin to a rice and tapioca starch dumpling called banh xep (“baan sehp”), which literally means “folded dumpling,” or turnover. Semantics aside, the Slanted Door’s rice dumpling is a delicious Vietnamese and vegan snack. Meat lovers won’t feel shorted whatsoever.

Indian Rice and Lentil Dumplings with Coconut Cilantro Chutney Recipe (Kuzhi Paniyaram)

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You don’t have to have all the proper, culturally specific equipment to make authentic Asian dumplings. For example, I use a Mexican tortilla press as a shortcut to preparing many dumpling wrappers. One late night while watching TV, an infomercial for a cast iron pancake puff pan (round baseball-like pancakes similar to Danish abelskiver/ebelskiver) caught my eye. “That pan is perfect for Indian kuzhi paniyaram, Japanese takoyaki, and Vietnamese banh khot,” I said to myself. The pan’s semi-spherical wells were bout 2 inches wide at the top, so not too big and not too small, versatile enough for many kinds of Asian dumplings. I bought one from Bed Bath and Beyond (one of the “As Seen on TV” pancake puff pans) but later noticed that they’re available online and at shops such as Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table, etc.

My friend Shiyam Sundar, a chef from South India, introduced me to these kuzhi paniyaram — light, crisp dumplings made from a rice and lentil batter studded with spices and aromatics. Shiyam was sous chef at Amber India in San Jose, CA, but was unable to renew his visa and thus forced to return to India last month. I was feeling sad as he very much wanted to remain in America and cook Indian food with fresh California ingredients. Thinking of him, I took out the pancake puff pan and made kuzhi paniyaram.

Monica Bhide’s Kumquat and Mango Chutney with Onion Seeds Recipe

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I love Indian chutneys and keep a stash of classic tamarind date chutney in the freezer and make a fast batch of fiery green (cilantro and/or mint) chutney for samosas, fried mung bean vada fritters, and bondas (spicy potato dumplings in chickpea batter). In Monica Bhide’s new cookbook, Modern Spice, I discovered this new one to add to my repertoire. Its tart-sweetness results from combining fresh kumquats with sweet canned mango puree (more on this below); a little sugar and vinegar makes things pop more.

The chutney receives lilting notes from sweet fennel seeds and pungent onion seeds. You can find both of these spices at Indian markets and well stocked health food stores and specialty markets. Onion seeds (also called nigella and kalonji seeds) look like black sesame seeds but have an uncommon peppery pungency and slight butterscotch-like flavor. They are not related to onions. Below is a photo for your reference.

India and Southeast Asia have the best mangos around, and Monica’s chutney recipe called for canned Alphonso mango. I’d never used canned mango but when a cookbook author suggests a particular type of ingredient, I follow their instruction. Canned mango is sold at Indian markets but I forgot to do so, having been swept up in the weekend shopping fervor at the busy Indian Cash and Carry market in Sunnyvale (on El Camino Real, north of the Lawrence Expressway, near Hankook Korean market). I followed my hunch and headed to Staff of Life, our local hippie health food store. Indeed, there was canned Indian mango on the shelves. It was the kesar variety, which is excellent. The flavor turned out to be the epitome of ripe mango goodness. It was so striking that I said to my husband, “I’d be willing to bathe in this stuff.” The canned mango was smooth, having been strained. Beyond this chutney, I imagine using it for darn good sorbet, margaritas, and smoothies.

Kumquat season continues in California and I hear that Southern California Trader Joe’s has kumquats. Get yourself 10 ounces of kumquats for the “dry pint” (2 cups) that Monica calls for in the recipe. This beautiful chutney tastes better the next day. I plan to use it for another of Monica’s treats – chile pea puffs – as well as other Indian dumplings, sandwiches, grilled meats, and whatever else that can take a wallop of fruity tart-sweet-pungent goodness.

Kumquat and Mango Chutney with Onion Seeds

When using the Ratna canned mango, Monica says to drain 6 to 8 slices and place them in a bowl. Then crush them with your hands before measuring out the quantity needed. My canned mango puree didn’t come in slices. It was completely smooth so I didn’t need to crush anything. For the kumquats, I sliced them a generous 1/8 inch thick, using the tip of my knife as I worked to remove the seeds.

Makes about 1 3/4 cups

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon onion seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 dry pint kumquats, sliced and seeds removed
1/4 teaspoon red chile powder or dried red chile flakes
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned Alphonso mango puree
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
Table salt

1. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan over high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the onion and fennel seeds. As soon as they begin to sizzle, add the kumquats, chile powder, sugar, mango puree, and vinegar and stir well to combine.

2. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium and continue boiling for 25 to 30 minutes, until the mixture has thickened (think of hot jam) and the kumquats are soft. Remove from the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes before tasting and adding salt.

3. Allow to cool to room temperature before transferring to an airtight jar. Cap and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.

Adapted from Modern Spice: Inspired Indian Flavors for the Contemporary Kitchen (Simon & Schuster, 2009) by Monica Bhide.

Serving suggestion: Try a plop of this chutney in the crevice of a Mondern Indian chile pea puff!