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Traditional dumpling consists of a piece of dough with either sweet or savory filling. The base ingredient for the dough is wheat flour but you can experiment with other ingredients such as potato flour and even bread! As for the filling, anything goes! You can fill the dumplings with juicy slivers of pork, chicken or beef as well as vegetable, sweetened fruits, and flavored creams!
Asian dumpling is an incredibly versatile recipe that’s healthy, tasty and very easy to make. In fact, as long as you have the base ingredients, you can make chicken dumplings for the whole family within minutes! If you’re planning to whip up a batch of dumplings, we have put together a simple buying guide to get only the finest ingredients:
Go Organic
Most foods you see on the local grocer have been processed a hundred times over. The same thing goes for healthier foods such as fruits, vegetables, and grains. A classic dumpling recipe requires only the freshest ingredients so we highly recommend going organic!
Rather than farmed meats or poultry, we recommend organically-raised meats and free-range poultry. Organically-raised meats and free-range poultry come from animals that are not raised in a dirty, cramped environment. These animals are free to roam around; they are not fed with chemicals that will end up on your plate.
The same thing goes for the produce, go organic. Organically produced fruits, grains, and vegetables may be more expensive than your average produce, but they are also free from chemicals that can affect the health! Unassuming greens and fruits from your local grocer could be teeming with pesticides, fungicide and herbicide that could cause cancer and hormonal disorders!
Avoid Processed Ingredients
Traditional dumplings require flour for the dough. Store-bought dough from the local supermarket is processed to a point that it no longer contains any nutritional value. To keep the dumplings delicious and healthy, we recommend using unrefined grains. Check the label if the flour is made from unrefined grains. But if you want to be extra healthy, you can simply buy unrefined grains and grind it to a powder using a coffee grinder.
Avoid Sodium and MSG
It’s one thing to choose healthy, wholesome ingredients for the dumplings and another to flavor the dish. Classic dumplings require salt or even fish sauce to season and balance the flavors. But you can experiment with different seasonings to reduce sodium. Start by using pork, fish or chicken broth to flavor the meats instead of MSG. Replace sodium with herbs and spices to add dimension to the dish. Dumplings leave a lot of room for experimentation so this is a great time to be creative!
Use Lean Meat
If you’re making savory dumplings, don’t use fatty ground meats. Lean meats are the best for classic dumplings! For chicken or turkey dumpling, we recommend the breast part. For pork or beef dumpling, have the fatty areas removed before being grounded.
Avoid Frozen, Ready-Made Dumplings
Frozen dumplings may be convenient, but you don’t know the ingredients used to make them so avoid frozen dumplings if you can. Instead, whip up a batch from scratch! Even better, round up the kids to help you make dumplings for dinner. Cooking is an excellent way to bond and cultivate stronger relationships with loved ones.