Spicy Dumpling Dough
15 portions
30mDumpling dough is actually super simple. Flour and water, maybe some salt. The tough part is working with the dough when it's done. But if you take your time and enjoy the experience, you'll be amazed how fast your inner dumpling master will emerge. In this recipe I add a little blast of Himalayan chili for a little bit of heat.
What you will need
2 cups (350 g) ap flour
1 tsp himalayan chili
a hearty pinch of salt
3/4 cup (85 ml) boiling water
How to cook
1
2
In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt and chili. Any chili will work, but I love Himalayan chili powder. It's got a kick and a great flavor. You can usually find it at Indian grocery stores.
3
The only real trick with dumpling dough is that the water is hot. Make sure you boil the water before you measure it out. If you boil it first, you'll end up with less water, right? Stir it in with some chopsticks. They work well to break up clumps.
4
Bring the ingredients together to form a dough. Knead it for a couple of minutes until smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic or tuck it into a plastic bag and chill for at least 30 minutes.
5
Now you've got your dough, roll it out into a log. It should be somewhere around the width of 2 or 3 fingers. Doesn't need to be too precise. These are probably your first dumplings, right? Take it easy, the dumplings can tell when you're stressed.
6
slice the log into medallions. Pinky's width should be good. Wrap them back up so they don't dry out as you work.
7
Press out a round of dough with your thumbs. Roll it out to something like a circle. More important than the shape is the width. Start with about a key's width, but feel free to go thinner if you prefer a thinner dumpling wrapper.
8
Scoop a nice, oblong ball of filling into your dough.
9
There's more than one way to stuff a dumpling. I tend to favor the pot sticker pinch and pleat. Seal the dough, then pinch about 5 pleats along the rim. You can find a lot more dumpling folding techniques on youtube. I also like the simpler beijing-style fold. Check it out at the recipe below.
10
This dough works well for wrapping any type of tasty farce. Cook by frying until browned on one side and then adding a splash of water to steam.
Beijing Style Pot Stickers
Found a new Chinese place recently near my house. It's called Chili House. One random thing they do that's cool is that they fold their pot stickers like a burrito and call them Beijing-Style Pot Stickers. I've made a lot of pot stickers over the years, and I've always done the classic pinch and pleat seal. But I kinda prefer this method now. It's easier and it provides a better wrapper to filling ratio.