Don't be intimidated by making soup dumplings at home. This recipe gives you a step-by-step guide on how to do it.
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00:00Hey, it's Justin here in the Delish Kitchen studios.
00:03Soup dumplings are beloved for a reason.
00:07Everybody loves soup, everybody loves dumplings,
00:09and people love playing with their food
00:11and like an interactive eating experience.
00:13And this dish combines all those things
00:16into like beautiful, perfect little doughy pouches
00:18that you just slurp out of.
00:20They're really yummy.
00:21I can't say it's gonna be easy.
00:22It's a laborious process, but it's not complex.
00:25There's just like a lot of things to do.
00:27So I'm wasting time.
00:28Let's get started.
00:30First thing we need to consider
00:32when we're making soup dumplings is the soup.
00:34We have to figure out how we're going to get that liquid
00:36into the dumpling wrapper.
00:38And I'm sure you've always wondered how we do it.
00:40And the actual way we're gonna do it
00:41is just a little thing called gelatin.
00:43Gelatin exists in bones.
00:44When you make bone broth,
00:46the collagen and the gelatin will get into that soup
00:48and then it will set up nicely and be kind of jiggly.
00:51You've probably seen it when you've made
00:52a super bony broth in the past.
00:54We're gonna take advantage of that
00:55to chop up the soup into little gelatin squares
00:57and then get it into our dumpling mixture
00:59and that will melt when heat is applied to it
01:01and create soup.
01:02To sort of mimic the flavorful gelatinous broth,
01:06we're gonna start in our pot with some bone broth
01:09and then we're gonna add some aromatics.
01:10We're gonna add sliced ginger,
01:12some smashed garlic cloves, and a little bit of soy sauce.
01:14We're gonna whisk that all together
01:15and get it over medium high heat
01:17and let that reduce for like six to eight minutes.
01:20It should reduce by like about like a quarter
01:23or a sixth in volume.
01:24We're not looking to like get it nice and syrupy,
01:26just a little bit.
01:28So that the flavors can get in there.
01:29After it's reduced, we're gonna remove
01:31the ginger and garlic.
01:32Then we're gonna take a pack of plain gelatin.
01:34Do not use like flavored jello here.
01:36That will ruin your, I mean,
01:38you'll have like blueberry soup dumplings.
01:40Just use plain gelatin.
01:41You can find it at your grocery store.
01:42We're gonna take our pot off the heat
01:43and put in our packet of gelatin
01:45and whisk it nicely until it's all combined
01:47and then we're gonna transfer all of that
01:48to a shallow baking dish and cover it with plastic wrap.
01:51This has gotta set in the fridge
01:53for at least a half hour, up to an hour.
01:56Honestly, it could probably even stay overnight
01:59if you want, if you wanna make this the day before.
02:01My favorite thing about this dumpling recipe
02:03and maybe dumpling recipes overall
02:05is that the wrappers tend to have very little ingredients
02:07and once you get used to the technique,
02:09it can come together pretty quickly,
02:11especially if you have a stand mixer.
02:12You can do this with your hands.
02:13It'll just take a little longer.
02:14So to this, I'm going to add some all-purpose flour
02:18and then we are gonna be using warm,
02:20if actually we should be using hot water,
02:22not boiling, but just run your tap a little bit,
02:25make it hot so it's a little hot to touch
02:26and you can go right in with it
02:28and I'm just gonna get our mixer over medium speed.
02:30We're using hot water here
02:31because it denatures the proteins in the flour,
02:34which will create a supple dough
02:36and make it really easy to roll out
02:38like little discs like we need for dumplings like this.
02:40All right, this looks pretty good.
02:43You are essentially looking for something
02:45to be really soft and smooth.
02:47It should almost look like it's gonna be like a steamed bao
02:50when it's ready and it should get
02:52a little bit of spring back.
02:53This looks really pretty.
02:54I could like sleep on this, but we're not going to.
02:56We're gonna cover in plastic wrap
02:58and set aside for 30 minutes to an hour.
03:01We just want it to rest before we make our dumplings.
03:03The filling is gonna come together rather quickly
03:05with the help of a food processor
03:07and we're gonna start with ground pork.
03:09You might be confused why we're using a food processor
03:11to grind it up even further and to mix everything up.
03:14Well, it's gonna have two benefits.
03:15One, it's gonna help to process all of our other ingredients
03:18and also it's going to create that sort of like
03:20bouncy texture that you look for in a dumpling,
03:23usually with ground meat and burgers and meatballs,
03:24you're told to not overwork the meat
03:26because it's gonna make it like tough and springy.
03:28But if you've ever had a dumpling,
03:29that's sort of what we're looking for in our mixture.
03:33And that can be done with kneading the meat mixture,
03:35but with the help of a handy dandy food processor,
03:37it makes it really easy.
03:38So into our food processor, we're going to add pork,
03:41some chopped garlic, chopped ginger,
03:44and some nicely sliced scallions.
03:46And we're gonna add some soy sauce.
03:48The last two ingredients are two quintessential parts
03:50of the Chinese pantry that if you don't have,
03:52I highly recommend you getting
03:53because it's in a ton of dishes.
03:55And they're also really great ingredients to have on hand.
03:57The first is Shaoxing wine or Chinese cooking wine.
04:01You're told in Western cooking to not use cooking wine,
04:03but this really does work.
04:04It kind of smells like a soju or a sake,
04:08another rice wine product,
04:09but it has this like really nice round dry savoriness
04:12that's really delicious.
04:14And it's used in like nearly every Chinese recipe
04:17I've ever made.
04:17So I go through this pretty well.
04:19It's awesome to add to stir fry sauces, stuff like that.
04:22It's really great to have on hand.
04:23The last ingredient is white pepper
04:24and it's slightly different than black pepper,
04:26but I think it's super versatile and really delicious.
04:28It kind of has a slightly different spiciness
04:31than black pepper.
04:32And it has a little bit of like funk and florality to it
04:35that I love so much.
04:36I put this on eggs.
04:37I put this on steak.
04:38I really like it.
04:39You can buy it pre-ground like we have,
04:41or you can actually buy the pepcorns just like black pepper.
04:43You can be fancy and have like one black pepper grinder,
04:46one white pepper grinder.
04:47And then we're just gonna pulse that all together
04:48until it's nice and combined.
04:49Now it is time to add our soup to our dumplings.
04:52So I have some aspic or like soup jello that I made yesterday.
04:55You can see it's totally set.
04:56I can hold it like this.
04:57I'm gonna slice this up into little cubes.
04:59To incorporate this, I really mean you want to fold it.
05:02You wanna be like folding the meat mixture
05:04as if it's like a pastry cream over our stock
05:07because we wanna distribute it equally,
05:08but we don't wanna break down those cubes too much
05:10because we wanna have a sense
05:11that we're getting equal amounts of soup in every bite.
05:14All of our components are laying in wait
05:16and now we just need to sort of bring it all together.
05:18So our dough has been resting
05:20and now we are gonna get them into our rounds
05:22and into making our little wrappers.
05:23We're gonna get our dough out
05:24onto a lightly floured surface
05:26and we're gonna divide it into four equal pieces.
05:29And then we're just gonna roll that out
05:30until it's kind of as thin as you can go.
05:32Like if we wanna be technical,
05:33it'd be like a 16th of an inch is what we're looking for.
05:36Then we're gonna cut out our rounds
05:37with a four inch cookie cutter.
05:39I'll say this right off the gate.
05:41This is sort of like a hacky quick way
05:42to get really perfect wrappers.
05:45And it's just a little bit easier for folks
05:47that don't have the technique down.
05:49But if you wanna do something a little bit more traditional,
05:50you'll take off a little piece of dough about this big
05:53and you'll take that piece
05:54and you will roll it into its own little baby round.
05:58And then you have a little bit more control.
06:00It is a little bit harder to form into that perfect circle,
06:03but this is how folks make dumplings typically.
06:05And I think it does end up
06:07with a little bit of a better wrapper.
06:08So if you wanna challenge yourself,
06:09this is what I would do.
06:10I have my dumpling making station.
06:11I have my rolling pin, a little bit of flour.
06:13I have my finished wrappers under a wet towel
06:16and I have my filling.
06:18I like to use a little portioner
06:19just so I know exactly how much I'm getting in each.
06:21You should be doing like kind of either just above
06:23or just under a tablespoon.
06:25So you should look and see which one you have.
06:27But to get started, we're gonna take one of our wrappers
06:31and I've seen a tip as I've researched this
06:32and I've done this in my life that isn't in the recipe,
06:35but I think can be super helpful is that we wanna take,
06:38they usually will use like a small wooden dowel
06:40in places that make xiaolongbao.
06:42You can use it with a regular
06:43like flat rolling pin like this.
06:45You kinda wanna just take the edges
06:47and roll them out to thin out the edges
06:49so that the part on top doesn't taste super doughy
06:53and it also makes it easier to pleat, if that makes sense.
06:56Once that's done, you're gonna take a scoop of your filling,
06:58making sure you're getting cubes of that soup in your scoop
07:03because that's gonna be the soup after all.
07:04And then you're gonna pleat.
07:05Essentially, you're gonna take from the edge
07:08and just do a little fold one over the other.
07:12And the secret number that they do
07:13when they make these in a restaurant is 16.
07:17It's pretty hard to accomplish, you might be able to,
07:18but you're basically gonna fold these pleats
07:20going around the outside, folding one over another,
07:23essentially leaving like a little hole in the middle
07:26so that the steam can escape as they steam in the steamer.
07:32And you can kind of pull up the end of it
07:35and you'll have this cute little like coin purse
07:38of a dumpling.
07:39I'm gonna be honest, I'm not particularly great at this.
07:42They're also typically gonna look worse
07:44before you cook them and they will look better
07:46after they're done.
07:47But I don't know, I'm like pretty happy with this.
07:49They'll flatten out, the pleats will get
07:51a little bit tighter.
07:52You're gonna repeat that with every dumpling
07:53and when you finish each one,
07:54you're gonna wanna place it underneath a damp towel
07:57so that the dough doesn't dry out.
07:59Our dumplings are ready and we have a nice steaming setup.
08:01You can use a bamboo steaming basket.
08:03You can put it over a wok if it's big enough,
08:05but if you have a tinier one like us,
08:07just find a saucepan that will fit to the correct size,
08:10fill it about halfway with water
08:11and then you will get it over simmering
08:13and you're gonna have steam just like this.
08:16And typically, in a situation like this,
08:18you would line it maybe with parchment paper
08:20because if you were just to put dumplings
08:21right on the bamboo, they're gonna stick,
08:23but we're gonna line it with Napa cabbage leaves, baby.
08:27Yep, I love using Napa cabbage leaves
08:29because A, it's better for the environment
08:31because I will eat this and it will be delicious
08:34once it gets all that steam in there.
08:36And also, yeah, I think it just supports
08:37like a little bit of flavor,
08:38like a little bit more than just like paper would.
08:40So I'm literally just gonna put these right in on top.
08:43I'm just gonna place them, layer them in
08:45and I wanna get like full coverage over the bottom.
08:47It should be like two overlapping ones should be good
08:50and they're gonna like be sticking up at first,
08:52but they will wilt and then they will be able
08:54to cover the rest of our steaming setup.
08:57So we're gonna go into our steamers
08:59with as many dumplings are gonna fit on that level.
09:02If you have multi-tiered steamers, you can make more levels.
09:06And then we're gonna steam.
09:06These are gonna go for 10 to 13 minutes.
09:10You want the inside cooked and if you really want,
09:12you could like temp check to make sure
09:14that it's all the way cooked through,
09:15but you should be able to know.
09:16The dumpling will be pliable
09:18and everything should look nice and cooked through.
09:20There are multiple ways to eat soup dumplings,
09:22not many that look good on camera.
09:24If I was in a restaurant, I would stab it
09:27with a little chopstick and then top it accordingly,
09:30but I'm just gonna do another very tried and true method,
09:32which is to just take a little bite with my teeth
09:34and then suck the soup out.
09:36So excuse me while I do something a little barbaric.
09:39Oh my God, this is so delicious.
09:42It is really crazy how this all works
09:43and how those little cubes of stock break down
09:45to delicious soup inside of the dumpling.
09:47Just that little work of putting in some ginger
09:50and garlic into the stock at the beginning
09:53adds a ton of flavor.
09:54And of course, the better stock you use,
09:55the better it will be.
09:56The filling is springy and really, really delicious.
10:00The one thing that is a must to serve with soup dumplings
10:02is Chinese black vinegar.
10:04It is the most common condiment for this dish.
10:07It tastes super different than like any of the red wine,
10:10white wine vinegars or balsamic vinegars
10:12that you might be used to.
10:14I think you can also serve it with a little bit chili oil.
10:16Drizzle that over top and watch the luscious red oil streak
10:19over your dumpling.
10:20I love these little pillows of soupy goodness.
10:23So if you want some amazing dumplings from other cultures
10:27or some amazing little morsels,
10:28stick around here on delish.com.