All the good feelings rush in with dumplings: excitement at the wisps of steam that rise from them; happiness at first bite through the dough; a thrill at hitting the filling, as it somehow always surprises even when you know what’s inside.
And there are so many — a whole world of dough plump with filling, delightful any day but especially on Lunar New Year, which falls on Wednesday. For some, they symbolize wealth and prosperity for the year ahead. But even if you’re not eating them in hopes of fortune, you’ll be rewarded with their riches: their undeniable deliciousness and the way they bring people together.
The five dumplings below, from recipe developers who’ve been creating dishes for New York Times Cooking for years, cover a range of tastes, but all started with loved ones gathered around a bowl of filling, floury fingers folding dumplings, gossiping, teasing, rambling. It’s not even close to a comprehensive list, but each recipe is meaningful to its maker, who will show you how to make them through daily video drops as part of New York Times Cooking’s Dumpling Week.
Read on for the recipes and for tips to hosting an unforgettable dumpling party. While making dumplings from scratch can be a meditative solo project, shaping and eating them with a group is its own kind of bliss.
Kimchi Napjak Mandu
(Flat Dumplings)
View Recipe
Kimchi lovers can rejoice in these fun-to-make (and eat) dumplings. With less filling than other Korean-style dumplings, they fry up flat and eat more like jeon, the pan-fried fritters or pancakes and stars of Korean party food, especially during holidays like Seollal, the Korean New Year. A finish of gochugaru, sea salt and scallions reflects how these are typically served on the streets of Daegu, a southeastern South Korean city. Though traditionally shaped like half moons, Eric Kim uses square wonton wrappers folded into triangles for more surface area and, in turn, more crunch.
Chile Oil Wontons
View Recipe
Sue Li shows you how easy — and satisfying — it is to make your own chile oil wontons at home. She forms them into shapes recalling gold ingots, symbolizing good fortune and wealth, but feel free to wrap them however you like. A crucial step here is making the sauce for the wontons, which can be done in advance and starts with mixing your own chile oil. (Save any extra sauce to use with fried eggs, tofu, potatoes, rice, chicken or anything, really.)
Gok Jai (Vegetable Crystal Dumplings)
View Recipe
A regional specialty of Zhongshan in China’s Guangdong Province, this dumpling has a bouncy skin made from wheat, tapioca and potato starches. In Hetty Lui McKinnon’s vegetarian version, a savory mix of tofu and vegetables steps in for the more traditional filling, which includes dried shrimp and pork. She suggests using a tortilla press to form the wrappers, which isn’t customary but makes short work of flattening the dough into disks.
Beef Dumplings
With Zucchini, Tofu and Chives
View Recipe
These beef dumplings from Kay Chun are packed with zucchini and tofu, which keep the filling tender and juicy. The ground meat is lightly marinated before mixing with plenty of buchu, a lovely allium with long flat leaves and a mild garlic flavor. (You can find these fragrant Korean chives in any Korean market.) There’s a hidden surprise here, too: Buttery pine nuts are tucked into each dumpling before they’re enclosed.
Chocolate Sesame Dumplings
View Recipe
Can you wrap just about any filling in dough and consider it a dumpling? These bite-size desserts from Genevieve Ko prove you can. Lightly salted melted chocolate, creamy like a truffle, is stuffed into chewy homemade wrappers, naturally sweet from glutinous rice flour. Best of all, this recipe is especially family friendly, and wonderful to make with kids. The dough is the easiest possible kind to shape — it doesn’t require a rolling pin; it’s simply rolled into balls then pressed into flat rounds by hand.
How to Host a Dumpling Party
1. Prep your guests and space.
Dumpling parties are family gatherings where everyone helps out and lingers. If those you’re having over aren’t related to you (and even if they are), they should know that they’ll be getting their hands dirty, and that the dumplings will be ready whenever they’re done helping you make them. Clear counter or table space for everyone to cook together, and be sure to get enough ingredients for each person to eat at least a dozen dumplings.
2. Set up three cooking stations.
First, prepare an assembly line, but make it a circle: Place a bowl of filling in the middle of every three to five cooks, along with wrappers and a floured sheet tray or plate. (Cooks can chat more easily if they face one another when wrapping dumplings.) Together, they’ll line up their sealed parcels like soldiers on the tray.
Next, have steamers or a pot of boiling water or nonstick skillets ready for cooking the dumplings. Cooks should have serving platters next to the stove to fill with the hot morsels.
Finally, set up a sauce bar with condiments that pair well with the dumplings, such as soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil and chile crisp. That way, each person can create a blend to taste. (If a recipe calls for a specific sauce, task someone with prepping it or do it before guests arrive.)
Guests can spend time at each of the stations or stay put at one. (Some saints will hopefully volunteer to create a dishwashing station.)
3. Serve them hot.
For nonstop nibbling, have people rotate among the stations to assemble, cook and eat as batches are ready. For a sit-down feast, everyone can help assemble the dumplings at the same time. Once the last one is pinched shut, the dumplings can be cooked all at once in a big pot of boiling water, a stack of bamboo steamers or multiple big skillets.
There’s a rhythm to making dumplings: a fill, fold, pleat and pinch that quiets the soul when practiced alone — and swells it with chatter and laughter when done together.
Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest. Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.
The post 5 Chewy, Juicy Dumplings for Our First-Ever Dumpling Week appeared first on New York Times.
