DUMPLINGS! In Infinite Ways

Oh dumpling how I adore thee

The Capsule Pantry in one sentence: Save money, time, and food waste by adopting a Capsule Pantry approach — a small number of ingredients that form the basis of thousands of different, highly flexible recipes.

I don’t even know how to start when it comes to dumplings. There are SO many variations - and I’m finding more and more as I travel.

And they are almost all delicious.

I make dumplings - even on the road - around once to twice a month. I even travel with a dumpling rolling pin (also great for flatbreads) because I always make my own wrappers. I refuse to pay extortionate prices for what is essentially water and flour and they never take as long to make as you might think. I even have a technique that means you don’t have to pleat the dumplings to seal them. They may look less beautiful but it takes half the time and still tastes great.

Dumplings are great because they make a little bit of filling go a long way, kids adore them - both making and eating - and they are perfect Capsule Pantry fodder because you can make them with just a few scrappy ingredients you probably already have in your fridge. They are also infinite. You can make endless combinations, from potstickers to Polish pierogi.

This week, I’ll teach you how to make dumplings wrappers and give you a few filling ideas from around the world. Feel free to adapt as much as you like.

The dumpling wrappers

Key: Bold = Capsule Pantry ingredients

Makes around 16 dumplings (enough for 2 people)

• 150g all-purpose flour

• 90ml warm water

• Large pinch of sea salt

(I’ve not included cups here because I can’t - as a Brit - figure out how to convert this precisely enough. You basically want 60% hydration on your dough which means the weight of the water should be 60% of the weight of the flour. Do with this as you please.)

Mix the ingredients until you form a dough then dump it out onto a surface (or in your electric kneader) and knead for five minutes or so until the dough is elastic. Cover with a tea towel and leave for at least 20-30 minutes.

Make your filling (ideas to come).

Cover a baking tray with a light dusting of semolina/polenta. This is where you’ll place your ready-made dumplings. Flour is fine if you don’t have semolina but honestly, this stuff is magic - your dumplings will never stick to the tray and rip open and make you cry.

I like to weigh out my wrappers. I divide the dough into 12-14g balls. Each ball is rolled into your hand to make it round then flattened on a floured surface.

Take a rolling pin and roll out the round into a thin circle. There are plenty of fancy techniques on how to do this, but I like to just go for it as if I was making a flatbread.

Place a teaspoon or so of filling into the center of the wrapper. Fold in half so you have a half-moon with the filling in the middle. Seal around the open edge forcing out all the air as you go. You don’t need to dampen the edges, they should stick together without the need for water.

Take the corners of the half moon, bring them together, and pinch so you have something that resembles tortellini.

Place on the semolina’d tray and repeat until you have run out of dumpling wrappers - and hopefully filling. To help with this I tend to make all my wrappers at once (if I have the space on a floured surface) and evenly fill each one with the filling to ensure none gets wasted, or God forbid, you run out halfway through.

Cooking will depend on what you make for your filling. Here are some ideas from around the world:

From China - potstickers

These are my favorite type of dumplings to make.

Key: Bold = Capsule Pantry ingredients

The amount made here should nicely fill the dumpling wrapper recipe above