What Are Dumplings? Everything You Need to Know (2024)

FAQs

What Are Dumplings? Everything You Need to Know? ›

In Asian cuisines, dumplings are delicate, bite-sized treats of different fillings wrapped in a thin layer of dough. They can be both savoury and sweet, and may be boiled, steamed and fried - the choice is yours!

Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of cooked dough (made from a variety of starchy sources), often wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, wheat or other flours, or potatoes, and it may be filled with meat, fish, tofu, cheese, vegetables, or a combination.

There are many popular old sayings about Chinese Dumplings(Jiaozi). "十月一，冬至到，家家户户吃水饺.": Every family eats dumplings on the Winter Solstice. "饺子就酒, 越吃越有.": Eat dumplings With Chinese liquor, future will be richer. "好吃不过饺子, 舒服不过倒着.": Dumplings are most delicious, sleeping is most comfortable.

Jiaozi. Jiaozi (pronounced "jow-zee") are perhaps the most common type of Chinese dumpling. Crescent-shaped and formed with an opaque wrapper made from wheat dough, jiaozi are usually filled with ground pork, cabbage, and scallions, and served with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil.

As long as they're not pre-deep fried and contain whole, healthy ingredients they are an okay option, according to Austin. Aside from meat quality and how the dumplings have been cooked, the vegetable content (or lack thereof) is also crucial in knowing whether dumplings are a healthy food option.

Dumplings are eaten during Chinese New Year because the dumplings themselves look like money pouches and are said to represent fortune and prosperity in the coming year.

They are more than pieces of dough with a filling. Chinese dumplings are visible, tasty signs that illustrate essential parts of Chinese culture. The crescent-shaped dumplings served during Lunar New Year symbolize the brightness of the moon and the promise of a bright and prosperous year ahead.

At Chinese New Year, dumplings symbolize money or wealth. So eating dumplings is supposed to bring you wealth in the coming year.

Traditionally, dumplings are made on the eve of Chinese new year, and a small coin is hidden inside one. Whoever finds the coin is said to have good fortune for the new year! This is particularly the case for 'water dumplings' (水饺) – those boiled in water rather than pan fried.

What is the proper name for dumplings? ›

In English people usually call jiaozi “dumplings” instead of its Chinese name; but other Chinese dishes like wontons, baozi, xiaolongbao, har gow, tangyuan, etc.

Empanada are a Spanish and South American variety of dumpling (called pastel in Brazilian Portuguese) that is baked or fried. The name comes from Spanish verb empanar, to wrap or coat in bread. Empanadas are stuffed with seasoned meat (pork, chicken or beef), cheese, or vegetables.

Originating in the Pennsylvania region the pierogies have been a staple in the city of Pittsburgh and all over western Pennsylvania. Pierogies are soft semicircular dumplings that are usually filled with potatoes or cheese. However, just like other dumplings, fillings are interchangeable depending on culture.

“Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes, bread or matzoh meal, and may include meat, fish, or sweets. They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking. Ingredients may be as a part of a filling, or mixed throughout the dumpling.