How To Make Tasty Vegan Dumplings | Dtube Recipe Video

I have made dumplings quite a few times with pork sadly before going vegan, and ever since this lifestyle change I've struggled to make dumplings that taste great and are even better using plant foods.

I don’t use an exact amount of each ingredient...I estimate it as I tend to make a large mix for the family and I reckon its best you add however much ginger/garlic or spices etc too adjust the flavour to your liking - but I'll try to give an approximate amount :)

Ingredients:

• Dumpling pastry (after trying store bought & hand made pastry many times each, honestly store bought is the easiest and most efficient option...wouldn't recommend spending time making a dough as it takes ages using flour and water and letting it rise, so as a tip buy store bought dumpling pastry (they are pretty low in salt too and usually just contain wheat flour, water, salt and starch)
• half a green cabbage either chopped finely or blended in food processor (second best tip is getting a food processor- saves heaps of time)
• 2-3 carrots peeled and chopped finely or blended in food processor
• chilli (optional)
• Around 1 cup of chickpeas uncooked but add extra just incase (prior to making dumplings, cook chickpeas in boiling water until soft then blend into smooth paste/ thickish consistency. The chickpeas are great because they are great for replacing the “meat” and without the chickpeas, the mix tastes a lot more ‘salad like’ if that makes sense- both taste great- but I find adding the chickpeas makes it taste even better (try both as thats just my opinion)
  OR
• Tofu (not shown in this vid but I prefer using firm tofu) just mush it up and put it in with mix, could marinate it prior for extra flavour.
• Mushrooms (however many you like), i prefer the mix without them but a few veggie dumpling recipes i googled to check out had mushrooms in them so add them in if desired esp if you don’t have chickpeas handy
• 1-2TBS ginger grated can always add more
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• 1/3 or even 1/2 cup spring onion or half a normal red or white onion chopped finely
• I had chives, coriander and basil in garden so chucked them in and added a nice flavour- are also optional but make sure to not add in too much coriander (also chop these ingredients finely)
• about 2TBS mirin seasoning
• 1 or 2 TBS soy sauce (can add this to mix &/or dip cooked dumplings in this later)
• Sriracha sauce/ sweet chilli sauce- purely for dipping dumplings if desired
• 2-3 TBS sesame oil, adds a really nice flavour I rate using it - add this in if you don't mind your oils

Equipment Needed:
** I recommend buying a steamer (they are pretty cheap) if you are serious about dumpling making as it works the best, and trust me I've tried many different methods of cooking dumplings. You can also use a pot (add water, then dumplings and cook until water comes to a boil and dumplings float/rise up to surface) but it doesn't work as well since dumplings tend to always break whilst water comes to a boil. Another method i've heard is cooking dumplings on a pan with about an inch or 2 of water and let it boil but that didn't work for me either. When using a steamer the dumplings never break and it cooks them pretty quickly and its so easy and clean to set up ( I just added water to a pot similar size to steamer, let water boil with the steamer sitting on top). For an in depth method on how to use a steamer just google "how to"- thats what I did.

Method:
Basically add every ingredient in a bowl (good idea to make a large mix in a large bowl to save for later etc) and combine - just recently found out how handy a food processor is rather than chopping up the ingredients- saves so much time! Once mixed, make dumplings - good tip is to add water around outer edges to ensure dumpling wont fall apart. Then cook in pot or steamer until relatively transparent in steamer or has floated to surface in pot : ~ ) You can also fry the dumplings after steaming them to make the outside crunchy - tastes really good.

If wanting to make a large batch, you can always use a whole head of cabbage and double recipe/ adjust ratio of carrots to cabbage to chickpeas etc. I personally don't mind, just chuck ingredients in and always turns out just fine. Also can add in any other veggie, can try similar mixes out to your liking.

If you have any advice/ helpful tips on making dumplings, feel free to let me know as i'm always wanting to improve :)