Vegetable Dumplings

Similar to my Chicken Dumplings, my veggie dumplings pretty much contain the same ingredients. For my veggie dumplings I used square wonton wrappers. Dumpling dough is a pretty easy recipe- just white flour and water. The technique to kneed the dough perfects itself overtime, but if you’re a seasoned “atta gooner” then it shouldn't  be problem. I don’t have the patience to roll out dumplings which is why I buy wonton wrappers. One day I’ll make a homemade dough, but until then I’ll opt to buying premade wonton wrappers.
They come in 3 different kinds.
Green are “vegetable wontons” which have spinach to give them the green color.
Pale white- are shanghai wonton wrappers. Most similar to the traditional dumplings. I find these to be slightly thicker and chewy than the Hong Kong variety.

Slightly yellow ones are Hong Kong wontons. (they say these are yellow because they contain egg- but the one’s I bought had the same ingredients as the Shanghai. I find these to be thinner and not as chewy.

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The wonton wrapper you choose is up to you. You can even kneed your own dough if you feel adventurous. Some say the dumpling dough is the most important ingredient of the dumpling. But for me it’s the filling. The options are endless, and you can create sweet and savory dumplings.
I made vegetable dumplings using the Hong Kong style wrappers in the square shape. You can also choose to add chopped tofu and mushrooms.

Ingredients:
3 cups finely chopped white cabbage or nappa cabbage (salt the cabbage to draw out moisture, make sure you rinse and squeeze out extra moisture before combining other ingredients)
1 ½   cup grated carrots (I used a fine grater, you can coarse grate them too)
1 T finely chopped lemon grass
1 red bell pepper finely chopped
1 T grated ginger
1 T chopped garlic
3-4 green onion finely chopped
1 egg
1 T corn starch
2 T soy sauce
2 T Hoisin sauce
1 T siracha sauce
½ t toasted sesame oil
½ t ground pepper



Combine the ingredients for the filling. For a pyramid shaped wonton, wet all edges of the wrapper and fold up to create a point at the top.
While working with the wonton wrappers, make sure you cover them with a damp cloth to prevent them form drying out. As you wrap the dumplings, place them on a dish that is dusted with corn starch to prevent it from sticking. At this point you can freeze them while their on the dish and later on transfer them into Ziploc bags for later use. Or you can steam, pan fry, or boil them. Check out my chicken dumpling recipe for directions on each type.




Dipping sauce:
There’s no hard or fast rule to dipping sauce. I mix everything I have in my pantry to create a sauce. Dumpling dipping sauces are usually sweet, but I like mine to be spicy and tangy.
1 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1 t siracha or chili garlic sauce
1/2 t Toasted sesame oil
1/2 t minced ginger

I pan fried and deep fried the wontons.