Aimee loves Dimsum, always has since I’ve known her.  So do I for the most part, especially when you put on Food Network and see guys like Bobby Flay messing around with these crazy looking Duck Dumplings with Habanaro Peppers and what not.  So with all of this dumpling love floating around these days, I decided to try my own recipe of sorts.  I was actually mostly inspired to make this dish from a random episode of Iron Chef where Turkey was the secret ingredient and the challenging chef made dumplings out of a ground breast of the turkey.  So with a creative mind and a package of turkey recently defrosted, we set out on our dumpling adventure.

The key to our dumplings was the wrappers, which we elected to buy pre-made, though I hear that making your own wonton skins from scratch is quite easy (flour, salt and water being the only ingredients).  Next time I’ll make my own dough, but for now the store bought kind are pretty good.  You can buy wonton skins from any decent grocer, though they will typically be in the refrigerated section.

You can certainly alter the levels of ingredients that you use, up the ginger and garlic for a more robust filling.  Decrease the amount of scallions or cabbage for a meatier filling – it’s really up to you.  You can also omit the cream from the recipe, though if you do, I would recommend adding water or stock to make up for the moistness that you’ll lose by taking the cream out.

Whatever you decide to do, I think you’ll agree that making these is fun, adventurous and ultimately delicious.  It’s a great little project for a weekend afternoon and these make a great app to serve to company! Ours turned out pretty awesome and much better than any frozen ones you can buy at the super market.  Enjoy and have fun!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 package ground turkey (about 1 pound) – alternatively, use pork, chicken, duck or shrimp!
• 7-8 scallions – roughly chopped (diced if not using a food processor)
• 1/2 cup red cabbage
• 2-3 cloves of garlic – pounded to a paste
• ~2 Tbsp. ginger – grated
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup water or stock
• 1 Tbsp. Hoisin sauce
• 2 Tbsp. Sriracha sauce
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. Chinese five spice power (substitute with cumin/cayenne/black pepper/garlic powder mixture)
• 1 package wonton skins – about 50-60 wrappers
• 1/4 cup canola oil for frying

Method:

In a food processor, combine the turkey meat, scallion, cabbage, garlic, ginger, stock, Hoisin, Sriracha, spy sauce, vinegar, 5-spice and 1 of the eggs.  Combine, adding the cream while the mixture is pulsing.  Blend for a few minutes, letting the vegetables get chopped and the spices and sauces incorporated with the rest of the ingredients.  Once filling is well combined, take it over to the wonton wrapping area.

To make the dumplings: Take the 2nd egg and separate it, reserving the white in a small bowl (toss the yolk, or use it to make a mayonnaise, but that’s another post).   If your wonton skins are in a rectangular shape, I highly recommend cutting them into squares!

Using a small spoon, take a small amount of filling (1 tsp. perhaps) and place it on a single wonton skin.  With a brush or your finger, brush a little egg white onto the edges of half the wrapper.  Pick up the dumpling in your hand and starting at the top, press the wrapper edges together and work along each edge until you have a triangle dumpling that has enclosed the filling.

To change up the shapes of you dumplings, fold in half again – applying some egg wash to the corners and making a shape like a ‘pope hat’.  Continue until all the filling has been used or you run out of wonton skins.  Let the dumplings rest for 10-15 minutes before cooking or freeze them for up to a month.

To cook the dumplings: Heat a (preferably non-stick) pan with some of your canola oil.  Place the dumplings in the pan and brown on both sides, making sure you regulate the heat so the insides cook through but the outsides don’t burn.  Add water to the pan – enough so the dumplings are touching the water – about 1/4 of the way up the dumplings.  Immediately cover the pan and let them steam.  Once all the water has cooked off, let the dumplings brown a bit more and then immediately serve.

Here’s a simple sauce to serve alongside – Aimee’s favorite!:

• Equal parts soy sauce and rice wine vinegar – about 1/4 cup each
• 1-2 Tbsp. Sriracha (adjust to suit your taste…this stuff can be very spicy)
• 1/2 a scallion – diced

Combine in a small sauce bowl and serve alongside the dumplings.  Enjoy!

Here are some other interesting dumpling recipes you may enjoy:

• Green Little Bites – Selected Dumplings
• Epicurious – Vegetarian Dumplings
• Ming Tsai – Vegetarian Dumplings
• Saveur – Shrimp Dumplings