Dumplings around the world
Every shape of a dumpling is a bite of our dreams, heritage and culture, here’s mine..
Dumplings are an emotional adhesive, it is something akin to fries and milkshakes. Back in the days where my family was residing in Taiwan for a few months at a time, we always had a grand-family dumpling wrap-a-thon during the mid autumn festival. Handmade and wrapped dumplings in Taiwan is a tradition for us.
Dumplings are usually meat and vegetables stuffed in a flour crust and steamed to perfection (Jiao Zi or Zong Zi), there are also versions which are fried, which is more akin to the Japanese version of dumplings; gyoza.
The story of mid autumn festival goes back to 278BC, where the Minister in China, Qu Yuan, was exhaled by the then Prime Minister of China which was corrupt, but he was very worried about the state of affairs of his nation. He had fought to reconcile relationships between cities but to no avail due to the greed of land ownership between the then 2 kings. In that precise moment, he decided that to make things better (yes the signs of depression without pills), he decided that suicide was the only option — he choose to drown himself in Miluo River (Hunan Province in China). The residents then empathized with his fate, and decided to wrap dumplings (‘known as Zong Zi’) with vegetables, meat and mushrooms with glutenous rice and toss them into the river, in the hopes that the fishes will consume the dumplings, but not Qu Yuan.
The festival is also usually paired with a physical water activity; called Dragon Boat Festival, where there are 12 rowers on a boat doing speed tag with other boats on sea.
This variant of Zong Zi is very different from the traditional dumpling; this version of the Chinese dumpling is only eaten during mid autumn festival and is popular as a form of a meal replacement as it contains an entire meal in one dumpling. There are different fillings within the dumpling, it is usually cooked with soya sauce, sesame oil, mushroom, chicken or pork, chives and chestnut (every family have a different recipe) before wrapping into a glutinous rice shell (sticky rice) as you can call it, and steam cooked where the taste are locked within the dumpling.
Now, to highlight and showcase different dumplings around the world, and sticking to the narrative of good dumplings here goes:
Dumplings from China — Modern Day China
Chinese dumplings usually follow a basic and simple recipe, chives, cabbage or mushroom paired with pork wrapped in a thin flour like crust and steamed to 20 minutes before serving.
However, the new tastebuds have now changed, when I was in Shanghai I experienced the next generation of Xiao Long Bao’s (Soup filled dumplings) and the winner for 4 years in Dianzhong Xiaoping (think China TripAdvisor) for the dim sum category, here is their spin of the dumplings;
Crab Roe Dumplings & Truffle Pork Dumplings:
Traditional dumplings in China is local: usually Chives and Pork or Cabbage and Pork, and they are given with 2 sauces, with soy sauce and vinegar and you can find the perfect saltiness and tang.
Dumplings in Nepal has been equally fascinating; they are titled Momos, and they usually use Buffalo meat or Chicken. It’s origination is typically from Cambodia and Kolkata, however, I am sure that Nepal’s momo’s are unique to it’s kind. I usually pair with the tomato chutney sauce — sweet and tangy chilli sauce below.
(Above) Here’s another Nepali Chicken Mumu, this time I get the sweet sauce with a curry mustard taste hot sauce, actually made with soy beans, tomato and cillantro.
Dumplings in Korea take a new spin (Mandu):
Dumplings in Taiwan (Soup dumplings) — Shrimp and pork, apart from the amazing presentation, the dumplings here by Din Tai Fung are rated one michelin star and the reason why people like their dumplings is their consistency and very thin flour crust with flavourful soup that is clean with no visible fat and not salty. They attribute their consistency for their 18-perfect-folds in each soup dumpling.
(Below) you will be surprised that soup dumplings (xiao long bao) are so popular in Taiwan that they have Soy Sauce packets and microwavable dumplings to go — this is by a taiwanese company called Uni-President — [Photo taken from 2022 from 7-Eleven Taiwan, a convenience store in nearby Taipei, Taiwan]
Another dumpling below is called a pot of gold or known as dumpling of gold, it is oftenly found in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia restaurants which you can see it is shaped like a gold pouch. You can see that it is a mixed of pork and shrimp and fried to perfection, inside also contains a tangy sweet thai chilli sauce or just plain sweet chilli sauce.
Dumplings from Hong Kong: Here it takes another spin, the origination of dim sum is believed to have started here, with a strong culture for multiple meals throughout the day and infused with the presence of the British in the past, they enjoy having a cup of their tea with their version of pastry; steamed goods from wooden pots:
Here’s an egg yolk custard bun, who would’ve thought it will be so cute with googley eyes, yes it is not a dumpling but you’re still reading this as you are kind of hungry isn’t it :) (photos taken in December 2017)
Now look at the custard goodness over here, and below you can see a jade siew mai — it is actually spinach flour mixed with pork and shrimp with some asian caviar, we call it fish roe, on the top.
Dumplings in India is also very healthy and it’s vegan, they are shaped in triangles which is samosa, we tried making it here, but it didn’t really come out as expected, I think the sizing was way too big:
As a result, we call it a curry puff (Dumplings filled with potatoes and eggs and deep fried in a thick pastry shell). A bigger sized samosa is singapore’s national dish! As a Singaporean I am proud of it but it comes with so many flavours and filling, that it is a pretty fun dish.
Dumplings in Japan is pretty interesting: Gyoza, they are steamed with water, then transferred to the pan and fried on one side with a pork and chives filling. I cheated a bit here to show you Japan dumplings from Taiwan as it was right in the front of my photo album.
However, another interesting dumpling is the Japanese Oden, they are warm little fish cakes, dumplings and fish balls snacks soaked in fish broth, it is the ultimate winter warm up.
Dumplings in Malaysia are also equally creative, across the border of Singapore the dumplings are pretty interested, the yellow dumplings with a red dot is Siew Mai — a yellow pork filled dumpling with optional shrimp or abalone added to it with a red dot (actually sometimes they add a goji berry)— depending on where you go.
Dumplings in Singapore are also equally creative; here’s one with spicy chilli sauce, also known as Mala, which chilli stems from the chinese province of Sichuan, here’s one at Swee Choon Dim Sum in Singapore, which just opened a new 24 hours store at Singapore’s Changi Airport:
Singapore food trends are interesting to watch because it is a metropolitcal location in Asia, similar to Switzerland, where many cultures come together to be part of the melting pot of diversity, and for restaurants to make it here, they have to keep changing or switching up their dining concepts.
Another dim sum store featured here is an old school store called 126, when translated from Cantonese it means “warm food”, which serves decent dim sum in the middle of the night, their soup dumplings are slightly more fancy with a little carrot at the base. (Disclaimer photo taken in 2021, so it might have changed).
Now, towards unusual and out of the world dumplings, here are some new concepts in just one picture, from curry dumplings, impossible meat dumplings and duck dumplings:
(above) Here’s another fusion dumpling, in China there is a chilli dumpling using chilli oil (called Chao Shou) and here’s a dumpling restaurant in Singapore that uses chilli oil and terriyaki sauce with spring onions to create an infusion of Chinese-Japanese dumplings. (Photo taken in 2023 from Restaurant: Dim Sum Haus in Singapore)
(Below) Towards funky dumplings; Here’s homemade dumplings of many different kinds, starting from Prawn dumplings (red), to spinach and pork filled dumplings (green), to pork dumplings (yellow) and cabbage and rice-versallimi dumplings from Bibigo Korea (Long island shaped dumplings)
Traditional dumplings in Singapore are oftenly called Curry Puffs, it’s so popular that even the local IKEA sells them, but the most popular one stems from Old Chang Kee, with many branches overseas..
The picture is kinda blurry from my old phone, but it contains potatoes, eggs and onions / curry powder. It’s a Singaporean classic.
You have reached the amazing world of dumplings, some people eat it as their main dish with soy sauce and tea, and some, like my taiwanese family, see it as their side dish, that goes along with spinach, fried rice and pork chops.
Here’s from our family dinner circa 2014, taken from my really old camera phone then..
My tutor, Lily, back in 2014 was a Sri Lankan in Singapore and she loved making Raviolis, which was a discovery of Marco Polo’s visit from China in the 13/14 Century, making it one of the national dishes in Italy, with many of our cultural similarities in taste and food.
Dumplings are similar to our personalities, with many shapes, designs and tastes, where it fill our souls in one way or the other, making it the perfect companion to our intentions — either filling our tummies or bringing people together as a social activity ::
In my tutor’s spirit of sharing, Lisa and Lily (who lived in Yew Tee, Singapore then) who made me amazing meals when I was young: Always live with an open mind, try everything & bon appetit!
Food related pictures here are taken from my phone — from 2014 to 2023.
