How to Make Suet Dumplings Video (2024)

FAQs

Why are my suet dumplings not fluffy? ›

Suet dumplings are fairly stodgy at the best of times (in a good way!), but they lean towards too stodgy if you use plain flour. If you only have plain flour in the house, add some baking powder as well, to help them rise and become fluffy. This post suggests using 1 tsp of baking powder for every 100g of plain flour.

A teaspoon of sugar adds an extremely subtle hint of sweetness. It also helps the dumplings retain their moisture through the cooking process and slows gluten development, which ensures tender dumplings. A pinch of salt seasons the dumplings and enhances the flavors of the other ingredients.

The recipe below can be used either way. You might also like our recipe for cream cheese ranch chicken. This is a basic recipe and works for me every time. You can use milk instead of water and some people even sweeten with a little sugar if adding dumplings to fruit.

Overworking the mixture, thus having heavy dumplings is a common mistake people make. Dumplings need very gentle handling, so mix only until the ingredients are just combined, and if your recipe involves rolling them out with extra flour, avoid using too much.

It's best to have your lid ready: Immediately add about 3 tablespoons of water to the pan, just enough to cover the base of the dumplings, then cover and cook for 3–4 minutes, or until the water has evaporated. Lift the lid and allow the dumpling to cook for another 30 seconds, to allow the bottoms to get extra crispy.

Hand-mincing meat and adding more pork belly results in the juiciest dumplings. Traditionally, some Chinese cuisine uses hand minced meat for their dishes. For example, lots of dim sum items like siu mai, pork buns, beef meatball, and more use hand minced meat to control the texture and fat content of the dish!

Adding cold water to the dumplings to not over boil them too quickly, making sure to get all of the dough thoroughly cooked is a definite pro tip.

If you can't find suet then we have found that grated vegetable shortening (such as Trex, Crisco or Copha) is a good substitute.

The cornstarch will absorb excess water, which will then convert to steam, allowing the bottoms to form that crisp crust.

How do you thicken suet? ›

Standard Suet Mix: Twice melt 2 parts suet, allowing it to harden between melts. Blend in 1 part yellow cornmeal and 1 part peanut butter. Allow to thicken, pour into molds, allow to harden. The relative proportions of these ingredients may vary depending upon your preferences.

Use Cornstarch to Thicken Chicken and Dumplings

To give that a little thicker texture we're going to add 1 cup of cool water to 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and stir it up well. Make sure the soup is brought back to a good boil and go ahead and stir in the cornstarch mixture.

Lower your heat so that your broth is just barely barely barely boiling and drop these pieces in one at a time. It is important that you DO NOT STIR. We are not going to stir these as we don't want our dumplings cooking up. If you do stir, you will basically cause your dumplings to dissolve.

To achieve the desired chewiness, the main ingredient at play is gluten—the protein responsible for creating elasticity in dough. In Northern Chinese dumplings, the predominant use of wheat flour ensures a higher gluten content, imparting a hearty and chewy texture to the wrappers.

As America's Test Kitchen notes, before you seal the edges of the wrapper together, you're supposed to "press out any extra air." Ignoring this step may cause the potstickers to puff up as they're cooking, which makes them look like small balloons.

Lower your heat so that your broth is just barely barely barely boiling and drop these pieces in one at a time. It is important that you DO NOT STIR. We are not going to stir these as we don't want our dumplings cooking up. If you do stir, you will basically cause your dumplings to dissolve.

Use Cornstarch to Thicken Chicken and Dumplings

To give that a little thicker texture we're going to add 1 cup of cool water to 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and stir it up well. Make sure the soup is brought back to a good boil and go ahead and stir in the cornstarch mixture.