Much Ado About Dumplings

let’s add some range to your dumpling game

Hello again to all you gorgeous motherforkers. It’s so nice to have y’all back in the kitchen with us. Remember waaaaaaay back in our first paid-supporters only edition of The Broiler Room we dropped the recipe for our killer Winter Squash and Sage Dumplings, and they were an instant hit. If you’re new around here, you should absolutely go back through the archives and check out all the bangers you’ve been missing. As part of our roll-out of new benefits for being a paid supporter, we’re currently building a page on our site ✨JUST FOR YOU✨. It’ll host a nice, printable version of all TBR exclusive recipes and also be password protected, so you don’t hafta share shit. We’ll announce when it’s live along with some other new benefits we’re dreaming up. Got something specific you wanna see? Let us know in the comments.

And since it’s a new season we’ve got a new dumpling recipe for y’all: our Spring Asparagus Dumplings. If you’ve never made dumplings before, they can seem intimidating, but we swear you got this. Even sloppy folds look great once you pan-fry them and honestly, they’re still gonna look better than the broken up frozen bag bullshit you usually buy from the store. 

Plus, while the ingredients may appear simple, their combined flavor is fucking phenomenal. Don’t be intimidated by some little dumpling. Like we’ve said before, if you can roll a burrito, you can make a dumpling. This recipe makes a ton, and they freeze like a dream. That way you can have a future, homemade dinner ready in the less than 10 minutes it will take to heat these fuckers up. IT’S NOT DELIVERY IT’S HOMEMADE DUMPLINGS.

Spring Asparagus Dumplings

Makes about 25-30 depending on the size of your wrappers

Filling:

½ a bundle of thin asparagus, sliced into thin rounds (about 1 ½ cups)

1 carrot, grated on a box grater

1/3 of a block of a standard 16 oz container of extra firm tofu, grated on a box grater (about 1 cup )

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

¼ cup minced fresh chives or green onions

Pack of dumpling wrappers or homemade

filling all chopped up and ready to go

Warm a skillet over a medium high heat and throw in a tablespoon of your favorite cooking oil. Add the asparagus with a pinch of salt and sauté around until the asparagus is tender, about 5 minutes. Fold in the carrots, tofu, and ginger and stir until everything is all mixed up. Drizzle over the soy sauce and toasted sesame oil and cook for another 3-5 minutes so that everything can combine and the tofu gets a little color to it. This should start smelling next level, be prepared for compliments. Turn off the heat and stir in the chives. Let this cool to room temperature before you get the dumplings going. You can also make this the night before and just stick that shit in the fridge.

Whenever you’re ready, grab your dumpling wrappers and fill a small bowl with a little bit of water. Dip a finger in the water and moisten the edge of half a dumpling wrapper. Think of this like glue. Now place a tablespoon of filling in the middle. If you’re new to folding dumplings, make sure NOT to overfill them because that just makes shit unnecessarily hard.

Now holding the wrapper in your hand, pinch the dumpling wrapper together at one of the bottom corners like you were gonna just fold it into a half moon. Whichever side feels more natural is fine. Take the side of the wrapper facing away from you, and pleat it towards the corner you’ve already sealed. Basically, make a little fold in the wrapper and then seal it along the top of the dumpling. Continue pleating in that direction. When you’ve reached the other end, seal the dumpling making sure there aren’t any holes. The more dumplings you make the better your pleats will start looking but at the end of the day the only thing that really matter is that these fuckers are 🔒SEALED🔒. So, forgive the ugly dumplings, call them shits artisanal, and keep grinding until you’re either out of filling or wrappers. 

Now you can freeze them or immediately fry them up.

To cook: Heat up a little oil over a high heat to a flat bottomed braiser or saute pan then add the dumplings in an even layer without being too crowded. If they touch, they’re gonna stick. Once the bottoms are nice and golden brown, pour a thin layer of water into the pan, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. 

Let those succulent sons of bitches steam in there until the water is evaporated then remove the lid. Turn the heat up under the pan to medium-high and fry them up on all side for a few more minutes, if you want, or until they look golden brown and crispy on at least two sides. 

Serve warm with a sweet chili dipping sauce, listed below, or the classic dipping sauce we shared last time.

we may have gone overboard on the cornstarch

To freeze: Right after they’re assembled, lay the dumplings on a tray or large plate dusted with cornstarch or lined with parchment paper in a single layer without touching. Then throw the whole thing  in the freezer. Once they are all the way frozen, dump them off the plate and into an airtight container or bag and store them until your ass gets hungry again. To reheat, just cook them exactly like you would if they were freshly made. DO NOT DEFROST THEM. And now you have a homemade meal or snack in your freezer for anytime you barely have the will cook.

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

1 cup rice vinegar

1/3 cup cane sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1-2 tablespoon sambal oelek or similar chili sauce, depending on your love of heat

Juice of half a lime

¼ cup of chopped roasted peanuts (optional)

In a small saucepan, bring the rice vinegar and cane sugar to a simmer over a medium high heat. Turn on your hood or open a window in your place because boiling vinegar can be A LOT. Let this simmer together for about 5 minutes, whisking often, then stir in the soy sauce and sambal oelek. Let this simmer for another 5 minutes so that it can start to thicken up a little. After 5 minutes, turn off the heat and add the lime juice. Transfer this to a small container and leave it on the counter or in the fridge to cool to at least room temperature.

When you’re ready to serve it, sprinkle the peanuts over the sauce and enjoy. This shit is fantastic with fried tofu, rice, spring rolls, basically anything. It will keep for at least a week in the fridge.

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Thanks again for all the support, emails, and comments we’ve been getting over the last couple weeks. That shit means a lot. We love the community we’re all building here in The Broiler Room and we hope you do too. We’ve got lots of exciting new things in the works for y’all and we can’t wait to share them. See you next Sunday.

Michelle and Matt