Asia is famous for its dumplings, a staple food!! Each country has its type of dumpling that creates unique flavors, textures, and styles.

Generally, a dumpling is a small, delicious, bite-sized food prepared with multiple ingredients, and wrapped in soft dough that can be steamed, boiled, grilled, or fried. Sometimes the dough is rolled out to enclose a filling, and sometimes the dough is formed into a mound and cooked alone. There is some version of each savory and sweet dumpling in almost every Asian culture. Their shapes and forms are also varied.
Dumplings lend themselves in a way to a lot of creativity, so there will likely be disagreement over what exactly qualifies as a dumpling. Either way, it is the ultimate comfort food. Even though the belief is that dumplings originated in China, this exotic cuisine exists in almost every country, especially in Asia.

Due to their large amount of whole ingredients, dumplings are usually very healthy, as they offer a wide range of micronutrients. There is, however, a poor balance of macronutrients since the calories primarily come from fats and carbohydrates. Therefore, dumplings are not ideal for maintaining a healthy diet but can help provide nutrition if wisely portioned. Also, steamed or boiled dumplings are acceptable options, but the filling, serving size, and condiments are vital factors.

Discover some mysterious tips on preparing dumplings made in Asian countries.

There are numerous ways to prepare the dumplings. However, the dumpling dough is primarily made from wheat flour, water, and salt. Most dumplings consist of wheat-based flour, but you can also find gluten-free substitutes, such as buckwheat, millet, and tapioca flour. Then, there are vegetable-based doughs, in which veggies such as potato, sweet potato, or squash can replace the starch component of dumplings.
Bread, Fat, and Dairy may also function as the basis of the dough. Dumpling dough that contains eggs, cream, butter, or cheese tends to be thicker and more tender.

Traditionally, dumplings are boiled, steamed, grilled, or fried, yet, there are ways to differentiate them. Boiled Dumplings, for example, can be cooked in water or directly in the soup. Secondly, Steamed Dumplings can be steam-boiled in a basket or pan-fried in oil, which means that the bottoms are seared, but the interiors cook by holding a small amount of hot water in a covered pan. There are also Fried Dumplings, made with almost any fat, such as oil, lard, butter, etc.

Stuffed Dumplings can make a complete meal on their own, bundled in a starchy wrapper, but unstuffed dumplings tend to go well with a hearty soup, stew, or sauce. Soup dumplings contain broth that is solid at room temperature but turns liquid when steamed. There are also solid dumplings with no filling, similar to the soup dumplings. Then, various savory fillings can be used, such as minced meat, fish, cheese, or vegetables. Meat or vegetable dumplings generally come with an umami-rich, acidic sauce. It is also possible to make desserts from dumplings by adding sweet fillings, such as fruits, nuts, or sweetened cheese.

Here are some of the renowned dumplings in regional cuisine around Asia.

CHINA

Jiaozi, a northern Chinese variety served with a vinegar-based dipping sauce known by three different names depending on its preparation, is probably the most famous Chinese dumpling. Shiu Jiao is a boiled water dumpling stuffed with ground pork and napa cabbage and pleated in a crescent shape. It is popular during the Chinese New Year. Guo Tie, known as Jian Jiao or potstickers, are pan-fried dumplings. Guo means wok, and tie means stuck; often shaped like long cylinders with open ends, they come filled with ground pork and Chinese chives.
Zheng Jiao is a steamed dumpling filled with shrimp encased in thin, translucent wrappers. The Chinese Xiao Long Hao is the most famous soup dumpling variety. It is filled with pork and broth and comes from Shanghai. Dumplings filled with soup are large and spherical and contain cubes of gelatinous broth, which is solid at room temperature and melts when steamed.

INDIAN DUMPLINGS

Malai Kofta is a vegetarian Indian dumpling made from mashed potatoes, vegetables, and cottage cheese and flavored with chili, garam masala, garlic, ginger, turmeric, cashews, tomatoes, and fresh cilantro. Indian Modaks are sweet dumplings made with rice flour, filled with coconut and unrefined cane sugar, popular in Western and South India. Pitthas are small stuffed dumplings steamed or fried. They are widely available with an assortment of sweet and savory fillings in Eastern and Northeastern India. Samosas are a popular salt&spicy snack on the Indian subcontinent and the Iranian plateau. It often consists of minced vegetables, mainly potatoes, and various herbs and spices. Many eateries and roadside stalls throughout the country sell vegetarian variants of samosas without mince filling. Ladakh, Northeast India, and Darjeeling are the native places of Momos, which evolved from the original Tibetan version.

NEPAL & TIBET

Most Nepalese and Tibetan Momo are spherical and crimped at the top, like soup dumplings. Momos can be fried, steamed, or grilled. Their wrappers are thicker, and they often include meat. By default, momos come with a dipping sauce; it usually comprises tomatoes and chilies as the base ingredients, from which it is possible to make different variations. As an alternative, momos can also be steamed and simmered in a meat broth to make Momo soup.

CENTRAL ASIA & MIDDLE EAST

Manti consists of lamb or beef, onion, and parsley, boiled or steamed, topped with tomato sauce or garlic-yogurt, and drizzled with chili oil. These dumplings are a favorite throughout Central Asia. Joshpara or Chuchvara is usually stuffed with ground meat, then boiled in soup or cooked in yogurt sauce. It is a small boiled dumpling typical of Uzbek and Tajik cuisine. Boraki is a type of fried Armenian dumpling. It is unique for its pre-fried minced meat, cylinders formed with an open top and then lightly boiled in broth. The cylinders are then deep-fried. It goes well with yogurt and chopped garlic. The use of beef and lamb is more common in Muslim-majority areas. Mushrooms, potatoes, and cheese are great substitutes for meat.

JAPAN

In izakaya and ramen restaurants, gyoza often appears as an appetizer with a soy sauce-vinegar dipping sauce. Yaki gyoza is usually stuffed with cabbage and pork and pan-fried.

KOREA

Korean dumplings are called Mandu. There is a belief that dumplings entered Korea via the western regions. There is a claim that the first dumplings were made in Korea at Hyowooyeoljeon in Goryeosa under King Myeongjong of Goryeo, a naturalized Khitan. This dish has many variations, including ground pork, kimchi, galbi, bulgogi, vegetables, and cellophane noodles. Mandu can be steamed, fried, or boiled. Additionally, they are used to make a soup called mandu-guk.

VIETNAM

Bánh bôt loc, a type of dumpling in Vietnam, is made with translucent, tapioca-based wrappers filled with pork belly and shrimp, then boiled or steamed in banana leaves.