Homemade dumplings: dough and stuffing recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Dumplings is a dish made from unleavened dough with the addition of meat as a filling. In Russia, this type of food is very popular because of the ease of storage and preparation. In addition, changing the filling always leads to new taste sensations from this simple dish.

The history of dumplings

Until now, it is not known for certain who is the author of this culinary masterpiece. At the same time, many countries are somehow connected with the history of this dish and try to appropriate the title of the creator of the recipe for making dumplings.

Many historians agree that the birthplace of this dish is China or Central Asia. But the historical data is so vague and contradictory that you should not trust this information 100%.

In Russia, dumplings first appeared around the 15th century on the tables of the inhabitants of the Urals and Siberia. And they were brought, according to some sources, by the Tatars. Dumplings were served on the table both in ordinary families and in the richer class.

So populardue to ease of preparation and storage. But only a few hundred years later, dumplings began to appear on the tables of residents of the central part of Russia.

Historians explain this by the fact that people already had similar dishes in their diet: shurubarki, ears. Therefore, there was no great need for another variation. They also included unleavened dough and minced meat. By the 19th century, people began to move around different territories much more often, so dumplings became available in most regions of many countries.

Which dumplings are best?

The debate about which dumplings are better - purchased or homemade - does not subside. To do this, you need to know a few nuances.

Dumplings in the store are always marked with the letters A, B, C, D. Each of them indicates a product category:

• A - the meat content in the product is above 80%.
• B - meat content 60-80%.
• B - meat content 40-60%.
• G - meat content 20-40%.

Important clarification: meat in semi-finished products means muscle fiber. Therefore, fat, lard, hide, etc. do not count.

It is quite difficult to find category A dumplings in stores. Even packages with the inscription "Homemade dumplings" are most often labeled as products of cat. B and C. This happens because with a concentration of meat of 80%, only 20% remains for the rest, and this is s alt, spices, onions. Therefore, category A dumplings are not always tasty, and the price for them is constantly higher. But without additional additives, the meat turns out to be “dry”. It lacks juiciness.

But category B dumplings are much tastier. The thing isthe fact that they really contain less meat, but at the same time there are many other additives that improve the taste, for example, the same onion.

Products of category C and D should be treated with caution, since soy meat is often used in such semi-finished products, and the price is not much lower than the cost of category B dumplings. In this case, it is recommended to make a more expensive purchase, but get a quality product.

Consequently, when choosing purchased dumplings, you need to focus on the first two categories. Then you will get a quality product with the best meat content.

Of course, the quality of filling for homemade dumplings depends entirely on who prepares them. If the minced meat is made with onions, spices, then their category can be absolutely any, but the quality will be noticeably better.

The advantage of homemade dumplings is that during their production there is maximum control at all stages of preparation, so they can be eaten without fear of getting a poor quality dish.

Which stuffing to use ?

You can use almost any stuffing for homemade dumplings. But more often they take ground beef, pork and homemade, which is a mixture of pork and beef. Sometimes it is recommended to buy minced veal.

Pork for minced meat or ready-made minced meat should be greasy to make dumplings juicy.

It is believed that the more different types of meat will be in the filling, the tastier the dish will be. Sometimes in the cooking process they use exotic meat of elk, ram orducks.

In some cases, the filling is fish. For dumplings, you can use any, the main thing is that it has fewer bones. If the fish is dry, then oil or lard is added to it.

Dumplings stuffed with vegetables, fruits and mushrooms are interesting in taste. In fact, the filling can be anything, it all depends on the imagination of the one who prepares the dish.

Dough preparation rules

Dough for homemade dumplings can also be prepared in many ways. To get a quality test, you need to follow these recommendations:

• Flour for dumplings should be only the highest grade. The gluten contained in it gives the necessary firmness and elasticity to the future dough.
• Knead the dough with warm water, then it will get the right consistency faster.
• Kneading should take at least 10 minutes, in which case you will get a good elastic dough that is easy to mold.
• After kneading, you need to set aside the base for half an hour. Then the gluten will combine with the liquid much better, and the dough will be ready for subsequent operations.

Dumpling dough recipe

The easiest homemade dumpling dough recipe includes only three components:

• high grade flour;
• water;
• s alt.

For cooking, you need 500 grams of flour, 0.2 liters of water and 3-4 grams of s alt.

Cooking steps:

• pour all the flour into the pan in a heap;
• dissolve s alt in warm water;
• slowly pour water into the flour while stirring this mixture;
• knead the dough thoroughly and set it aside for half an hour to acquire a single structure;
• roll out the resulting dough.

Checking whether the dough is ready is very simple: pinch it. If it holds its shape well, then it's time to roll.

The recipe for homemade dumplings on the water is the easiest. At the same time, the taste of the finished dish is one of the most familiar and pleasant, since this recipe is most often used in cooking.

Second popular dumpling recipe

Dough with eggs is used to make more delicious homemade dumplings. In this case, it becomes especially elastic and gets additional taste.

To create it you will need:

• Flour - 0.5 kg.
• Egg - 2 pcs. grade C0.
• S alt - 5 grams.
• Water - 200 ml.

Cooking steps:

• first of all, you should mix water with s alt, and also add a whole egg and the yolk from the second egg to the resulting mixture;
• beat the white of the second egg with a fork or mixer until white;
• pour flour into a slide and pour water with an egg into it;
• slowly mix the dough with whipped protein;
• knead the dough for about 20 minutes, then set aside, covered with a towel, so that it "ripens".

After the base has stood for the required amount of time, it can be taken out and rolled out. Such a dough for homemade dumplings (with egg) -elastic and pliable. It rolls out easily and the sculpting process is quite fast.

Variations for making dumplings

Recipes for homemade dumplings are very different. You can experiment with flour, filling, serving. Do not limit your imagination during cooking. Delicious homemade dumplings are always welcome.

Custom dough

As mentioned above, dumplings are mainly made from white flour of the highest grade. But there are also fans of unusual solutions. Some, instead of ordinary flour, use, for example, buckwheat for making homemade dumplings. The recipe in this case will look like this:

• Wheat flour - 100 grams.
• Buckwheat flour - 50 grams.
• Water - 100 ml.
• S alt - 3 grams.
• Eggs - 2 pcs. grade C0.

Cooking steps:

• thoroughly mix 2 types of flour together and pour into a saucepan with a slide;
• make a well in the flour and add 2 eggs;
• dissolve the s alt in warm water and slowly pour into the flour (you may need less water);
• knead the dough until stiff;
• leave it for 30 minutes, covered with a towel.

Wheat flour is added in this recipe so that the dough has a uniform structure, since there is very little gluten in buckwheat, which means that the dough will fall apart during the molding process.

Dumpling mince

For making dumplings at homequality components must be used. Along with the dough, the composition of the dish should include high-quality minced meat. If it is cooked at home, then the meat for it should be clean, with a minimum number of veins. The best choice would be the neck and shoulder part of pork and beef.

The most common minced meat recipe for making classic homemade dumplings is:

• A pound of lean beef.
• Half a kilo of fatty pork.
• 1-2 onions.
• 5 grams of ground black pepper.
• 2 grams red pepper.
• 20 ml milk.
• 10 grams of s alt.

Cooking steps:

• meat must be washed, then remove excess water from it, and then cut into small pieces that will fit in a meat grinder;
• cut the onion into small pieces for a meat grinder;
• scroll the onion with meat in a meat grinder, then mix the resulting mixture thoroughly, adding all the pepper and s alt to it;
• pour milk into the resulting minced meat and mix again until smooth;
• put the resulting mixture in the refrigerator for an hour so that the milk can be completely absorbed into the meat.

After all the above procedures, you can start cooking homemade dumplings.

How to make dumplings?

To create uniform and shaped homemade dumplings, you must use the right kneaded dough. It should be elastic and quite tight. To form dumplings in the correct shape,do the following:

• cut off a small piece of dough and roll it into a sausage;
• cut small "pads" out of it;
• roll each of them into a circle.

Then you should put the pre-cooked minced meat in the middle of this circle, and glue the bottom half of the circle with the top.

You will get a half-finished product, resembling a small cheburek. Now it remains only to glue the sharp corners together - and you will get a dumpling.

Quick dumpling molding

Previously, almost every home had a device for quickly making dumplings. Now it is much less used, but it has not lost its relevance. The device is a metal product with holes in the form of honeycombs.

What it looks like, you can see in the photo.

Method of making dumplings using dumplings:

• rolled thin dough is placed on its entire surface;
• minced meat is added to each "honeycomb" - this must be done so that the dough sags down a little;
• then another rolled dough circle is placed on top;
• now it is necessary to roll out the dough of the top layer with pressing.

After these operations, you will get about 35 dumplings in a short time.

Another way to quickly make dumplings at home looks like this:

• need to roll out the dough;
• Evenly lay out several servings of minced meat at a distance of about 2 centimetersapart;
• top with a new layer of thin dough;
• press with your hands or other device between dumplings;
• squeeze the dough around each serving of minced meat;
• cut the dough in places where there is no stuffing.

With this cooking method, you can cook about 10 dumplings at a time.

How to make a dumpling mold?

For those who have never made dumplings, it may be a mystery how to create even shapes for them. But it's actually quite simple.

To get an even circle of dough, you need to roll out a large piece of it, and then, turning a glass or any other dish with a round hole over, press the edges onto the dough. Since it is soft, the shape will turn out to be very even, and you can easily sculpt neat dumplings.

Colored dumplings

Both children and many adults will surely have a lot of fun eating dumplings of different colors. Their cooking recipe is not much different from the usual ones, but there are some additions. It is important to note that only natural ingredients are used for painting, which will be discussed below.

In order to color dumplings, for example, green, use chopped spinach or parsley. Orange can be obtained by adding carrots, and the purple color of the dumplings will be the result of the use of beets. Use tomato paste to create red color.

To make colored dumplings you will need the following dough:

• Premium flour - 0.5 kg.
• Water - 0.2 liters.
• Egg – 1 pc
• S alt - 5 grams.

Also add one of these components to this list:

• Tomato paste - 20 grams.
• Carrot puree - 40 grams.
• Beet puree - 30 grams.
• Crushed spinach - 20 grams.

Algorithm for creating colored dumplings:

• add one of the coloring components to the water;
• mix the resulting cocktail with s alt;
• pour the flour in a slide, making a recess in it, add the egg;
• pour the water into the flour with the egg, slowly stirring the mixture;
• bring the mixture to a dense consistency, leaving it for half an hour to ripen.

After creating such a test, you can start creating a form for each dumpling and adding minced meat.

In conclusion, I would like to note that homemade dumplings are of better quality and richer taste. All due to the fact that any manufacturer is trying to reduce the cost of producing a product, often worsening the quality. By buying meat for minced meat and making the dough yourself, you not only save a significant amount, but also control every stage of the production of this dish.