My Dumpling Experience

Asian cuisine has always had versatile and healthy food. In my opinion Asian food is the most exotic of all. My favorite Asian food is dumplings.

I first tried dumplings at P.F Chang’s. The dumplings were so juicy and delicious just by themselves, but it got even better when it was paired with soy sauce. In my opinion it was on par with pizza. My mom, who is Chinese by origin, made me dumplings after that. Her dumplings were not as good because they had a lot of vegetables. Later we found that my older brother’s friend’s mom owned a Chinese food shop. Their dumplings were different- they were bigger with thicker skins. They still tasted very good.

As you can see, dumplings are very versatile. They can have thick or thin skins; more vegetables or meat. Dumplings also can be made really large or small. This makes it versatile.

As simple looking as dumplings are, they are not easy to make for beginners. It involves lots of steps. I will tell you an experience when my mom taught me to make dumplings. First, we prepared the fillings by putting meat and chopped vegetables in a big bowl. My mom prepared dough. I grabbed a board to roll the dough on. Then we pressed a little piece of dough into a flat round wrapper, or skin. We filled each wrapper with a bite-sized filling and closed it up dumpling style. Once the dumplings were made, we pan-fried them. Then they were ready to serve. That was my first homemade dumpling experience.

Have you ever wondered how the dumplings were created? According to a legend, it was made in Asia by a cook around 206 BCE. It was a cold wintery night. The cook’s neighbors were afflicted and hungry. The cook did not have a lot of pork left because it was so expensive. But the dough was very cheap and abundant. The cook had an idea – he would use little pork mixed with vegetables and wrapped it up with dough. This idea made a pound of pork enough to feed a large family. That was the beginning of the “dumplings”.

Dumplings can be very versatile and healthy.You can have a lot of fun cooking them. Dumplings also have a very interesting history. I hope to explore more Asian food when I grow up.

Share on Facebook

Post on X