After shooting one of my dumpling pleating videos a few months ago, I had a lot of dumpling wrappers leftover and was figuring out what to do with them. Taking inspiration from samosas, I decided to make fried dumplings with a curried potato filling. I mixed onions, garlic, ginger, peas, diced bell pepper, scallions, and mashed potatoes and seasoned everything with salt and a mild yellow curry powder. As far as the dumpling filling goes, the list of ingredients is quite short. However, the flavor is absolutely delicious. For the dumpling wrappers, choose circular wrappers that aren’t too thick (i.e., don’t use thick potsticker wrappers). You want the dumplings to be light and crisp on the outside, and that is better achieved with thinner wrappers. I know that many of you prefer baked dumplings over fried ones, so I included instructions for baked dumplings in the headnote. Personally, I prefer the fried dumplings because the entire wrapper gets browned and crisp. The texture of the fried wrapper is a great contrast to the soft potato filling. When you bake the dumplings, only the folds on the top of the dumplings will get crispy. The bottoms brown too, but it is not as crispy as I’d like. My husband thought that the baked dumplings were fine, but I am much more picky when it comes to dumplings. (The dumplings on the right are baked.)
COOKING NOTES FOR THE FRIED DUMPLINGS
Freezing the dumplings: I have never fried frozen dumplings before, so I don’t know what the texture of the wrapper will be like when you deep fry them. However, you can bake the frozen dumplings. To freeze the dumplings, place the finished dumplings on parchment lined plates or baking sheet. Cover the plate or baking sheet with plastic wrap. Frozen dumplings will keep for months. When you are ready to bake the dumplings, transfer them to a baking sheet and spray them with cooking oil. There is no need to thaw the dumplings. The cooking time will be around 11 to 13 minutes, until the tops of the dumplings are a deep golden brown.Do not refrigerate uncooked dumplings: If in doubt, always freeze uncooked dumplings. When you refrigerate uncooked dumplings, the moisture from the filling continues to seep into the wrapper, causing it to turn into mush and lose its shape.Small Batch Dumplings: If 50-something dumplings seem like a lot for you, feel free to halve the recipe. You’ll still need about 3 cups of oil for deep frying the dumplings.Reusing frying oil: Growing up, my family always kept a bottle of “cooked oil” (熟油) in the pantry. Essentially, it was the oil Mama Lin used for deep frying dumplings. We mixed the oil with soy sauce to season dishes. My favorite was always rice with soy sauce and “cooked oil.” I think it’s okay to reuse frying oil, so long as it doesn’t turn rancid. Filter the oil (there’s always loose crumbs in frying oil), and store it in a glass container in the refrigerator. You can use the oil for regular cooking. Here’s a great guide from Epicurious about reusing frying oil.
LOOKING FOR MORE DUMPLINGS?
Red Curry Wonton Soup with Zucchini NoodlesHow to Make PotstickersRed Curry Tofu Dumplings (with braided pleat)You can also visit my complete dumpling archives here.
