How to make delicious dumplings. Step by step instructions with GIFs

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The best fillings, delicious dough and a detailed description of the cooking process.

How to make dough for dumplings

The dough for dumplings should be elastic so that it does not break during molding and does not disintegrate during cooking. To do this, you need to pay special attention to the batch.

It is best to add flour in portions, stirring with a spoon after each addition (you may need a little less or more than the amount of flour indicated in the recipe). When the dough thickens, knead it well with your hands: it will take about 7 minutes. The finished dough should not stick to your hands. If this does not work, add more flour and continue kneading.

Leave the finished dough for half an hour at room temperature, covered with cling film or a towel.

The dough in water is great for dumplings with salted filling. And dough in milk or kefir is best used for making sweet dumplings. If desired, you can also add sugar to it.

1. Dough on water

Ingredients

• 200 ml of ice water;
• 1 egg;
• ½ teaspoon salt;
• 400 g flour.

Preparation

Mix water, egg and salt until smooth. Add the sifted flour and knead the dough.

2. Kefir dough

Ingredients

• 200 ml of kefir;
• 1 egg;
• ½ teaspoon salt;
• 400 g flour.

Preparation

Add egg and salt to kefir and beat until smooth. Then add the sifted flour and knead the dough.

3. Dough on milk

Ingredients

• 2 eggs;
• ½ teaspoon salt;
• 200 ml of lukewarm milk;
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;
• 400 g flour.

Preparation

Whisk eggs and salt. Pour in milk and butter and mix well. Add flour and knead the dough.

4. Choux pastry without eggs

Ingredients

• 400 g flour;
• ½ teaspoon salt;
• 50 ml of vegetable oil;
• 250 ml boiling water.

Preparation

Sift flour and add salt to it. Pour in oil and boiling water and knead the dough.

How to make a filling for dumplings

Unlike dumplings, which are most often made with meat, dumplings can be stuffed with almost anything: berries, vegetables, cottage cheese, cheese and even the same meat, just prepared. Here are some recipes for the most common and delicious fillings for dumplings.

1. Dumplings with potatoes

Ingredients

• 500 g potatoes;
• salt to taste;
• 1 onion;
• some vegetable oil;
• 50 g butter;
• ground black pepper - to taste;
• greens - optional.

Preparation

Peel the potatoes and boil in salted water until tender. Chop the onion and fry in vegetable oil. Drain the potatoes, add the butter and puree. Add onion and pepper, mix well and cool slightly. You can add chopped herbs such as dill or green onions to the potatoes.

2. Dumplings with mushrooms

Ingredients

• 500 g of mushrooms;
• 1 onion;
• a few tablespoons of vegetable oil;
• salt to taste;
• ground black pepper - to taste.

Preparation

Take any mushrooms of your choice. Grind them in a blender or finely chop them by hand. Fry chopped onion in hot oil until golden brown. Add mushrooms and spices to it and fry, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are ready.

You can make a potato-mushroom filling. To do this, you just need to mix mashed potatoes and fried mushrooms in a ratio of about 1: 2.

3. Dumplings with cottage cheese

Ingredients for a sweet filling

• 500 g of cottage cheese;
• sugar to taste;
• a pinch of vanillin.

Ingredients for savory filling

• 500 g of cottage cheese;
• 1 bunch of any greens;
• salt to taste.

Preparation

For a sweet filling, combine cottage cheese, sugar and vanillin. For salted - cottage cheese, finely chopped herbs and salt.

4. Dumplings with berries

Ingredients

• 400 g of any berries;
• 1-2 tablespoons of starch;
• sugar to taste.

Preparation

Both fresh and frozen berries will do. Throw the latter in a colander to drain excess liquid. Some berries, such as cherries, are still quite moist after defrosting. To thicken the future filling, add starch to the berries and stir. Place a few whole berries at a time on the prepared dough pieces and sprinkle with about ⅓ teaspoon of sugar.

By the way, you can make a delicious sauce for dumplings from the juice that has dripped from frozen berries. To do this, mix the juice with sugar and boil over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens. Then mix it with sour cream or natural yogurt. Choose the amount of ingredients to taste.

5. Dumplings with cheese

Ingredients

400 g of hard cheese

Preparation

You just need to grate it on a coarse grater. Any cheese will do. But keep in mind that your choice will affect future dumplings. If you want a bright, rich taste of the filling, then choose the appropriate cheese - more aromatic and saltier.

By the way, grated cheese can also be added to the potato filling. The proportion of puree and cheese is about 1: 3.

6. Dumplings with cabbage

Ingredients

• 1 onion;
• 1 carrot;
• some vegetable oil;
• 300 g cabbage;
• 100 ml of water;
• salt to taste;
• ground black pepper - to taste.

Preparation

Chop the onions, grate the carrots and fry them in oil until golden brown. Then add the chopped cabbage and sauté a little. Add water and simmer the cabbage until softened. Season the filling with salt and pepper. Cool slightly.

Stewed cabbage can be mixed with mashed potatoes, fried meat or mushrooms in a ratio of about 1: 1. Instead of fresh, you can take sauerkraut, which must first be squeezed well.

7. Dumplings with meat

Ingredients

• 1 onion;
• a few tablespoons of vegetable oil;
• 500 g of any minced meat;
• salt to taste;
• ground black pepper - to taste.

Preparation

Chop the onion and fry in hot oil until golden brown. Add minced meat and spices to it and continue to fry, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender. This will take approximately 15–20 minutes.

How to make dumplings

Sprinkle flour on the table and roll out the dough into an even, thin layer. Use a glass or other tool to cut out the circles. Remember the remaining dough well with your hands, roll it out again and make more blanks.

Place the filling in the center of each circle. Its amount depends on the size of the blanks. If there is too little filling, then you will eat one dough. And if there is too much, then during cooking the dumplings can fall apart.

Then fold the filling in half and blind the edges tightly. Make sure the filling doesn't go outside the dough.

You can leave the dumplings in this form, or you can make a pigtail from the resulting seam. To do this, moving to one side, pinch the edge of the dough little by little.

How to cook dumplings

It is better to divide the cooking into several stages. If you cook a lot of dumplings at once, they can stick together.

Place the dumplings in boiling salted water and reduce heat to medium. Salting the water is a must, even if you have a sweet filling. The salt will keep the dumplings from sticking together. You can also add a little vegetable oil to the water for this.

Stir the dumplings gently and wait for them to float. It takes only a few minutes. Then cook them for another 2-5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the dough. Stir the dumplings periodically during cooking.

How else can you make dumplings

Dumplings in a slow cooker

For a couple

Lubricate the steaming container with vegetable oil or butter. Place the dumplings there in one layer so that they do not touch each other. Pour two glasses of water into the multicooker bowl and place the container. Close the lid and cook on Steam for 15 minutes.

In water

Fill the multicooker bowl with hot water to about halfway and season with salt. Dip the dumplings in water, close the lid and cook for 3-5 minutes in the "Steam Boil" mode.

Steamed dumplings using a saucepan

Boil water in a saucepan. Lubricate the steam nozzle with oil and place it on the saucepan. It should not touch the water. Lay the dumplings on top in one layer so that they do not touch each other. Cover and simmer over high heat for 5-7 minutes.

If you do not have a special steamer attachment, you can use regular gauze. Fill the pot about a third full of water. Pull the cheesecloth firmly over the top of the pot. Bring the water to a boil, place the dumplings on cheesecloth so that they do not touch each other, and cover with a lid. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Dumplings in the microwave

Place the dumplings in a single layer in a deep microwave container. Pour in hot water, but do not completely cover the dumplings with it. Add some salt to the water.

Cover the dumplings with a lid or plate. Microwave at full power for a minute. When the water boils, reduce the power to medium and cook for about 8 minutes. Leave the dumplings in the off microwave for another 5 minutes, and then drain the water from them.

Dumplings in a pan

This method is more suitable for making dumplings with salted filling. But if you still want to fry sweet dumplings, then use not vegetable oil, but butter.

Heat some oil in a skillet and place the dumplings in one layer. Fry over medium heat until golden brown, a few minutes on each side.

Fried dumplings resemble patties. If you only want to lightly brown them, then you can fry boiled dumplings.

Bonus: how to make lazy dumplings

When preparing lazy dumplings, the filling is not wrapped in the dough, but mixed directly into it. Therefore, the dish is prepared quickly and easily. Actually, for this it got its name. We offer you two recipes for these unusual, but very tasty dumplings.

1. Lazy dumplings with cottage cheese

The classic recipe involves the use of cottage cheese.

Ingredients

• 500 g of cottage cheese;
• 3 egg yolks;
• 40 g butter;
• 2-3 tablespoons of sugar;
• salt to taste;
• 100 g flour.

Preparation

If you have granular cottage cheese, then first it is better to grind it through a sieve. This will make the dumplings more tender.

Combine cottage cheese, egg yolks, melted butter, sugar and a pinch of salt until smooth. Then add flour and knead the dough. Roll a sausage out of it, crush a little from above with your hands and cut into small diamonds.

Place the pieces of dough in portions in boiling salted water, stirring occasionally. When they come up, cook for another 2-4 minutes. Serve lazy dumplings with butter, sour cream, or your favorite jam.

2. Lazy dumplings with potatoes

And this recipe is especially good when you have mashed potatoes left and want to cook something interesting. However, you can also make mashed potatoes especially for dumplings.

Ingredients

• 700 g potatoes;
• salt to taste;
• 1 onion;
• some vegetable oil;
• 50 g butter;
• 2 eggs;
• ground black pepper - to taste;
• 100 g flour.

Preparation

Peel potatoes and boil in salted water until tender. Chop the onion and fry in hot oil until golden brown.

Drain the water from the potatoes, add the oil and mash in mashed potatoes. When it has cooled, add eggs and pepper and stir well. Add flour and knead to a homogeneous dough. Perhaps a little more flour may be required.

Roll a sausage out of the dough and cut into small pieces. Place them in portions in boiling salted water. When they come up, cook for another 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle with fried onions before serving.