Pan Fried Dumplings (素水煎包)

Homemade Pan Fried Dumplings with a crispy top crust and meaty, umami vegan filling. One bite will take you right back to the street vendors in Taiwan.

These vegan pan-fried dumplings are stuffed with textured vegetable protein, mushrooms, green cabbage, and vermicelli. With the addition of the TVP, they taste just like regular pork & cabbage dumplings.

Of course, you can’t have these pan-fried dumplings without a generous drizzle of chili oil.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE

#1: Start with the Dough. In a large mixing bowl, first combine flour, instant, yeast, sugar, and sea salt. Slowly stream in the warm water (a lukewarm, warm-to-the-touch temperature is fine), and mix until a dough forms. I like to mix with a long pair of chopsticks. Once a soft dough forms, turn it onto a generously floured surface and knead until smooth, around 5 minutes. Place the smooth dough back into the bowl, then cover and let rest for 30-40 minutes. While the dough is resting, you can prepare the filling. See below for filling instructions.

After the dough has risen to around 1.5 times its original size, place it in the refrigerator to slow its rising. You do not need a fully-risen dough for pan fried dumplings like these.

#2: Divide the Dough. After you’ve finished preparing the filling (and placed it in the fridge to chill), begin preparing the wrappers. Take your rested dough and first gently press it down to squeeze out excess air. Roll the dough into a long log and use a knife to evenly divide it into 23-25 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into round balls — this makes it much easier to roll them out into round wrappers. To make dumpling wrappers. Take a ball of dough and first gently press it to flatten. Then take a floured rolling pin and roll the dough out on all sides into a round sheet. A good wrapper for these pan-fried dumplings is thicker at the middle, rather than evenly thick throughout (or worse, thinner at the middle).

I usually make the pan fried dumplings one at a time, from start to finish. While I’m working on each dumpling, I loosely cover all the other doughs with plastic wrap so they do not dry out. But be sure not to completely cover them as you do not want them to proof again.

#3: Make the Dumplings. Take each wrapper and place around a tablespoon of filling in the middle. Note: if you’re unfamiliar with wrapping these dumplings, start off with less filling and practice the folding first. Fold the dough up by pleating the sides (like an accordion) in a counter-clockwise motion. Towards the end, keep your thumb in the middle and press down while spiraling to seal. Place the completed dumplings on a floured surface and loosely cover them as well while you prepare the rest.

Once all the dumplings are finished, it’s time to cook them! At this point you can either cook them immediately, or freeze them for later. To cook, see instructions below. To freeze, place each dumpling (uncooked) on a parchment-lined baking tray and freeze them like that first. Once frozen, transfer them to a large freezer bag and back into the freezer. This two-step process prevents them from sticking to each other after being frozen.

Pan Fried Dumplings (素水煎包)

5 from 5 votes

Recipe by George L. Course: SnackCuisine: Chinese, TaiwaneseDifficulty: Medium

Servings

25

buns

Prep time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Homemade Pan Fried Dumplings with a crispy top crust and meaty, umami vegan filling. These will take you right back to the street vendors in Taiwan.

Ingredients

• Dough

• 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour

• 9 tablespoons (140 g) warm water (add more as needed, up to 10 tablespoons)

• 1 teaspoon instant yeast

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 pinch fine sea salt

• Filling

• 1/2 cup textured vegetable protein (mince)

• 6 white or shiitake mushrooms, finely minced (yields about 3/4 cup)

• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced

• 1 inch fresh ginger, finely minced

• 40 grams vermicelli

• 2.5 cups green cabbage, shredded

• 3 scallions, finely chopped

• 2 teaspoons sugar

• 2 teaspoons doubanjiang (spicy broad been paste), I used Lee Kum Kee’s

• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

• 1 pinch white pepper

• Toppings

• white sesame seeds

• black sesame seeds

• 1 scallion, finely chopped

• chili oil (my homemade recipe HERE)

Directions

• Prepare the Dough. In a large mixing bowl, first combine flour, instant, yeast, sugar, and sea salt. Slowly stream in the warm water, and mix until a dough forms. Once a soft dough forms, turn it onto a generously floured surface and knead until smooth, around 5 minutes. Place the smooth dough back into the bowl, then cover and let rest for 30-40 minutes.
• Prepare the TVP. Soak the TVP in warm water for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, drain the water and squeeze out excess liquid from the re-hydrated TVP. Set aside.
• Prepare the Vermicelli. Do as the package instructions — usually this involves soaking in room temperature water (around 10 minutes) and boiling in water (around 3-5 minutes). Roughly chop the noodles into 0.3 – 0.5 cm long strands. Set aside and prepare the rest of the filling.
• Prepare the Filling. Prepare all the vegetables as instructed. In a large pan on medium heat, start by sautéing mushrooms, garlic, and ginger together until most of the mushrooms’ moisture evaporates. Add the TVP and fry until lightly browned, around 5 minutes. Add all remaining filling ingredients (except for vermicelli) and continue to sauté until cabbage is cooked, around 5 minutes. Once finished, take off the heat and stir in the chopped vermicelli. Taste and adjust seasoning, then place finished filling in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the dumpling wrappers.
• Make the Dumplings. Take your rested dough and first gently press it down to squeeze out excess air. Roll the dough into a long log and use a knife to evenly divide it into around 22-25 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into round balls. Take a ball of dough and first gently press it to flatten. Then take a floured rolling pin and roll the dough out on all sides into a round sheet, thickest at the center. Take each wrapper and place around a tablespoon of filling in the middle. Fold the dough up by pleating the sides (like an accordion) in a counter-clockwise motion. Towards the end, keep your thumb in the middle and press down while spiraling to seal. Place the completed dumplings on a floured surface and loosely cover them while you prepare the rest.
• Fry the Dumplings. Heat up around 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil on medium-high heat in a non-stick pan. Place each dumpling in the pan (don’t over-crowd the pan as they will expand!) and fry until lightly browned around 1-2 minutes. Then, add 3 tablespoons of water and quickly cover with a lid to trap steam. Note: if your lid doesn’t have a built-in hole, leave a small hole so the dumplings won’t burst when you open the lid. Remove the lid once most of the water has evaporated, around 5 minutes. Turn the heat up to high and cook for an additional 2 minutes, or until crispy and golden-brown. Top the finished dumplings with sesame seeds and chopped scallions. Serve warm.

Notes

• Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP): TVP is made of soy protein and soy flour. I used the Natura’s TVP. You should be able to find TVP at your local health food store, or at the health food section in regular grocery stores.
• When frying the Dumplings, you can either place the dumplings pleated-side down or pleated-side up. I fried the dumplings pleated-side down but usually they are fried pleated-side up when sold at local Taiwanese vendors.