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, a change in 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 are trying to appropriate the right to the title of creator of the recipe for dumplings.
Many historians agree that the homeland of this dish is China or Central Asia. But historical data are so blurry and inconsistent that trusting this information is not worth 100%.
In Russia, dumplings first appeared around the 15th century on the tables of residents of the Urals and Siberia. And according to some sources, the Tatars brought them in. Dumplings were served both in simple families and in a wealthier class.
Such popularity was explained by the simplicity of preparation and storage. But only after a few hundred years, 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 fresh dough and minced meat. By the 19th century, people began to move more often across different territories, so dumplings became available in most regions of many countries.
Which dumplings are better?
The debate about which dumplings are better, bought or home, 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, G. Each of them indicates a product category:
- A - the meat content in the product is above 80%.
- B - meat content of 60-80%.
- B - meat content 40-60%.
- G - meat content of 20-40%.
An important clarification: meat in processed foods refers to muscle fiber. Therefore, fat, fat, skin, etc. do not count.
It’s quite difficult to find category A dumplings in stores. Even packages labeled “Homemade dumplings” are most often labeled as Cat. B and C. This happens because when the meat concentration is 80%, only 20% remains for the rest, and this is salt, spices, onions. Therefore, category A dumplings are not always tasty, and the price for them is constantly higher. But without additional additives, the meat is “dry”. He lacks juiciness.
But category B dumplings are much tastier. The fact is that in their composition there is really less meat, but there are many other additives that improve the taste, for example the same onion.
Category B and D products should be treated with caution, since soy meat is often used in such semi-finished products, and the price is slightly lower than the price of category B dumplings. In this case, it is recommended to make a more expensive purchase, but get a quality product.
Therefore, 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 the filling for homemade dumplings completely depends on who cooks them. If the stuffing 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 cooking, so they can be eaten without fear of getting low-quality dishes.
What filling to use?
You can use almost any filling for homemade dumplings. But more often they take ground beef, pork and homemade, which is a mixture of pork and beef. It is sometimes recommended to purchase minced veal.
Minced pork or ready-made minced meat should be greasy so that the dumplings are juicy.
It is believed that the more different types of meat there are in the filling, the tastier the dish will turn out. Sometimes in the process of cooking they use exotic meat of elk, ram or duck.
In some cases, the filling is fish. For dumplings, you can use any, most importantly, so that there are fewer bones in it. If the fish is dry, then add oil or lard to it.
Interesting in taste are dumplings stuffed with vegetables, fruits and mushrooms. In fact, the filling can be anything, it all depends on the imagination of the one who is preparing the dish.
Rules for making dough
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 test.
- Knead the dough with warm water, then it will acquire the desired consistency faster.
- Kneading should take at least 10 minutes, in this case you get a good elastic dough that is easy to sculpt.
- After kneading, you need to set aside the base for half an hour. Then the gluten will connect with the liquid much better, and the dough will be ready for subsequent operations.
Dumplings dough recipe
The simplest recipe for homemade dumplings dough includes only three components:
- premium flour;
- water;
- salt.
For cooking, you need 500 grams of flour, 0.2 liters of water and 3-4 grams of salt.
Stages of preparation:
- pour all the flour into the pan;
- dissolve salt in warm water;
- slowly pour water into the flour, mixing 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 if the dough is ready is very simple: pinch it. If it keeps its shape well, then it's time to roll out.
The recipe for homemade dumplings on water is the simplest. At the same time, the taste of the finished dish is one of the most familiar and pleasant, since most often this recipe is used in cooking.
The second popular recipe for dumplings
For the preparation of more delicious homemade dumplings, dough with the addition of eggs is used. In this case, it becomes especially elastic and gets additional taste.
To create it you will need:
- Flour - 0.5 kg.
- Egg - 2 pcs. varieties C0.
- Salt - 5 grams.
- Water - 200 ml.
Stages of preparation:
- first of all, you should mix water with salt, and also add the whole egg and yolk from the second egg to the resulting mixture;
- beat the protein of the second egg with a fork or mixer until white;
- pour out the flour and pour water with an egg into it;
- mix the dough slowly with whipped protein;
- knead the dough for about 20 minutes, then set aside with a towel to make it ripen.
After the base has stood for the required amount of time, it can be taken out and rolled out. This dough for homemade dumplings (with an egg) is elastic and supple. It easily rolls out, and the molding process is pretty fast.
Variations of cooking dumplings
Homemade dumplings recipes are very different. You can experiment with flour, filling, serving. Do not limit your imagination during cooking. Delicious homemade dumplings will always be enjoyed with joy.
Custom dough
As indicated above, dumplings are mainly prepared from premium white flour. But there are also lovers of unusual solutions. Some, instead of regular flour, use, for example, buckwheat for cooking homemade dumplings. The recipe in this case will look like this:
- Wheat flour - 100 grams.
- Buckwheat flour - 50 grams.
- Water - 100 ml.
- Salt - 3 grams.
- Eggs - 2 pcs. varieties C0.
Stages of preparation:
- mix thoroughly 2 types of flour together and pour into a pan with a slide;
- make a depression in the flour and add 2 eggs there;
- dissolve the salt in warm water and slowly pour into flour (perhaps less water will be needed);
- knead the dough to a tight consistency;
- leave it for 30 minutes, covering with a towel.
In this recipe, wheat flour is added 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.
Stuffing dumplings
To make dumplings at home, you need to use quality ingredients. Along with the dough, the composition of the dish should include high-quality minced meat. If he will cook at home, then the meat for him should be clean, with a minimum number of veins. The best choice would be the cervical and scapular portion of pork and beef.
The most common minced meat recipe for classic homemade dumplings is:
- A pound of lean beef.
- A pound of fatty pork.
- 1-2 onions.
- 5 grams of black pepper powder.
- 2 grams of red pepper.
- 20 ml of milk.
- 10 grams of salt.
Stages of preparation:
- the meat must be washed, then remove excess water from it, and then cut into small pieces that will be placed in a meat grinder;
- chop 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 salt to it;
- pour milk into the resulting minced meat and mix again until a homogeneous consistency;
- 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 sculpt dumplings?
To create the same and keeping the shape of homemade dumplings dumplings, it is necessary to use correctly kneaded dough. It should be resilient and sufficiently tight. To form dumplings of the correct form, you need to do the following:
- cut a small piece of dough and roll it into a sausage;
- cut small “pads” out of it;
- Roll each of them into a circle shape.
Then you should put the prepared meat in the middle of this circle, and glue the lower half of the circle from the top.
You will get a half-finished product resembling a small cheburek. Now it remains only to glue together the sharp corners - and you get a dumpling.
Dumplings fast modeling
Previously, almost every home had a device for quick modeling of dumplings. Now it is much less commonly used, but it has not lost its relevance. The device is a metal product with holes in the form of honeycombs.
How it looks can be seen in the photo.
The method of sculpting dumplings using dumplings:
- thinly rolled dough is placed on its entire surface;
- forcemeat is added to each "honeycomb" - this must be done so that the dough hangs down a little;
- then another rolled dough circle is placed on top;
- Now you need to roll out the dough of the top layer with a click.
After these operations, you will get about 35 dumplings in a short time.
Another way to quickly make dumplings at home is as follows:
- you need to roll out the dough;
- evenly lay out several servings of minced meat at a distance of about 2 centimeters from each other;
- top with a new layer of thin dough;
- press with your hands or another device in between the dumplings;
- squeeze the dough around each serving of minced meat;
- cut the dough in places where there is no mincemeat.
With this cooking method, approximately 10 ravioli can be cooked at a time.
How to make a form for dumplings?
For those who have never sculpted dumplings, it may remain a mystery how to create even shapes for them. But in fact, everything is quite simple.
To get an even circle of dough, you need to roll out a large piece of it, and then, turning the glass or any other dishes with a round hole, push the edges of the dough. Since it is soft, the form will be very even, and you can sculpt neat dumplings without any problems.
Colored dumplings
Both children and many adults will surely have a lot of fun eating dumplings of different colors. Their recipe is not very different from the usual, but there are some additions. It is important to note that only natural components are used for painting, which will be described below.
In order to color the dumplings, for example, in green color - use ground 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. To create a red color, use tomato paste.
To prepare colored dumplings, you will need this dough:
- Premium flour - 0.5 kg.
- Water - 0.2 liters.
- Egg - 1 pc.
- Salt - 5 grams.
Also add one of these components to this list:
- Tomato paste - 20 grams.
- Carrot puree - 40 grams.
- Beetroot puree - 30 grams.
- Ground Spinach - 20 grams.
The algorithm for creating colored dumplings:
- add one of the coloring components to the water;
- mix the resulting cocktail with salt;
- pour the flour in a slide, making a depression in it, add the egg;
- pour water into the flour with the egg, slowly mixing the mixture;
- bring the mixture to a dense consistency, setting it aside for half an hour to ripen.
After creating such a test, you can begin to create a form for each dumpling and add minced meat.
In conclusion, I would like to note that homemade dumplings are of better quality and more rich taste. All due to the fact that any manufacturer is trying to reduce the cost of production of the product, often worsening the quality. 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.