Chili Dumplings

Introduction to Chili Dumplings:

I didn’t think dumplings could get any better until I tried them with this delicious chili sauce. This is one of those foods I’ve seen on social media but hadn’t had the pleasure of trying. I’ve seen this popular Indo-Chinese street food dish on Instagram and I just knew I needed to make some at home.

I also have this pretty bad habit of hyper fixating on foods and eating them constantly for months on end. And I’ve definitely done that with this dish. It is just so unique and satisfying! These fusion dumplings are filled with veggies, paneer, and cheese; and the outside is covered with an ultra tangy and spicy sauce.

This dish can be a little time consuming to make between chopping and prepping the veggies, wrapping and steaming the dumplings, and making the sauce. However, you can make a large batch and freeze the dumplings if you like. I found a really great tutorial here. And you can also make a big batch of the sauce and keep it in the fridge inside of an airtight jar. Then all you’ll have to do is steam the dumplings and heat the sauce up and you can get the whole meal prepared in 10 minutes.

Breakdown of the Ingredients:

Dumpling Filling

What you choose to put in your dumpling filling is entirely up to you. Because I’m making an Indo-Chinese fusion version here, I’ve decided to add some desi spices and paneer in there. But, I have also tried this with recipe with a really simple tofu and cabbage filling and it still tastes great. So feel free to use what you prefer. The only thing I’d really keep constant regardless of the filling is using red onions, garlic, ginger, soy, salt, rice vinegar, and some sriracha.

• Oil
• Red onions
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Cumin powder
• Garam masala
• Shredded cabbage
• Shredded paneer
• Shredded cheese (I used Mexican cheese blend)
• Salt
• Soy
• Rice vinegar
• Sriracha

Sauce

I know some people find ketchup to be a controversial ingredient. But remember, ketchup is essentially a tomato sauce made with sugar and vinegar. So it actually makes a delicious base for a lot of sauces. I had a video recently go viral discussing this very topic here. So if you want to get my more in depth opinion on this matter, feel free to check that out!

The rest of the ingredients here are pretty standard. If you want to substitute red onions with white onions or scallions that could also work. but I think red onions work the best here. Also, these aren’t called chili dumplings for nothing. We use 3-4 different sources of spices here: dried red chilies, sriracha, kashmiri mirch, and serrano chilies (optional).

• Oil
• Red onions
• Garlic
• Dried red chillies (broken in half)
• Soy sauce
• Sriracha
• Ketchup
• Rice vinegar
• Kashmiri Mirch
• Water
• Cornstarch
• Serrano chili (optional)
• Green onions (for garnish)

Process + Keys to Success:

Filling + Assembly

• Sauté your red onions in oil until translucent and then add in your ginger and garlic.
• Cook for another 30 seconds or so and then add in your garam masala and cumin.
• Let the spices simmer on low heat for about 20 seconds and then add in your cabbage and paneer. Now, turn your heat on high because water will start releasing from the cabbage.
• Add in your soy, rice vinegar, sriracha, and salt .
• Cook the mixture until all of the water has released and the cabbage has wilted well. Make sure to stir throughout this process so that everything is cooked evenly.
• Place your mixture into a heatproof bowl and then stir in your cheese.
• Wet the edges of your wonton wrappers with water and then place a small amount of filling in the center. You don’t want to overfill, because you could end up breaking your wonton wrapper.
• Fold the wonton wrapper diagonally, to create a triangle shape.
• Bring the bottom two edges of the triangle towards each other to create a wonton shape.
• Steam your dumplings for 8 minutes.

Sauce + Assembly

• Sauté your onions in oil until translucent and then add in your garlic.
• Cook for another 30 seconds or so and then add your dried red chilies, broken in half. We want the seeds to come out so they add more flavor to the dish. Simmer on low heat for another 20 seconds or so (we want to make sure our chilies don’t burn).
• Add in your soy, sriracha, rice vinegar, ketchup, corn starch, kashmiri mirch, and salt and simmer for 20-30 seconds. Optional: add in half a chopped serrano chili for extra spice.
• Add in 1 c of water and let the entire mixture simmer for about 10 minutes on low heat, until it has completely thickened up.
• Cover your steamed dumplings in this sauce and garnish with green onions before serving. Make sure to stir your dumplings in this sauce gently, because you don’t want to break the wrappers.

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