Asian Dumpling Tips – SGV Dumplings

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"alt": "", "width": 6, "height": 5 } ], "images_with_alt": 0 }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://asiandumplingtips.com/about", "page_name": "About Andrea Nguyen - Asian Dumpling Tips", "title": "About Andrea Nguyen - Asian Dumpling Tips", "content": "Hello, this site was created and maintained by me — Andrea Nguyen. I’m a cookbook author, freelance writer, and cooking teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area. This site is dedicated to one of my all-time favorite foods — Asian dumplings. No matzo balls here. We’re talking pot stickers, sticky rice in banana leaf, stuffed buns (bao), har gow, siu mai, samosas, and the likes from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. I hope to go into Central Asia too! I’ve been eating and making Asian dumplings for decades, and recently, I had the great fortune of writing a cookbook on them. I’ll be encouraging you to make dumpling wrappers from scratch (you can do it and I will help!). Because you have to do plenty of research to know what a good dumpling is, there are also tips on how and where to find good Asian dumplings. Everywhere I go, I look for dumplings. Why not? They’re one of the most wonderful, lovely foods. Cookbooks and Accolades 2007 Award Finalist 2010 Finalist 2010 Favorite Cookbooks Best 10 Cookbooks of 2009 Winter 2009 Gift Guide You may know me from my site, Viet World Kitchen, and/or my debut cookbook, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, which was published by award-winning Ten Speed Press in October 2006. Into the Vietnamese Kitchen was nominated for three prestigious James Beard and IACP cookbook awards in 2007. I launched the Asian Dumpling Tips site in May 2009 to support my new landmark publication on dumplings from all over Asia. Asian Dumplings (Ten Speed Press, August 25, 2009) is the first book to cover the broad scope of dumpling preparations from all over the region, as well as its manifestations in Asian communities abroad. In June 2009, the Slate.com food issue listed me among a number of well-respected “recipe detectives” who excel at translating and demystifying foreign foodways for American cooks. I accomplished that with Into the Vietnamese Kitchen and hope to do the same with Asian Dumplings! In 2011, Asian Dumplings was released as an ebook. There are two kinds to choose from — depending on what your device will run. One is a digital version of the printed book (a straight ebook) and the other is an enhanced ebook that contains instructional videos to guide cooks through the various shapes; learn more from this page. To develop and refine the recipes in Asian Dumplings, I traveled to Asia to do research for the book, read many books on Asian cooking and dumpling making, and ate dumplings in major Asian enclaves in the U.S. and Canada. Then, I spent countless days in my home kitchen to perfect the recipes and techniques, and had them tested by a team of recipe testers. Though you can buy store-bought skins for a number of recipes in Asian Dumplings, I’d like for you to try your hand at making them yourself — just like a good Asian dumpling master. As of July 2010, new posts on Asian dumplings are residing on Viet World Kitchen, where I explore Asian food, cooking and culture. I’ll post related links on this site but you should check VWK for new content. And, if you love tofu, there are some cool dumpling recipes in my new book, Asian Tofu, to be released on February 28, 2012. Professional Affiliations and Education A contributing editor to SAVEUR magazine, my food writing appears in the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. I’ve led a tour of Orange County’s Little Saigon for Epicurious TV, which airs on the Travel Channel. A cooking teacher for several years, I’ve taught classes at Sur la Table in San Francisco, the Institute for Culinary Education in New York, Ramekins in Sonoma, Draeger’s in San Mateo, and Let’s Get Cookin’ in Los Angeles. I’m a culinary professional and member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), Women Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR), and San Francisco Professional Food Society (SFPFS). I also am a co-founder of the Asian Culinary Forum, an educational non-profit dedicated to the cuisines and food cultures of Asia, and serve on the advisory board. I’m a proud alum of the University of Southern California, where I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Go Trojans! I’ve studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong where I honed my Mandarin speaking skills. My culinary training Since the age of 10 (when I gained a certain command of English), I’ve been reading and studying cookbooks. I perused cookbooks, both East and West, as if they were novels. I watched PBS shows by Julia Child and Martin Yan and observed their moves and took in their knowledge. I fantasized about doing something in food but first generation immigrants ‘don’t do that.’ I’ve been a bank examiner, university administrator, and communication consultant. But in the midst of those careers, I cooked and read the classics as well as new interpretations of food, trying to find cultural and culinary links between cuisines. When reading Asian cookbooks, I tried to figure out how to present the unfamiliar and ‘exotic’ to a broad audience of cooks. The stuff seemed normal to me, why not others? To test my determination, I cooked professionally for 1 year in the early 1990s, first at City Restaurant (owned my Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger) in Los Angeles, and then in catering. It was the hardest work I’d ever done. Not glamorous in any way. My father offered to put me through cooking school — a bold move on his and my mom’s part since they first thought it was crazy of me to get a university degree and then work with my hands! But I demurred and figured that I’d be better off in something more conventional so I went to graduate school and became a communication consultant for clients in education. On the side, I wrote as a freelancer for newspapers and Saveur to hone my writing and research skills. I eventually built a website and won a cookbook contract with Ten Speed Press for my first work, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. It’s the book that I’ve been wanting to write since I was 10, and has since led to this work on Asian dumplings. I have no formal culinary training. I never went to cooking school. What fuels me is this: A life-long curiosity about food, cooking, and culture. At the end of the day, my aim is to (1) capture the human connections to food and (2) demystify Asian food without dumbing it down. Feel free to send messages, post comments, and join in the fray. I look forward to ‘meeting’ you. Copyright information Please do not copy and re-post content from this site without getting permission from me first. That’s a rights infringement and just plain bad form! Related Permission and Credit May 25, 2009 In \"Andrea Nguyen\" About the Asian Dumplings Cookbook August 2, 2009 In \"Andrea Nguyen\" Publisher’s Weekly Review of Asian Dumplings July 20, 2009 In \"Asian Dumplings Cookbook\"", "word_count": 1170, "char_count": 6783 }, { "url": "https://asiandumplingtips.com/", "page_name": "Asian Dumpling Tips - Dumplings make everyone smile. Make and eat lots.", "title": "Asian Dumpling Tips - Dumplings make everyone smile. Make and eat lots.", "content": "Main Content I’ve been making dumplings for years but for the past 12 months, as I’ve been developing recipes for the new cookbook, I’ve led a 24/7 life of Asian dumplings. (There was some weight gain, if you must … CONTINUE READING ABOUT BUILDING A PANTRY FOR ASIAN DUMPLINGS When I set out to write the Asian Dumplings cookbook, I was thrilled by the notion of obsessing day and night about one of my favorite foods. I researched by perusing my cookbook library, going … CONTINUE READING ABOUT WHAT DEFINES ASIA AND ASIAN DUMPLINGS?", "word_count": 94, "char_count": 534 }, { "url": "https://asiandumplingtips.com/2009/08/favorite-dumpling-haunts-in-san-gabriel-valley.html", "page_name": "Favorite Dumpling Restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley - Asian Dumpling Tips", "title": "Favorite Dumpling Restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley - Asian Dumpling Tips", "content": "If you want good Asian food nowadays you often have to trek to the suburbs. Asian enclaves are no longer built around urban ghettos, but rather on the outskirts of city centers – in the burroughs and burbs where there’s more space and opportunity for establishing viable communities. Such is the case with the San Gabriel Valley, located east of downtown Los Angeles. I love Chinatown, L.A., for the hearty pot stickers at the Mandarin Deli (which is now closed!) but to explore a broader swathe of Chinese dumplings, I head eastward on the 10 freeway into cities like Monterey Park and Baldwin Hills and El Monte where many Hong Kong and Taiwanese Chinese immigrants have settled and prospered, where they demand and get fabulous food. I did a fair amount of research for this book by eating dumplings and whenever possible, watching dumpling masters. That truly helped me replicate the flavor and cooking and wrapping techniques. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, you can too. For Chinese dumplings (I’ll leave dim sum for another occasion), get in the car and head to the San Gabriel Valley. Over the course of several dumpling crawls with friends and professionals such as Chinese food expert Carl Chu, author of Chinese Food Finder. Here are some standout dumpling shops: Luscious Dumplings (704 West Las Tunas Drive, San Gabriel) I went to Luscious Dumplings the day after Thanksgiving and loaded up on amazing pan-fried pork dumplings. Their skin is tender but chewy and the fillings are really well prepared. Luscious has a small, tight menu of dumplings, noodles, and a few snacks – just like you’d find at a joint in China! It gets busy so be prepared to wait outside, or step inside the tiny restaurant and order to go. You can wait by the kitchen for a little peek of the back-of-the-house action. Hit Luscious and then walk across the way to Michelle’s. Michelle’s Pancakes (706 West Las Tunas Drive, San Gabriel) Just opened earlier this year, Michelle’s doesn’t serve pancakes and syrup but rather the term pancake is a literal translation of bing – the Mandarin Chinese word for doughy foods, such as pancakes, cakes, and dumplings. No MSG here, Michelle says. She’s from Shandong province and talks a mile a minute. Ever since the LA Times issued a glowing review, Michelle and her staff have been working overtime, rolling dough out by hand, despite having a machine in the back. I ate here with Carl Chu, and #1 – the leeks, eggs, shrimp, and cellophane noodle pancake is really a flat panfried dumpling; there are pancakes made of the same dough for you to wrap around meat and scallion and dip into a dark bean sauce. Plenty of other tables had poached dumplings, which I’m going to order next time. It’s bright and cheery at Michelle’s and the food reminds me of being in Asia. From Michelle’s, you can stumble over to Vietnam House in the same strip mall for Viet snacks. Mei Long Village (301 West Valley Blvd, Suite 112, San Gabriel) You may have another opinion, but I believe that Mei Long Village has the best Shanghai soup dumplings (xiaolongbao, XLB) in the San Gabriel Valley – better than Din Tai Fung (see below)! They’ve got a hand-made quality to the dough, which is neither overly white nor tasteless like other XLB I’ve tasted. The basic pork version is all I need to keep me happy; the crab version is not crabby but just slightly pricier. My friends buy Mei Long Village’s dumplings and keep them frozen but I enjoy them fresh on the spot. There’s a full menu of Shanghai specialties, and the dishes I’ve sampled have all been well prepared. Savory and sweet dumplings are listed under “Shanghai Pastries”; the radish pan cake is more of a covered pastry/dumpling than a pancake. If there’s a long wait, get a therapeutic foot massage at any of the joints located in the strip mall. Or peruse the giant mall at the corner of Del Mar and Valley for of China in Southern California. Dumpling House (5612 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, dumplinghouserestaurant.com) There are 50-pound bags of flour resting near the entrance to the restaurant so you know these people are serious. His pan-fried pork dumplings are deep fried and taste like really good frozen egg rolls – okay that’ s not a fair comparison. That style of deep-fried dumpling is more prevalent in Korea than China. The restaurant boasts northern Chinese fare but I heard so much Korean spoken when I was there, I queried the restaurant owner. He revealed that he was originally from Shandong, a province that blends Korean and Chinese cultures and speaks both Mandarin and Korean. “You can see Korea from Shandong,” he joked. “The flight to and from is very fast.” Dumpling Master Restaurant (423 North Atlantic Blvd # 106, Monterey Park) It’s more of a small joint than a swank restaurant but the selection of boiled, panfried, steamed dumplings features pork, pork and shrimp, lamb, chicken, sole (fish), vegetables, and even venison. They have frozen dumplings to take home too. Be forgiving to the menu, which is not well translated into English, and the environment, which is slightly dirty, hole-in-the-wall. The dumplings are somewhat cruder in texture and blander in flavor than others in the San Gabriel Valley, and cost less than $5 per order. Don’t forget the scallion pancakes, which are great, and check out the cold appetizers (side dishes) to go along with your dumplings. Atlantic Boulevard is the starting point of Monterey Park so there’s much to explore around Dumpling Master. Din Tai Fung (1108 South Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, www.dintaifungusa.com) The Arcadia location of Taiwan-based Din Tai Fung is currently the only one in America. There have been rumblings that DTF may open up in the San Francisco Bay area but that was sheer rumor. The specialty here are Shanghai soup dumplings (xiaolongbao) and the staff and DTF is so polished it’s like a well-oiled machine. Everything is computerized and the small half-sheet menu features just soup, rice, and dumplings. No liquor. The wait is always long, but you can watch the team of skilled Latino cooks through a glass window making the dumplings. (Do Latino cooks rock or what?) The dumplings come out fast and everyone eats them quickly and gets out fast, turning tables rapidly. Ding Tai Fung uses a proprietary blend of flour for their skin but I found the wrappers to be on the tasteless side. Some say it’s the Los Angeles water but I’ve had the dumplings at Ding Tai Fung in Shanghai and while each one is beautiful, the overall taste is lacking. Perhaps it’s the result of an over-polished operation that sacrifices flavor at the expense of consistency. Go to watch experts make xiaolongbao and experience what many consider to be the best Shanghai soup dumplings around. Also note the well-heeled clientele. Welcome to affluent, suburban Asian-America. Dumpling 10053 (10053 Valley Blvd, Suite 2, El Monte) Not far from Din Tai Fung but certainly on the other side of the tracks, Dumpling 10053 has some terrific offerings. El Monte is not a great neighborhood but I’d make the drive for the boiled pork, crab, and sea cucumber dumpling. Why? Because the filling tastes hand-chopped and it goes well with the homemade chile mixture that’s on the table. Skip the rock cod dumplings which have an odd ricotta cheese texture. Go for the sole dumplings, which are more flavorful. The shrimp and pumpkin dumpling is an inventive take on a dumpling filling. Have any thoughts or recommendations? Do weigh in and make suggestions too. Related Finding Great Asian Dumplings in Los Angeles August 23, 2009 In \"Dumpling Restaurants\" The Perfect Soup Dumpling – CHOW.com Video January 19, 2010 In \"Asian Dumplings Cookbook\" What defines Asia and Asian Dumplings? April 20, 2009 In \"Asian Dumpling Basics\" Reader Interactions Comments I love lists, especially food related ones! Thanks for this one. Slowly, but surely, I will eat at everyone of these places. These are totally in your neck of the woods. I love to go on dumpling crawls. Um … just wear loose clothing… Believe in the goodness of others and remember that anger and depression can be countered by love and hope. Your blog is very nice & informative. I always appreciate your work. Thanks to the sharing.I am so glad to hear that you are settling in and enjoying your new surroundings. I love Arizona! Ice water, Wind and cloud friends want to remember in heart! Yuanyang on the lake, The butterfly on the flowers, Wish you are happy over me! Read it in thine heart, That smile on the face, Sincere wishes to write in the information. A lazy youth，a lousy age. You smiled and talked to me of nothing and I felt that for this I had been waiting long. O(∩_∩)O~ Strategy is something; execution is everything He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs. *_* Thank you for the article, I saw after the enlightened, my idea like you, just not good at expression You can share some of your article, I’m like you write something, really very good! I will continue to focus on Never done in the article comments, this is my first network comments, appreciate you sharing. Very good article Thank you this article I hope you have an enjoyable day. Also in nowadays, far more than ever, several couples are on very tight Even if I could get married, every asset I gained from then til the Pour the cake mixture into the lined tin and bake for up to 35 minutes. The cake should be firm and golden with the sides leaving the side of the tin. Remove from the oven and after a couple of minutes turn out onto a plate and carefully remove the baking parchment. Now to make the lemon syrup. Gently heat the sugar and lemon juice until the sugar has fully dissolved. Immediately pour over the cake whilst it is still warm. The cake can be served now, warm or later cold. It is delicious served with creme fraiche. This would be wonderful on a hot summers’ afternoon ! It’s so nice to have you do all of the research for us. It makes our decision making so much easier!! Thanks. I don’t know how to receive my responce. Waiting for your reply, tks! If you wish to be the best man, you must suffer the bitterest of the bitter. It’s great to hear from you and see what you’ve been up to. In your blog I feel your enthusiasm for life. thank you.", "word_count": 1790, "char_count": 10269 }, { "url": "https://asiandumplingtips.com/about-andrea-nguyen", "page_name": "About Andrea Nguyen - Asian Dumpling Tips", "title": "About Andrea Nguyen - Asian Dumpling Tips", "content": "Hello, this site was created and is maintained by me — Andrea Nguyen. Based in Northern California, I’m an author, freelance writer, editor, cooking teacher, and consultant. GREAT NEWS! The Pho Cookbook, my fifth cookbook with Ten Speed Press, released on February 7, 2017. It was on the bestseller list of the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. We’re on the seventh printing already, and the book has received many accolades, including from NPR and Food52. The Pho Cookbook was a finalist for a 2018 IACP cookbook award and WON(!!!) a very prestigious James Beard Cookbook Award. Hooray for Pho! Preview and purchase the book. Additionally, I edited a biography cookbook on culinary icon Paula Wolfert. Learn more about the unique work by Emily Thelin. We self-published via a Kickstarter. It was picked up by Grand Central Publishing and reissued in October 2017. Unforgettable 2.0 has a new cover and foreword by Alice Waters! It won a 2018 IACP cookbook award! Starting September 2017, I have had a monthly column called “The Teacher” in Cooking Light magazine! Check out my CL stories here. To send a message, visit this page. WHAT I DO Along with cookbooks, I write articles for magazines and newspapers. My work has appeared in many publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Sunset, Bon Appetit, Cooking Light and Saveur. For a number of years, I was a contributing editor to Saveur and Rodale’s Organic Life. Additionally, I’ve written Asian food and culture pieces for Lonely Planet Vietnam (2012) and Cornbread Nation 6 by the Southern Foodways Alliance. I’ve appeared on both local and national television programs and been interviewed on many radio programs, including NPR’s Splendid Table, Martha Stewart Living’s Everyday Food, and KCRW’s Good Food. A guest speaker at food events, I’ve been featured at the Sydney International Food Festival and the Culinary Institute of America’s World of Flavors conference, among others. I’ve also given talks at libraries and educational institutions such as Yale University. I teach cooking classes at locations such as the Institute for Culinary Education in New York, San Francisco Cooking School, and Love Apple Farms (Santa Cruz). In 2013, I was thrilled to become a Craftsy cooking instructor so I can teach people all over the world. General information about cooking classes is here. I also provide consulting services on projects in the areas of food/hospitality, education, and business. My clients include restaurants, food manufacturers, and food importers and distributors. I’ve worked with local eateries such as Charlie Hong Kong in Santa Cruz and large entities like Nestle foods. I regularly collaborate with Saigon Siblings restaurant group in Seattle. Best Asian Cookbooks of the Last 25 Years 2007 Finalist, 2018 Winner! 2007, 2010, 2013, 2018 Cookbook Award Finalist 2010 Favorite Cookbooks Best 10 Cookbooks of 2009, Best Summer 2012 Cookbooks, Best 2014 and 2017 Cookbooks 2017 Honor from Epicurious COOKBOOKS & ACCOLADES My debut cookbook, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, was published by Ten Speed Press in October 2006. A landmark publication with over 175 recipes, the work is the first comprehensive full-color cookbook devoted to Vietnamese food in the English language. Leading food writers have praised the book for its attention to detail, accessibility, and thorough research. I work to demystify Vietnamese cuisine while bridging culinary traditions with contemporary practices. In 2007, the book was among the select finalists for a James Beard Foundation award (best Asian cookbook). That year, the Vietnamese cookbook also earned two International Association of Culinary Professionals award nominations (best first book and best international book). The 2009 Slate.com food issue included me in their listing of “recipe detectives” who excel at translating foreign flavors for American cooks. My second book did not focus on Vietnamese cooking. The subject and title was Asian Dumplings — one of my all-time favorite foods. In May 2009, I launched a site called Asian Dumpling Tips as a companion to the book. Since June 2010, new information on Asian dumplings has resided on Viet World Kitchen — which has evolved into in an exploration and conversation on Asian food, cooking and culture. Asian Dumplings was an award finalist in the International Association of Culinary Professionals cookbook competition. It was also selected as one of the best or favorite books by National Public Radio, Cooking Light, and CHOW.com. I’ve been interested in digital publications and apps (ebooks) for years, and been collaborating with publishers to experiment on developing potent ebooks. In Spring of 2011, Asian Dumplings was released as an enhanced ebook with instructional videos to guide cooks through the various shapes. It was one of the first of its kind to show the potential of ecookbooks. Learn more from this page. My third cookbook, Asian Tofu was published by Ten Speed Press on February 28, 2012. On that date, we released the book as a traditional print book, regular ebook (a digital version of the printed book), and an enhanced ebook that’s just like the printed book but with video tutorials and travelogues; see the ebook buying guide for details. In February 2013, we released an eBooklet for DIY tofu making called Making Soy Milk and Tofu at Home. In advance of publication, Asian Tofu was reviewed and featured in Martha Stewart Living, San Francisco magazine, and Publishers Weekly. The work has been deemed a ‘game changer’ and I hope that it informs and inspires more people to enjoy tofu as a delicious food, not a denial food. Read more about the Asian Tofu cookbook and reviews on Amazon. Asian Tofu, was selected by National Public Radio and the New York Times for the 2012 summer cookbook picks! It also garnered accolades from Eater.com and SeriousEats.com for being one of essential and favorite books of 2012. Food.52 selected Asian Tofu for the 2013 Piglet cookbook tournament. In March 2013, the book made the final cut for an IACP cookbook award! The fourth cookbook was a fun one called The Banh Mi Handbook, released in July 2014. It’s my way of drawing people into Vietnamese cooking through the ease and simplicity of making a darn good sandwich. Three weeks after the book release, Ten Speed Press ordered a reprint. Many people are interested in bold flavors and banh mi sandwiches are fabulous way to enjoy and explore them. In late August, 2016, we sent my fifth cookbook to press. The Pho Cookbook released on February 7, 2017. Hope you’ve slurped it up. A sign that pho is popular (and I hit the big time) — I was a clue on Jeopardy! Currently, I’m working on my sixth cookbook. Learn more about the February 2019 publication here and sign up for updates. PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND EDUCATION I’m a culinary professional and member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), James Beard Foundation (JBF), and Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI). I’m also a proud alum of the University of Southern California, where I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business and communication management. (Go Trojans!) As a Rotary International Foundation Fellow, I attended the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where I polished my Mandarin Chinese and ate lots of terrific Asian food. MY CULINARY TRAINING Since the age of 10 (when I gained a certain command of English), I’ve been reading and studying cookbooks. I perused cookbooks, both East and West, as if they were novels. I watched PBS shows by Julia Child and Martin Yan and observed their moves and took in their knowledge. I fantasized about doing something in food but first generation immigrants ‘don’t do that.’ I’ve been a bank examiner, university administrator, and communication consultant. But in the midst of those careers, I cooked and read the classics as well as new interpretations of food, trying to find cultural and culinary links between cuisines. I read Vietnamese cookbooks in English and Vietnamese, trying to figure out how to best present the unfamiliar and ‘exotic’ to a broad audience of cooks. To test my determination, I cooked professionally for 1 year in the early 1990s, first at the now-defunct City Restaurant (owned by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger) in Los Angeles, and then in catering. It was the hardest work I’d ever done. Hands down. My father offered to put me through cooking school, a bold move on his and my mom’s part since they didn’t initially take to me getting a university degree and wanting to work with my hands. But I demurred and figured that I’d be better off in something more conventional so I got a graduate degree and forged a career as a communication consultant for clients in education. I wrote as a freelancer on the side to hone my writing and research skills and eventually built a website and won a cookbook contract with Ten Speed Press for my first work, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. It’s the book that I’ve been wanting to write since I was ten! I have no formal culinary training. I never went to cooking school. My life-long curiosity about food, cooking, and culture fuels my work. At the end of the day, my aim is to (1) capture the human connections to food and (2) demystify Asian food without dumbing it down. There’s no reason why more people shouldn’t include good Asian cooking into their rotation. Feel free to send messages, post comments, and join in the fray. I look forward to e-meeting you. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Please do not copy and re-post content from this site without getting permission from me first. That’s a rights infringement and just plain bad form!", "word_count": 1595, "char_count": 9696 }, { "url": "https://asiandumplingtips.com/asian-dumplings-cookbook", "page_name": "Asian Dumplings Cookbook - Asian Dumpling Tips", "title": "Asian Dumplings Cookbook - Asian Dumpling Tips", "content": "Thanks for your interest in the Asian Dumplings cookbook! It’s one of my favorite food groups, ever since I was a chubby kid. Published in 2009 and highly acclaimed, the book has helped tens of thousands of people to make wonderful dumplings themselves — from scratch. Home cooks and professional chefs have used Asian Dumplings to master dough, filling, shapes and cooking techniques! Asian Dumplings was a 2010 award finalist in the International Association of Culinary Professionals cookbook competition. It was also selected as one of the best or favorite books by National Public Radio, Cooking Light, and CHOW.com. Preview pages: Get a glimpse at the recipes, photos, and design Cookbook photo shoot: An insider’s look at what went into producing the photos Many people contributed their professional expertise, including: Clancy Drake (editor), Betsy Stromberg (designer), Penny De Los Santos (photographer), Karen Shinto (food stylist), Natalie Hoelen (prop stylist) and Ann Miya (illustrator). The following recipe testers helped to refine the flavors and techniques: Mare Anderson, Lillian Chou, Alex Ciepley, Victor Fong, Georgia Freedman, Sue Holt, Doug Jeffery, Susan McCombs, Al Meyers, Candace Grover, Susan Pi, Karen Shinto, Makiko Tsuzuki, and Lea Yancey. Book availability To purchase Asian Dumplings, visit neighborhood bookstores and retailers such as Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, Powell’s and Jessica’s Biscuit. There are also ebook editions of Asian Dumplings too! On March 22, 2010, Ten Speed Press released two versions of Asian Dumplings, a regular ebook and an enhanced ebook that includes 12 how-to videos! The iTunes bookstore has the enhanced edition whereas Amazon has separate pages for the enhanced and Kindle editions. If you prefer other ebook readers or platforms, Barnes & Noble’s Nook store, Google eBookstore, and other ebook retailers are carrying the regular ebook. For more details on the process of putting together the ebook, see this post. Reviews “Until I began cooking from this remarkable book I had no idea that preparing Asian dumplings was so easy and so satisfying. Andrea Nguyen’s latest work is authoritative, fun, and filled with recipes that yield insanely delicious results.” –James Oseland, editor in chief of Saveur and author of Cradle of Flavor “I was truly excited when I first picked up this book, a feeling that quickly turned to awe. Andrea Nguyen introduces you to Asian dumplings you never knew existed, makes you feel that you can’t live until you try them, then takes your hand and, in admirably lucid detail, shows you exactly how to make them. Asian Dumplings is destined to become a classic–it’s already an instant must-have for any Asian food lover.” –John Thorne, author of Outlaw Cook and Mouth Wide Open “Andrea Nguyen has done a remarkable job of guiding us through the world of Asian dumplings, sharing their history and evolution and providing plenty of user-friendly recipes. This beautiful cookbook will make you want to throw a dumpling-making party every time you turn the page.” –Corinne Trang, author of Essentials of Asian Cuisine and Noodles Every Day “Andrea’s humor, enthusiasm, and comforting pragmatism make me want to bolt into my kitchen to knead and roll and wrap and steam and bake and fry and, best of all, gobble. This book will make you very, very hungry.” –Niloufer Ichaporia King, author of My Bombay Kitchen Photo by Penny De Los Santos “Asian Dumplings is full of inspiration for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Samosas, lumpia, pot stickers, momo, gyōza, wontons, and bāo in one volume? And diagrams for all the folding techniques? Thank you, Andrea.” –Heidi Swanson, author of Super Natural Cooking “It’s absolutely gorgeous – and as far as I’m concerned, is now THE definitive English-language dumpling cookbook around – no one has yet managed to combine such clarity of instruction with so wide a survey.” –Christopher Tan, author of Shiok! “…traditional publishers are adding video to their e-books, too. One of the best I’ve seen lately is Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More by Andrea Nguyen. ” – Lynn Andriani, Publisher’s Weekly, 4/18/11 (full review) “If it’s a small, succulent parcel encased in dough, pastry, batter, or leaves from anywhere between India and Polynesia, you’ll find a recipe and crystal-clear instructions for making it with Andrea Nguyen’s Asian Dumplings.” – Phillip Rhodes, Cooking Light, Favorite Cookbooks of 2010 “I just wanted to let you know that I am really enjoying Asian Dumplings. Your instructions are so clear and precise, they’re a joy to follow. So far I’ve only made vegetarian steamed dumplings (came out perfectly), but this afternoon I’m going to attempt my own dumpling skins and make some potstickers. . . . I spent 8 years in Hong Kong, south China and Taiwan and always loved watching dumpling-makers, and of course, sampling their wares. Well, out I go to locate a tortilla press . . .” – Jennifer Miller, a reader in Montreal, via email “I began mooning over Andrea Nguyen’s cookbook, Asian Dumplings, before it came out. I’ve owned it since December 25th, and I’ve read it cover to cover several times.” – Cara, Big Girls, Small Kitchen, see 3/14/2010 pot sticker slide show “Dumplings are something I consider a treat, something to feast on when I get the opportunity. Andrea Nguyen offers an alternative – under her guidance we can make our own dumplings right in our own kitchens and feast on them whenever we want.” –Pam Thuman-Commike, Project Foodie, read full review “Once you try these freshly made ones out of the oven, there’s a good chance there won’t be any left to even worry about heating them up again.” – Carolyn Jung, Foodgal.com, read her account of making baked char siu bao “If dumplings happen to be your thing, this book is certainly for you.” –Flavorista.com, read mini review “Andrea has done a bang up job producing a collection of carefully tested recipes for all sorts of dumplings to fill every desire. . . . If you ever have a craving for any sort of dumpling, this is your book. ” –Kristina Gill, Matt Bites, read full review “Thanks, Andrea, for your wonderful cookbook! We will definitely be cooking (and posting) more recipes from it in the years to come.” –Nathan Lau, HouseofAnnie.com “This book will have you pleating like a pro, or if not, feeling it’s within reach.” –Jacqueline Church, Suite101, read full review “Whether you’re a seasoned aficionado, or merely dumpling-curious, Nguyen’s Asian Dumplings is a fabulous resource. Approachable, yet informed, this book has a prominent spot in my collection.” –Traca Savadogo, Seattle Tall Poppy, read full review “This book contains one of the most accurate and concise collections of dumpling recipes for those who want authenticity but rarely get it from cookbooks.” –Lillian Chou, Time Out Beijing, January 2010 “The real magic occurs in cookbooks where the author has something to say, not just something to sell.” –Brent, How Chow, read full review Photo by Penny De Los Santos “Personally, I have always strictly believed that the effort of making dumplings yourself magically negates the calories you might accrue by eating them. With the help of this book, you may find yourself reaching the same conclusion.” –T. Susan Chang, National Public Radio, The 10 Best Cookbooks of 2009 (read 11/25 text) or listen to NPR Morning Edition 12/5 show “. . . Asian Dumplings is a book that inspired not only me but also my 10-year-old son, who filled it with Post-Its marking recipes he was eager to try” –Michael Ruhlman, Ruhlman.com “Andrea Nguyen’s book on Asian dumplings is straightforward yet doesn’t shy away from using authentic ingredients. Nguyen covers everything from Nepalese-style vegetable and cheese dumplings to pan-fried Chinese chive and pork dumplings in translucent starch dough. This is an ideal gift for adventurous cooks.” –CHOW.com, Winter 2009 Cookbook Gift Guide “I’ve tried making my own wrappers before only to get annoyed and buy off-the-shelf gyoza skins or wonton wrappers instead. With her clear and very detailed instructions (and the tortilla press and a little dowel rolling pin), I was busting out wrappers like nobody’s business. . . . Am I gushing? I think I’m gushing.” –April, The Hungry Engineer, read the entire review “Andrea Nguyen has written a book that will demystify making dumplings at home. . . if you live in a place where Asian dumplings are not readily available, this will be your go to guide to making them. –Amy Sherman, CookingwithAmy.com “Andrea’s Asian Dumplings goes beyond the mere instructional. With an introduction to every recipe in her book Andrea educates her readers on the cultural significance of each dish, becoming your personal dumpling guru.” –AsiaMs.Net ” . . . her new book rocks, covering dumplings from across Asia with terrific recipes, clear techniques and illustrations, and insights into pan-Asian food culture.” –Harris Salat, Japanese Food Report, read full blog review Asian Dumplings is a book that all lovers of Asian food should have on their bookshelves. The meticulously written recipes guide the cook, whether novice or expert, through every step, anticipating mistakes that the uninitiated might make in attempting dishes that were typically handed down from mother to daughter, with much hands-on tutelage.” –Cindy Bradley, Herald-Times, read review “If it’s a small, succulent parcel in dough, pastry, batter or leaves from anywhere between India and Polynesia, you’ll find a recipe and crystal-clear instructions for making it with Andrea Nguyen’s Asian Dumplings, new from Ten Speed Press. ” –Cooking Light Magazine, October 2009 “Editor’s Dozen” Picks “Researched at the source, with painstakingly detailed descriptions of the process used by master dumpling makers, it’s a mother lode of firsthand dumpling knowledge, translated to the skills and supplies of the American home cook” – Andrew Z. Galarneau, Buffalo News, read full review “I learned so much from cooking from this book just once that I’m already looking forward to whatever I might learn next time.” –Lisa Lawless, Lisa Is Cooking, read blog post on cooking from the book “With full color photos, step-by-step illustrations on how to wrap over 75 Asian dumplings from samosas to spring rolls, it’s definitely a book I’d recommend.” –Jaden Hair, Steamy Kitchen & Tampa Tribune, read blog post or newspaper article Photo by Penny De Los Santos “I’ve learned a lot of my small store of Asian cooking skills from Andrea Nguyen. Her first book, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen was award-winning and I don’t doubt that her newest, Asian Dumplings (Ten Speed Press), will get some similar attention.” –Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan, Apartment Therapy | The Kitchn, read the review ” If you love dumplings or wish to learn more about them, get yourself a copy of this cookbook. I salivate and get hungry every time I flip through the pages of this book. –Bee Yinn Low, Rasa Malaysia, read the blog review of the book and gyoza recipe “I loved making the dumpling dough and I loved the way Ms. Nguyen demystified the pouring of boiling water to make the hot water dough which I always thought was a dangerous thing to do…” –Veronica, Kitchen Musings, read the blog entry on soup dumplings (xiaolongbao) “An essential book for any Asian food junkie, featuring all manner of tasty tidbits wrapped in tender dough.” –Katherine Miller, The Oregonian, read full review (pdf “Here, in a relatively small volume packed with stunning photography meant to obviously inform as well as entice, Nguyen treats her subject with the precision of a surgeon coupled with the kind of delicious narrative that makes the book a veritable page-turner.” – Elissa Altman, Poor Man’s Feast, read full review . . . “Truth be told, making your own spring roll wrappers from scratch can be a bit difficult, at first. But with practice, the exercise of making lumpia skins becomes second nature. Heck, I’d even venture to say that the whole thing gets easier, and fun, and addicting–all thanks to Andrea’s wonderful and inspirational cookbook.” – Marvin, Burnt Lumpia, read his blog account of test driving the recipes “. . . Andrea Nguyen dishes on everything you need to know to make curry puffs, gyoza, pork buns, spring rolls, samosas and more.” –Mat Schaffer, Boston Herald, read full review. . . “Nguyen’s attention to detail is heartening, and her passion for her subject is contagious. She provides a visual guide to the six master shapes, comprehensive tutorials about the basic doughs and manages to convince even the most skeptical home cook that not only are homemade dumplings better than those from restaurants or stores, but they’re also easy to execute.” – TastingTable.com, read full review . . . “Nguyen, author of Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, celebrates a wide array of dough-wrapped treats from China, Vietnam, Japan, Philippines, India and Korea in this lavishly photographed homage to the not-so-humble dumpling. . . . This alluring and attractive book will appeal to a wide audience of home cooks and trained chefs. – Publisher’s Weekly read full review. . . To purchase Asian Dumplings, visit neighborhood bookstores and retailers such as Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, Powell’s. The iTunes bookstore has the enhanced edition whereas Amazon has separate pages for the enhanced and Kindle editions. If you prefer other ebook readers or platforms, Barnes & Noble’s Nook store, Google eBookstore, and other ebook retailers are carrying the regular ebook. For more details on the process of putting together the ebook, see this post.", "word_count": 2218, "char_count": 13645 }, { "url": "https://asiandumplingtips.com/category/all-recipes", "page_name": "All Recipes Archives - Asian Dumpling Tips", "title": "All Recipes Archives - Asian Dumpling Tips", "content": "I suppose that you could say that I’ve displayed signs of OCDD (obsessive compulsive dissorder for dumplings). With a fine amount of dough and filling leftover from making the gluten-free pot stickers, I wanted to see how versatile the dough is. The great thing about dumplings is their versatility, right? With the basic dumpling dough in your back pocket, you can use different fillings, create different shapes, and cook your dumplings in a variety of ways. So I put both kinds of gluten-free dumpling doughs (see the links below to the three recipe trials) to the test. My findings about how they worked with the various shapes and cooking methods are posted on VietWorldKitchen.com in this post. Related posts: Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial & Dough 3 (sorghum, sweet rice, and tapioca starch dough) Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial & Dough 2 (millet, sorghum, tapioca, and potato dough; includes tips on working with GF dumpling dough) Gluten-free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial 1 (on Asiandumplingtips.com) Guide to Building an Asian Dumpling Pantry Tolerance Test: Are Gluten-Free Asian Ingredients for You? If you have the enhanced e-version of Asian Dumplings, these technique videos are included. Otherwise, see the printed book for details and/or watch my videos below, which are on Asiandumplingtips.com: How to roll out Asian dumpling wrappers Basic Asian dumpling shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent How to shape a rope edge (for empanadas, turnovers, curry puffs) How to Fold a Closed Satchel What a difference a few years makes. My first attempt at gluten-free pot stickers was in December 2009. It was okay but I didn’t go at it again until now. And after going a second round with making a gluten-free basic dumpling dough, I became a little obsessed and went for round 3. The second dough made of millet flour, sorghum flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch was pretty darn good. It cooked up to a good chew without being overly rustic. But I was curious about how I could add a little tenderness along with that chew. I went back to my bookshelves and then into the kitchen. Was the third time the charm? Kind of yes and kind of no. Check it out on VWK: Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial 3 Related posts on this site and VWK: Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial 2 (with tips on working with GF dumpling dough) Gluten-free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial 1 Guide to Building an Asian Dumpling Pantry Tolerance Test: Are Gluten-Free Asian Ingredients for You? If you have the enhanced e-version of Asian Dumplings, these technique videos are included. Other wise, see the printed book for details and/or watch my videos below: How to roll out Asian dumpling wrappers Basic Asian dumpling shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent Soon after the Asian Dumplings cookbook was published in 2009, people started writing me about gluten-free dumplings. My response was, “There are many gluten-free Asian dumpling recipes in the book. Check the rice, starch, and legume and tuber chapters for ideas.” As you may know, I tried my hand at making gluten-free pot stickers in December 2009 and they were just okay — mediocre, actually. The dough vexed me and I kept simmering on it until I had time a couple weeks ago to tackled it again. I made two (2) gluten-free dumpling doughs to use in place of the Basic Dumpling Dough on page 22 of Asian Dumplings. It was a really interesting experiment in which I blended my own flour. I also made unexpected discoveries about working with gluten-free dumpling dough. How I went about it and my technical notes are in this post on Viet World Kitchen.com: Gluten-free pot stickers: Recipe Trial 2 Check it out, even if you don’t eat a gluten-free diet. Chinese cooks excel at making interesting and tasty vegan dumplings. Here is a recipe that I made today from Beyond the Great Wall by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. Filled with cellophane noodles, napa cabbage, shiitake and wood ear mushroom and pressed tofu, the Hunanese dumplings are deep fried to a crisp. (I tried shallow-frying them too!) They are enormous for dumplings as each one is about 7 to 8 inches long. You can make them smaller, if you like. For details on these supersized Chinese dumplings, see the post on Viet World Kitchen. Don’t be put off by the name of this sweet bao. Egg custard buns are not a body sculpting issue that you need to work off, well…unless you eat too many of them! I made a batch today to help a young woman satisfy her boyfriend’s love for these steam filled buns. Who would think that leavened steam bao could help lovers? As with the chicken and shiitake mushroom bun filling, this one was developed to be used with the basic yeast dough in Asian Dumplings. Add it to your repertoire for an unusually fun sweet dumpling treat! The recipe for the egg custard bun filling is on Viet World Kitchen. I sampled a number of dumplings during my three-week trip to Asia last month. One of them was a Sichuan specialty called Zhong jiaozi, which literally means Zhong's poached dumpling. The name doesn't say much for the dumpling, which is extraordinarily easy to prepare but the flavors are synergistic and wonderful. Once back in the States, I looked through my bookshelves and tinkered in my kitchen until I could come up with a terrific version. These are a cinch. Use the basic dumpling dough made in the processor, roll out the wrappers, fill them and form half-moons (which look like crescents). Then poach them and you're done. A very satisfying Asian dumpling for the fall. Visit Viet World Kitchen for the Sichuan crescent dumpling recipe. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Interim pages omitted … Page 7 Go to Next Page »", "word_count": 993, "char_count": 5805 }, { "url": "https://asiandumplingtips.com/category/technique-videos-and-photos", "page_name": "Technique Videos and Photos Archives - Asian Dumpling Tips", "title": "Technique Videos and Photos Archives - Asian Dumpling Tips", "content": "In July I traveled back East to do a consulting job, stopping enroute in New York City to see my friends at Saveur. (I’ve been a contributing editor at the magazine since 2007.) We’d been talking about making a video of me giving a cooking tip or two and settled on one about folding dumplings. If you have Asian Dumplings, you know my motto about shaping dumplings. If you don’t have the book, it’s this: Get the wrapper closed. Practice pretty shapes later. Senior video producer Anique Halliday is a veteran of doing wonderful, fun educational videos; she worked on PBS projects before coming to Saveur. We strategized and planned on the phone in June and then in July, spent a couple of hours at the Saveur test kitchen to produce this: Saveur’s “Test Kitchen Tips” videos have run the gamut from the viral one on how to peel garlic in less than 10 seconds to the practical one on dipping truffles in chocolate. Asian food-wise, editor in chief James Oseland has shown folks how to tie a knot with lemongrass and how to use and chop kaffir lime leaves into fine hairs. (James wrote the amazing Cradle of Flavor cookbook, which I reference and use all the time.) If you’re looking for more Asian dumpling tips, jump over to this page. I just came back from a 3-week trip to Asia, where I went to Taipei, Tokyo, Kyoto, Beijing and Chengdu. There was much to learn, eat, and observe. Of course, I had to check out lots of dumplings. I watched the professional dumpling makers wherever and whenever I could. On this trip, I had my digital and Flip video camera. In Chengdu, China I captured some footage that reinforced authentic, time-honored dumpling traditions but also showed me some modern techniques too. Check out the post and video at Vietworldkitchen.com: Asian Dumpling Tips from Chengdu Pros Don’t be daunted by the task of making bao – the pillowy filled buns that you may have eaten lots of at dim sum. The shape is akin to cinching up a satchel (think of a hobo bag). You need this shape to master stuffed buns (Chinese bao, Filipino siopao, Vietnamese banh bao) and the graduate level Shanghai soup dumpling (xiao long bao, XLB). “The Perfect Shanghai Soup Dumpling” video I taped with the Chinese chef at Shanghai Dumpling King gives you a sense of rapid fire closed satchel making. You can work up to that but he started decades ago. The video below slows thing down quite a bit to help you along. Do note that this shape only works for wrappers that you make from scratch. Do not try this technique on purchased pot sticker or wontons as they are not moist enough to seal properly. That said, review the instructions in Asian Dumplings on how to roll out dumpling wrappers and watch the video. That will bring you up to speed on where this video takes off! A dumpling makeover tip: When making yeast-leavened bao, you can steam the dumpling with the pleats facing down to hide imperfections! No one will be the wiser. Related how-to videos: How to roll out Asian dumpling wrappers Basic Asian dumpling shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent How to shape a rope edge (for empanadas, turnovers, curry puffs) How to fold basic wonton shapes The Perfect Shanghai Soup Dumpling I made my first wontons when I was in elementary school. They were triangles. Because my mother would give me about 3 packages of wontons to fill and fold, I started with the simple triangle and graduated to more complicated shapes. Then I had friends show me their nifty ones. I've also watched plenty of Chinese restaurant cooks fold wontons using a single chopstick or a bamboo spatula. They work at lightning speed. Those wonton professionals have folded thousands, if not tens of thousands of wontons. It just takes practice. You can devise your own fanciful wontons but it helps to have a foundation to work off of. Here's a video that I taped with CHOW.com for their 2010 Lunar New Year dumpling-a-thon. If you're new to wonton folding or need extra detail aside from what is already in Asian Dumplings, this is the video for you! Video presented courtesy of CHOW.com Some other helpful links: Wonton skin buying guide (tips on finding, choosing, and using) Crab Rangoon fried wonton recipe (an American classic) Almost Meatless Pork and Vegetable Pot Stickers Recipe (w/ an interesting shape to learn) Modern Indian Chile Pea Puffs Recipe(a baked wonton acting like a samosa) Earlier this year, Mike Miller requested that I put up a video on this nifty technique for gussying up a turnover-like dumplings. He has been a diligent dumpling maker and reminded me in his comment on the pleated crescent video that I owed him this one. I promised Mike and now am delivering. You’ll find this advance shaping technique referred to in the following Asian Dumplings cookbook recipes: Mongolian meat and caraway pockets (p. 50), baked Filipino empanadas (p. 111), Southeast Asian curry puffs (p. 125), and my childhood favorite — Vietnamese shrimp, pork, and jicama turnovers (banh quai vac chien, p. 118). Aside from using the technique for dumplings, you can certainly put a rope edge on a pie crust. Enjoy and practice lots. Eat your way to perfection. Related videos: How to roll out Asian dumpling wrappers Basic Asian Dumpling Shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent A commonly seen Asian Dumpling shape (think pot stickers and har gow), the pleated crescent is a bit more advanced than the half moon, pea pod or big hug. I watched a lot of dumpling masters perform this shape and then figured out how to do it myself. Remember to work with both hands holding the wrapper in the air as that allows you to manipulate the dough better. You can certainly use this folding technique for store-bought wrappers. Be sure to moisten the wrapper first to create a decent seal. More how-to videos: How to roll out Asian dumpling wrappers Basic Asian Dumpling Shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug How to Shape a Rope Edge Page 1 Page 2 Go to Next Page »", "word_count": 1054, "char_count": 6025 } ] }, "content": { "full_text": "================================================================================\nFULL TEXT EXTRACTION: Asian Dumpling Tips – SGV Dumplings\nURL: https://asiandumplingtips.com/2009/08/favorite-dumpling-haunts-in-san-gabriel-valley.html\nExtracted: 2026-01-10T17:05:32.975759Z\n================================================================================\n\n\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\nPAGE 1: About Andrea Nguyen - Asian Dumpling Tips\nURL: https://asiandumplingtips.com/about\nWords: 1,170\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\n\nHello, this site was created and maintained by me — Andrea Nguyen. I’m a cookbook author, freelance writer, and cooking teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area. This site is dedicated to one of my all-time favorite foods — Asian dumplings. No matzo balls here. We’re talking pot stickers, sticky rice in banana leaf, stuffed buns (bao), har gow, siu mai, samosas, and the likes from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. I hope to go into Central Asia too! I’ve been eating and making Asian dumplings for decades, and recently, I had the great fortune of writing a cookbook on them. I’ll be encouraging you to make dumpling wrappers from scratch (you can do it and I will help!). Because you have to do plenty of research to know what a good dumpling is, there are also tips on how and where to find good Asian dumplings. Everywhere I go, I look for dumplings. Why not? They’re one of the most wonderful, lovely foods. Cookbooks and Accolades 2007 Award Finalist 2010 Finalist 2010 Favorite Cookbooks Best 10 Cookbooks of 2009 Winter 2009 Gift Guide You may know me from my site, Viet World Kitchen, and/or my debut cookbook, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, which was published by award-winning Ten Speed Press in October 2006. Into the Vietnamese Kitchen was nominated for three prestigious James Beard and IACP cookbook awards in 2007. I launched the Asian Dumpling Tips site in May 2009 to support my new landmark publication on dumplings from all over Asia. Asian Dumplings (Ten Speed Press, August 25, 2009) is the first book to cover the broad scope of dumpling preparations from all over the region, as well as its manifestations in Asian communities abroad. In June 2009, the Slate.com food issue listed me among a number of well-respected “recipe detectives” who excel at translating and demystifying foreign foodways for American cooks. I accomplished that with Into the Vietnamese Kitchen and hope to do the same with Asian Dumplings! In 2011, Asian Dumplings was released as an ebook. There are two kinds to choose from — depending on what your device will run. One is a digital version of the printed book (a straight ebook) and the other is an enhanced ebook that contains instructional videos to guide cooks through the various shapes; learn more from this page. To develop and refine the recipes in Asian Dumplings, I traveled to Asia to do research for the book, read many books on Asian cooking and dumpling making, and ate dumplings in major Asian enclaves in the U.S. and Canada. Then, I spent countless days in my home kitchen to perfect the recipes and techniques, and had them tested by a team of recipe testers. Though you can buy store-bought skins for a number of recipes in Asian Dumplings, I’d like for you to try your hand at making them yourself — just like a good Asian dumpling master. As of July 2010, new posts on Asian dumplings are residing on Viet World Kitchen, where I explore Asian food, cooking and culture. I’ll post related links on this site but you should check VWK for new content. And, if you love tofu, there are some cool dumpling recipes in my new book, Asian Tofu, to be released on February 28, 2012. Professional Affiliations and Education A contributing editor to SAVEUR magazine, my food writing appears in the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. I’ve led a tour of Orange County’s Little Saigon for Epicurious TV, which airs on the Travel Channel. A cooking teacher for several years, I’ve taught classes at Sur la Table in San Francisco, the Institute for Culinary Education in New York, Ramekins in Sonoma, Draeger’s in San Mateo, and Let’s Get Cookin’ in Los Angeles. I’m a culinary professional and member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), Women Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR), and San Francisco Professional Food Society (SFPFS). I also am a co-founder of the Asian Culinary Forum, an educational non-profit dedicated to the cuisines and food cultures of Asia, and serve on the advisory board. I’m a proud alum of the University of Southern California, where I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Go Trojans! I’ve studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong where I honed my Mandarin speaking skills. My culinary training Since the age of 10 (when I gained a certain command of English), I’ve been reading and studying cookbooks. I perused cookbooks, both East and West, as if they were novels. I watched PBS shows by Julia Child and Martin Yan and observed their moves and took in their knowledge. I fantasized about doing something in food but first generation immigrants ‘don’t do that.’ I’ve been a bank examiner, university administrator, and communication consultant. But in the midst of those careers, I cooked and read the classics as well as new interpretations of food, trying to find cultural and culinary links between cuisines. When reading Asian cookbooks, I tried to figure out how to present the unfamiliar and ‘exotic’ to a broad audience of cooks. The stuff seemed normal to me, why not others? To test my determination, I cooked professionally for 1 year in the early 1990s, first at City Restaurant (owned my Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger) in Los Angeles, and then in catering. It was the hardest work I’d ever done. Not glamorous in any way. My father offered to put me through cooking school — a bold move on his and my mom’s part since they first thought it was crazy of me to get a university degree and then work with my hands! But I demurred and figured that I’d be better off in something more conventional so I went to graduate school and became a communication consultant for clients in education. On the side, I wrote as a freelancer for newspapers and Saveur to hone my writing and research skills. I eventually built a website and won a cookbook contract with Ten Speed Press for my first work, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. It’s the book that I’ve been wanting to write since I was 10, and has since led to this work on Asian dumplings. I have no formal culinary training. I never went to cooking school. What fuels me is this: A life-long curiosity about food, cooking, and culture. At the end of the day, my aim is to (1) capture the human connections to food and (2) demystify Asian food without dumbing it down. Feel free to send messages, post comments, and join in the fray. I look forward to ‘meeting’ you. Copyright information Please do not copy and re-post content from this site without getting permission from me first. That’s a rights infringement and just plain bad form! Related Permission and Credit May 25, 2009 In \"Andrea Nguyen\" About the Asian Dumplings Cookbook August 2, 2009 In \"Andrea Nguyen\" Publisher’s Weekly Review of Asian Dumplings July 20, 2009 In \"Asian Dumplings Cookbook\"\n\n\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\nPAGE 2: Asian Dumpling Tips - Dumplings make everyone smile. Make and eat lots.\nURL: https://asiandumplingtips.com/\nWords: 94\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\n\nMain Content I’ve been making dumplings for years but for the past 12 months, as I’ve been developing recipes for the new cookbook, I’ve led a 24/7 life of Asian dumplings. (There was some weight gain, if you must … CONTINUE READING ABOUT BUILDING A PANTRY FOR ASIAN DUMPLINGS When I set out to write the Asian Dumplings cookbook, I was thrilled by the notion of obsessing day and night about one of my favorite foods. I researched by perusing my cookbook library, going … CONTINUE READING ABOUT WHAT DEFINES ASIA AND ASIAN DUMPLINGS?\n\n\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\nPAGE 3: Favorite Dumpling Restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley - Asian Dumpling Tips\nURL: https://asiandumplingtips.com/2009/08/favorite-dumpling-haunts-in-san-gabriel-valley.html\nWords: 1,790\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\n\nIf you want good Asian food nowadays you often have to trek to the suburbs. Asian enclaves are no longer built around urban ghettos, but rather on the outskirts of city centers – in the burroughs and burbs where there’s more space and opportunity for establishing viable communities. Such is the case with the San Gabriel Valley, located east of downtown Los Angeles. I love Chinatown, L.A., for the hearty pot stickers at the Mandarin Deli (which is now closed!) but to explore a broader swathe of Chinese dumplings, I head eastward on the 10 freeway into cities like Monterey Park and Baldwin Hills and El Monte where many Hong Kong and Taiwanese Chinese immigrants have settled and prospered, where they demand and get fabulous food. I did a fair amount of research for this book by eating dumplings and whenever possible, watching dumpling masters. That truly helped me replicate the flavor and cooking and wrapping techniques. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, you can too. For Chinese dumplings (I’ll leave dim sum for another occasion), get in the car and head to the San Gabriel Valley. Over the course of several dumpling crawls with friends and professionals such as Chinese food expert Carl Chu, author of Chinese Food Finder. Here are some standout dumpling shops: Luscious Dumplings (704 West Las Tunas Drive, San Gabriel) I went to Luscious Dumplings the day after Thanksgiving and loaded up on amazing pan-fried pork dumplings. Their skin is tender but chewy and the fillings are really well prepared. Luscious has a small, tight menu of dumplings, noodles, and a few snacks – just like you’d find at a joint in China! It gets busy so be prepared to wait outside, or step inside the tiny restaurant and order to go. You can wait by the kitchen for a little peek of the back-of-the-house action. Hit Luscious and then walk across the way to Michelle’s. Michelle’s Pancakes (706 West Las Tunas Drive, San Gabriel) Just opened earlier this year, Michelle’s doesn’t serve pancakes and syrup but rather the term pancake is a literal translation of bing – the Mandarin Chinese word for doughy foods, such as pancakes, cakes, and dumplings. No MSG here, Michelle says. She’s from Shandong province and talks a mile a minute. Ever since the LA Times issued a glowing review, Michelle and her staff have been working overtime, rolling dough out by hand, despite having a machine in the back. I ate here with Carl Chu, and #1 – the leeks, eggs, shrimp, and cellophane noodle pancake is really a flat panfried dumpling; there are pancakes made of the same dough for you to wrap around meat and scallion and dip into a dark bean sauce. Plenty of other tables had poached dumplings, which I’m going to order next time. It’s bright and cheery at Michelle’s and the food reminds me of being in Asia. From Michelle’s, you can stumble over to Vietnam House in the same strip mall for Viet snacks. Mei Long Village (301 West Valley Blvd, Suite 112, San Gabriel) You may have another opinion, but I believe that Mei Long Village has the best Shanghai soup dumplings (xiaolongbao, XLB) in the San Gabriel Valley – better than Din Tai Fung (see below)! They’ve got a hand-made quality to the dough, which is neither overly white nor tasteless like other XLB I’ve tasted. The basic pork version is all I need to keep me happy; the crab version is not crabby but just slightly pricier. My friends buy Mei Long Village’s dumplings and keep them frozen but I enjoy them fresh on the spot. There’s a full menu of Shanghai specialties, and the dishes I’ve sampled have all been well prepared. Savory and sweet dumplings are listed under “Shanghai Pastries”; the radish pan cake is more of a covered pastry/dumpling than a pancake. If there’s a long wait, get a therapeutic foot massage at any of the joints located in the strip mall. Or peruse the giant mall at the corner of Del Mar and Valley for of China in Southern California. Dumpling House (5612 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, dumplinghouserestaurant.com) There are 50-pound bags of flour resting near the entrance to the restaurant so you know these people are serious. His pan-fried pork dumplings are deep fried and taste like really good frozen egg rolls – okay that’ s not a fair comparison. That style of deep-fried dumpling is more prevalent in Korea than China. The restaurant boasts northern Chinese fare but I heard so much Korean spoken when I was there, I queried the restaurant owner. He revealed that he was originally from Shandong, a province that blends Korean and Chinese cultures and speaks both Mandarin and Korean. “You can see Korea from Shandong,” he joked. “The flight to and from is very fast.” Dumpling Master Restaurant (423 North Atlantic Blvd # 106, Monterey Park) It’s more of a small joint than a swank restaurant but the selection of boiled, panfried, steamed dumplings features pork, pork and shrimp, lamb, chicken, sole (fish), vegetables, and even venison. They have frozen dumplings to take home too. Be forgiving to the menu, which is not well translated into English, and the environment, which is slightly dirty, hole-in-the-wall. The dumplings are somewhat cruder in texture and blander in flavor than others in the San Gabriel Valley, and cost less than $5 per order. Don’t forget the scallion pancakes, which are great, and check out the cold appetizers (side dishes) to go along with your dumplings. Atlantic Boulevard is the starting point of Monterey Park so there’s much to explore around Dumpling Master. Din Tai Fung (1108 South Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, www.dintaifungusa.com) The Arcadia location of Taiwan-based Din Tai Fung is currently the only one in America. There have been rumblings that DTF may open up in the San Francisco Bay area but that was sheer rumor. The specialty here are Shanghai soup dumplings (xiaolongbao) and the staff and DTF is so polished it’s like a well-oiled machine. Everything is computerized and the small half-sheet menu features just soup, rice, and dumplings. No liquor. The wait is always long, but you can watch the team of skilled Latino cooks through a glass window making the dumplings. (Do Latino cooks rock or what?) The dumplings come out fast and everyone eats them quickly and gets out fast, turning tables rapidly. Ding Tai Fung uses a proprietary blend of flour for their skin but I found the wrappers to be on the tasteless side. Some say it’s the Los Angeles water but I’ve had the dumplings at Ding Tai Fung in Shanghai and while each one is beautiful, the overall taste is lacking. Perhaps it’s the result of an over-polished operation that sacrifices flavor at the expense of consistency. Go to watch experts make xiaolongbao and experience what many consider to be the best Shanghai soup dumplings around. Also note the well-heeled clientele. Welcome to affluent, suburban Asian-America. Dumpling 10053 (10053 Valley Blvd, Suite 2, El Monte) Not far from Din Tai Fung but certainly on the other side of the tracks, Dumpling 10053 has some terrific offerings. El Monte is not a great neighborhood but I’d make the drive for the boiled pork, crab, and sea cucumber dumpling. Why? Because the filling tastes hand-chopped and it goes well with the homemade chile mixture that’s on the table. Skip the rock cod dumplings which have an odd ricotta cheese texture. Go for the sole dumplings, which are more flavorful. The shrimp and pumpkin dumpling is an inventive take on a dumpling filling. Have any thoughts or recommendations? Do weigh in and make suggestions too. Related Finding Great Asian Dumplings in Los Angeles August 23, 2009 In \"Dumpling Restaurants\" The Perfect Soup Dumpling – CHOW.com Video January 19, 2010 In \"Asian Dumplings Cookbook\" What defines Asia and Asian Dumplings? April 20, 2009 In \"Asian Dumpling Basics\" Reader Interactions Comments I love lists, especially food related ones! Thanks for this one. Slowly, but surely, I will eat at everyone of these places. These are totally in your neck of the woods. I love to go on dumpling crawls. Um … just wear loose clothing… Believe in the goodness of others and remember that anger and depression can be countered by love and hope. Your blog is very nice & informative. I always appreciate your work. Thanks to the sharing.I am so glad to hear that you are settling in and enjoying your new surroundings. I love Arizona! 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Also in nowadays, far more than ever, several couples are on very tight Even if I could get married, every asset I gained from then til the Pour the cake mixture into the lined tin and bake for up to 35 minutes. The cake should be firm and golden with the sides leaving the side of the tin. Remove from the oven and after a couple of minutes turn out onto a plate and carefully remove the baking parchment. Now to make the lemon syrup. Gently heat the sugar and lemon juice until the sugar has fully dissolved. Immediately pour over the cake whilst it is still warm. The cake can be served now, warm or later cold. It is delicious served with creme fraiche. This would be wonderful on a hot summers’ afternoon ! It’s so nice to have you do all of the research for us. It makes our decision making so much easier!! Thanks. I don’t know how to receive my responce. Waiting for your reply, tks! If you wish to be the best man, you must suffer the bitterest of the bitter. It’s great to hear from you and see what you’ve been up to. In your blog I feel your enthusiasm for life. thank you.\n\n\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\nPAGE 4: About Andrea Nguyen - Asian Dumpling Tips\nURL: https://asiandumplingtips.com/about-andrea-nguyen\nWords: 1,595\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\n\nHello, this site was created and is maintained by me — Andrea Nguyen. Based in Northern California, I’m an author, freelance writer, editor, cooking teacher, and consultant. GREAT NEWS! The Pho Cookbook, my fifth cookbook with Ten Speed Press, released on February 7, 2017. It was on the bestseller list of the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. We’re on the seventh printing already, and the book has received many accolades, including from NPR and Food52. The Pho Cookbook was a finalist for a 2018 IACP cookbook award and WON(!!!) a very prestigious James Beard Cookbook Award. Hooray for Pho! Preview and purchase the book. Additionally, I edited a biography cookbook on culinary icon Paula Wolfert. Learn more about the unique work by Emily Thelin. We self-published via a Kickstarter. It was picked up by Grand Central Publishing and reissued in October 2017. Unforgettable 2.0 has a new cover and foreword by Alice Waters! It won a 2018 IACP cookbook award! Starting September 2017, I have had a monthly column called “The Teacher” in Cooking Light magazine! Check out my CL stories here. To send a message, visit this page. WHAT I DO Along with cookbooks, I write articles for magazines and newspapers. My work has appeared in many publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Sunset, Bon Appetit, Cooking Light and Saveur. For a number of years, I was a contributing editor to Saveur and Rodale’s Organic Life. Additionally, I’ve written Asian food and culture pieces for Lonely Planet Vietnam (2012) and Cornbread Nation 6 by the Southern Foodways Alliance. I’ve appeared on both local and national television programs and been interviewed on many radio programs, including NPR’s Splendid Table, Martha Stewart Living’s Everyday Food, and KCRW’s Good Food. A guest speaker at food events, I’ve been featured at the Sydney International Food Festival and the Culinary Institute of America’s World of Flavors conference, among others. I’ve also given talks at libraries and educational institutions such as Yale University. I teach cooking classes at locations such as the Institute for Culinary Education in New York, San Francisco Cooking School, and Love Apple Farms (Santa Cruz). In 2013, I was thrilled to become a Craftsy cooking instructor so I can teach people all over the world. General information about cooking classes is here. I also provide consulting services on projects in the areas of food/hospitality, education, and business. My clients include restaurants, food manufacturers, and food importers and distributors. I’ve worked with local eateries such as Charlie Hong Kong in Santa Cruz and large entities like Nestle foods. I regularly collaborate with Saigon Siblings restaurant group in Seattle. Best Asian Cookbooks of the Last 25 Years 2007 Finalist, 2018 Winner! 2007, 2010, 2013, 2018 Cookbook Award Finalist 2010 Favorite Cookbooks Best 10 Cookbooks of 2009, Best Summer 2012 Cookbooks, Best 2014 and 2017 Cookbooks 2017 Honor from Epicurious COOKBOOKS & ACCOLADES My debut cookbook, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, was published by Ten Speed Press in October 2006. A landmark publication with over 175 recipes, the work is the first comprehensive full-color cookbook devoted to Vietnamese food in the English language. Leading food writers have praised the book for its attention to detail, accessibility, and thorough research. I work to demystify Vietnamese cuisine while bridging culinary traditions with contemporary practices. In 2007, the book was among the select finalists for a James Beard Foundation award (best Asian cookbook). That year, the Vietnamese cookbook also earned two International Association of Culinary Professionals award nominations (best first book and best international book). The 2009 Slate.com food issue included me in their listing of “recipe detectives” who excel at translating foreign flavors for American cooks. My second book did not focus on Vietnamese cooking. The subject and title was Asian Dumplings — one of my all-time favorite foods. In May 2009, I launched a site called Asian Dumpling Tips as a companion to the book. Since June 2010, new information on Asian dumplings has resided on Viet World Kitchen — which has evolved into in an exploration and conversation on Asian food, cooking and culture. Asian Dumplings was an award finalist in the International Association of Culinary Professionals cookbook competition. It was also selected as one of the best or favorite books by National Public Radio, Cooking Light, and CHOW.com. I’ve been interested in digital publications and apps (ebooks) for years, and been collaborating with publishers to experiment on developing potent ebooks. In Spring of 2011, Asian Dumplings was released as an enhanced ebook with instructional videos to guide cooks through the various shapes. It was one of the first of its kind to show the potential of ecookbooks. Learn more from this page. My third cookbook, Asian Tofu was published by Ten Speed Press on February 28, 2012. On that date, we released the book as a traditional print book, regular ebook (a digital version of the printed book), and an enhanced ebook that’s just like the printed book but with video tutorials and travelogues; see the ebook buying guide for details. In February 2013, we released an eBooklet for DIY tofu making called Making Soy Milk and Tofu at Home. In advance of publication, Asian Tofu was reviewed and featured in Martha Stewart Living, San Francisco magazine, and Publishers Weekly. The work has been deemed a ‘game changer’ and I hope that it informs and inspires more people to enjoy tofu as a delicious food, not a denial food. Read more about the Asian Tofu cookbook and reviews on Amazon. Asian Tofu, was selected by National Public Radio and the New York Times for the 2012 summer cookbook picks! It also garnered accolades from Eater.com and SeriousEats.com for being one of essential and favorite books of 2012. Food.52 selected Asian Tofu for the 2013 Piglet cookbook tournament. In March 2013, the book made the final cut for an IACP cookbook award! The fourth cookbook was a fun one called The Banh Mi Handbook, released in July 2014. It’s my way of drawing people into Vietnamese cooking through the ease and simplicity of making a darn good sandwich. Three weeks after the book release, Ten Speed Press ordered a reprint. Many people are interested in bold flavors and banh mi sandwiches are fabulous way to enjoy and explore them. In late August, 2016, we sent my fifth cookbook to press. The Pho Cookbook released on February 7, 2017. Hope you’ve slurped it up. A sign that pho is popular (and I hit the big time) — I was a clue on Jeopardy! Currently, I’m working on my sixth cookbook. Learn more about the February 2019 publication here and sign up for updates. PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND EDUCATION I’m a culinary professional and member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), James Beard Foundation (JBF), and Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI). I’m also a proud alum of the University of Southern California, where I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business and communication management. (Go Trojans!) As a Rotary International Foundation Fellow, I attended the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where I polished my Mandarin Chinese and ate lots of terrific Asian food. MY CULINARY TRAINING Since the age of 10 (when I gained a certain command of English), I’ve been reading and studying cookbooks. I perused cookbooks, both East and West, as if they were novels. I watched PBS shows by Julia Child and Martin Yan and observed their moves and took in their knowledge. I fantasized about doing something in food but first generation immigrants ‘don’t do that.’ I’ve been a bank examiner, university administrator, and communication consultant. But in the midst of those careers, I cooked and read the classics as well as new interpretations of food, trying to find cultural and culinary links between cuisines. I read Vietnamese cookbooks in English and Vietnamese, trying to figure out how to best present the unfamiliar and ‘exotic’ to a broad audience of cooks. To test my determination, I cooked professionally for 1 year in the early 1990s, first at the now-defunct City Restaurant (owned by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger) in Los Angeles, and then in catering. It was the hardest work I’d ever done. Hands down. My father offered to put me through cooking school, a bold move on his and my mom’s part since they didn’t initially take to me getting a university degree and wanting to work with my hands. But I demurred and figured that I’d be better off in something more conventional so I got a graduate degree and forged a career as a communication consultant for clients in education. I wrote as a freelancer on the side to hone my writing and research skills and eventually built a website and won a cookbook contract with Ten Speed Press for my first work, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. It’s the book that I’ve been wanting to write since I was ten! I have no formal culinary training. I never went to cooking school. My life-long curiosity about food, cooking, and culture fuels my work. At the end of the day, my aim is to (1) capture the human connections to food and (2) demystify Asian food without dumbing it down. There’s no reason why more people shouldn’t include good Asian cooking into their rotation. Feel free to send messages, post comments, and join in the fray. I look forward to e-meeting you. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Please do not copy and re-post content from this site without getting permission from me first. That’s a rights infringement and just plain bad form!\n\n\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\nPAGE 5: Asian Dumplings Cookbook - Asian Dumpling Tips\nURL: https://asiandumplingtips.com/asian-dumplings-cookbook\nWords: 2,218\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\n\nThanks for your interest in the Asian Dumplings cookbook! It’s one of my favorite food groups, ever since I was a chubby kid. Published in 2009 and highly acclaimed, the book has helped tens of thousands of people to make wonderful dumplings themselves — from scratch. Home cooks and professional chefs have used Asian Dumplings to master dough, filling, shapes and cooking techniques! Asian Dumplings was a 2010 award finalist in the International Association of Culinary Professionals cookbook competition. It was also selected as one of the best or favorite books by National Public Radio, Cooking Light, and CHOW.com. Preview pages: Get a glimpse at the recipes, photos, and design Cookbook photo shoot: An insider’s look at what went into producing the photos Many people contributed their professional expertise, including: Clancy Drake (editor), Betsy Stromberg (designer), Penny De Los Santos (photographer), Karen Shinto (food stylist), Natalie Hoelen (prop stylist) and Ann Miya (illustrator). The following recipe testers helped to refine the flavors and techniques: Mare Anderson, Lillian Chou, Alex Ciepley, Victor Fong, Georgia Freedman, Sue Holt, Doug Jeffery, Susan McCombs, Al Meyers, Candace Grover, Susan Pi, Karen Shinto, Makiko Tsuzuki, and Lea Yancey. Book availability To purchase Asian Dumplings, visit neighborhood bookstores and retailers such as Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, Powell’s and Jessica’s Biscuit. There are also ebook editions of Asian Dumplings too! On March 22, 2010, Ten Speed Press released two versions of Asian Dumplings, a regular ebook and an enhanced ebook that includes 12 how-to videos! The iTunes bookstore has the enhanced edition whereas Amazon has separate pages for the enhanced and Kindle editions. If you prefer other ebook readers or platforms, Barnes & Noble’s Nook store, Google eBookstore, and other ebook retailers are carrying the regular ebook. For more details on the process of putting together the ebook, see this post. Reviews “Until I began cooking from this remarkable book I had no idea that preparing Asian dumplings was so easy and so satisfying. Andrea Nguyen’s latest work is authoritative, fun, and filled with recipes that yield insanely delicious results.” –James Oseland, editor in chief of Saveur and author of Cradle of Flavor “I was truly excited when I first picked up this book, a feeling that quickly turned to awe. Andrea Nguyen introduces you to Asian dumplings you never knew existed, makes you feel that you can’t live until you try them, then takes your hand and, in admirably lucid detail, shows you exactly how to make them. Asian Dumplings is destined to become a classic–it’s already an instant must-have for any Asian food lover.” –John Thorne, author of Outlaw Cook and Mouth Wide Open “Andrea Nguyen has done a remarkable job of guiding us through the world of Asian dumplings, sharing their history and evolution and providing plenty of user-friendly recipes. This beautiful cookbook will make you want to throw a dumpling-making party every time you turn the page.” –Corinne Trang, author of Essentials of Asian Cuisine and Noodles Every Day “Andrea’s humor, enthusiasm, and comforting pragmatism make me want to bolt into my kitchen to knead and roll and wrap and steam and bake and fry and, best of all, gobble. This book will make you very, very hungry.” –Niloufer Ichaporia King, author of My Bombay Kitchen Photo by Penny De Los Santos “Asian Dumplings is full of inspiration for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Samosas, lumpia, pot stickers, momo, gyōza, wontons, and bāo in one volume? And diagrams for all the folding techniques? Thank you, Andrea.” –Heidi Swanson, author of Super Natural Cooking “It’s absolutely gorgeous – and as far as I’m concerned, is now THE definitive English-language dumpling cookbook around – no one has yet managed to combine such clarity of instruction with so wide a survey.” –Christopher Tan, author of Shiok! “…traditional publishers are adding video to their e-books, too. One of the best I’ve seen lately is Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More by Andrea Nguyen. ” – Lynn Andriani, Publisher’s Weekly, 4/18/11 (full review) “If it’s a small, succulent parcel encased in dough, pastry, batter, or leaves from anywhere between India and Polynesia, you’ll find a recipe and crystal-clear instructions for making it with Andrea Nguyen’s Asian Dumplings.” – Phillip Rhodes, Cooking Light, Favorite Cookbooks of 2010 “I just wanted to let you know that I am really enjoying Asian Dumplings. Your instructions are so clear and precise, they’re a joy to follow. So far I’ve only made vegetarian steamed dumplings (came out perfectly), but this afternoon I’m going to attempt my own dumpling skins and make some potstickers. . . . I spent 8 years in Hong Kong, south China and Taiwan and always loved watching dumpling-makers, and of course, sampling their wares. Well, out I go to locate a tortilla press . . .” – Jennifer Miller, a reader in Montreal, via email “I began mooning over Andrea Nguyen’s cookbook, Asian Dumplings, before it came out. I’ve owned it since December 25th, and I’ve read it cover to cover several times.” – Cara, Big Girls, Small Kitchen, see 3/14/2010 pot sticker slide show “Dumplings are something I consider a treat, something to feast on when I get the opportunity. Andrea Nguyen offers an alternative – under her guidance we can make our own dumplings right in our own kitchens and feast on them whenever we want.” –Pam Thuman-Commike, Project Foodie, read full review “Once you try these freshly made ones out of the oven, there’s a good chance there won’t be any left to even worry about heating them up again.” – Carolyn Jung, Foodgal.com, read her account of making baked char siu bao “If dumplings happen to be your thing, this book is certainly for you.” –Flavorista.com, read mini review “Andrea has done a bang up job producing a collection of carefully tested recipes for all sorts of dumplings to fill every desire. . . . If you ever have a craving for any sort of dumpling, this is your book. ” –Kristina Gill, Matt Bites, read full review “Thanks, Andrea, for your wonderful cookbook! We will definitely be cooking (and posting) more recipes from it in the years to come.” –Nathan Lau, HouseofAnnie.com “This book will have you pleating like a pro, or if not, feeling it’s within reach.” –Jacqueline Church, Suite101, read full review “Whether you’re a seasoned aficionado, or merely dumpling-curious, Nguyen’s Asian Dumplings is a fabulous resource. Approachable, yet informed, this book has a prominent spot in my collection.” –Traca Savadogo, Seattle Tall Poppy, read full review “This book contains one of the most accurate and concise collections of dumpling recipes for those who want authenticity but rarely get it from cookbooks.” –Lillian Chou, Time Out Beijing, January 2010 “The real magic occurs in cookbooks where the author has something to say, not just something to sell.” –Brent, How Chow, read full review Photo by Penny De Los Santos “Personally, I have always strictly believed that the effort of making dumplings yourself magically negates the calories you might accrue by eating them. With the help of this book, you may find yourself reaching the same conclusion.” –T. Susan Chang, National Public Radio, The 10 Best Cookbooks of 2009 (read 11/25 text) or listen to NPR Morning Edition 12/5 show “. . . Asian Dumplings is a book that inspired not only me but also my 10-year-old son, who filled it with Post-Its marking recipes he was eager to try” –Michael Ruhlman, Ruhlman.com “Andrea Nguyen’s book on Asian dumplings is straightforward yet doesn’t shy away from using authentic ingredients. Nguyen covers everything from Nepalese-style vegetable and cheese dumplings to pan-fried Chinese chive and pork dumplings in translucent starch dough. This is an ideal gift for adventurous cooks.” –CHOW.com, Winter 2009 Cookbook Gift Guide “I’ve tried making my own wrappers before only to get annoyed and buy off-the-shelf gyoza skins or wonton wrappers instead. With her clear and very detailed instructions (and the tortilla press and a little dowel rolling pin), I was busting out wrappers like nobody’s business. . . . Am I gushing? I think I’m gushing.” –April, The Hungry Engineer, read the entire review “Andrea Nguyen has written a book that will demystify making dumplings at home. . . if you live in a place where Asian dumplings are not readily available, this will be your go to guide to making them. –Amy Sherman, CookingwithAmy.com “Andrea’s Asian Dumplings goes beyond the mere instructional. With an introduction to every recipe in her book Andrea educates her readers on the cultural significance of each dish, becoming your personal dumpling guru.” –AsiaMs.Net ” . . . her new book rocks, covering dumplings from across Asia with terrific recipes, clear techniques and illustrations, and insights into pan-Asian food culture.” –Harris Salat, Japanese Food Report, read full blog review Asian Dumplings is a book that all lovers of Asian food should have on their bookshelves. The meticulously written recipes guide the cook, whether novice or expert, through every step, anticipating mistakes that the uninitiated might make in attempting dishes that were typically handed down from mother to daughter, with much hands-on tutelage.” –Cindy Bradley, Herald-Times, read review “If it’s a small, succulent parcel in dough, pastry, batter or leaves from anywhere between India and Polynesia, you’ll find a recipe and crystal-clear instructions for making it with Andrea Nguyen’s Asian Dumplings, new from Ten Speed Press. ” –Cooking Light Magazine, October 2009 “Editor’s Dozen” Picks “Researched at the source, with painstakingly detailed descriptions of the process used by master dumpling makers, it’s a mother lode of firsthand dumpling knowledge, translated to the skills and supplies of the American home cook” – Andrew Z. Galarneau, Buffalo News, read full review “I learned so much from cooking from this book just once that I’m already looking forward to whatever I might learn next time.” –Lisa Lawless, Lisa Is Cooking, read blog post on cooking from the book “With full color photos, step-by-step illustrations on how to wrap over 75 Asian dumplings from samosas to spring rolls, it’s definitely a book I’d recommend.” –Jaden Hair, Steamy Kitchen & Tampa Tribune, read blog post or newspaper article Photo by Penny De Los Santos “I’ve learned a lot of my small store of Asian cooking skills from Andrea Nguyen. Her first book, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen was award-winning and I don’t doubt that her newest, Asian Dumplings (Ten Speed Press), will get some similar attention.” –Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan, Apartment Therapy | The Kitchn, read the review ” If you love dumplings or wish to learn more about them, get yourself a copy of this cookbook. I salivate and get hungry every time I flip through the pages of this book. –Bee Yinn Low, Rasa Malaysia, read the blog review of the book and gyoza recipe “I loved making the dumpling dough and I loved the way Ms. Nguyen demystified the pouring of boiling water to make the hot water dough which I always thought was a dangerous thing to do…” –Veronica, Kitchen Musings, read the blog entry on soup dumplings (xiaolongbao) “An essential book for any Asian food junkie, featuring all manner of tasty tidbits wrapped in tender dough.” –Katherine Miller, The Oregonian, read full review (pdf “Here, in a relatively small volume packed with stunning photography meant to obviously inform as well as entice, Nguyen treats her subject with the precision of a surgeon coupled with the kind of delicious narrative that makes the book a veritable page-turner.” – Elissa Altman, Poor Man’s Feast, read full review . . . “Truth be told, making your own spring roll wrappers from scratch can be a bit difficult, at first. But with practice, the exercise of making lumpia skins becomes second nature. Heck, I’d even venture to say that the whole thing gets easier, and fun, and addicting–all thanks to Andrea’s wonderful and inspirational cookbook.” – Marvin, Burnt Lumpia, read his blog account of test driving the recipes “. . . Andrea Nguyen dishes on everything you need to know to make curry puffs, gyoza, pork buns, spring rolls, samosas and more.” –Mat Schaffer, Boston Herald, read full review. . . “Nguyen’s attention to detail is heartening, and her passion for her subject is contagious. She provides a visual guide to the six master shapes, comprehensive tutorials about the basic doughs and manages to convince even the most skeptical home cook that not only are homemade dumplings better than those from restaurants or stores, but they’re also easy to execute.” – TastingTable.com, read full review . . . “Nguyen, author of Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, celebrates a wide array of dough-wrapped treats from China, Vietnam, Japan, Philippines, India and Korea in this lavishly photographed homage to the not-so-humble dumpling. . . . This alluring and attractive book will appeal to a wide audience of home cooks and trained chefs. – Publisher’s Weekly read full review. . . To purchase Asian Dumplings, visit neighborhood bookstores and retailers such as Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, Powell’s. The iTunes bookstore has the enhanced edition whereas Amazon has separate pages for the enhanced and Kindle editions. If you prefer other ebook readers or platforms, Barnes & Noble’s Nook store, Google eBookstore, and other ebook retailers are carrying the regular ebook. For more details on the process of putting together the ebook, see this post.\n\n\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\nPAGE 6: All Recipes Archives - Asian Dumpling Tips\nURL: https://asiandumplingtips.com/category/all-recipes\nWords: 993\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\n\nI suppose that you could say that I’ve displayed signs of OCDD (obsessive compulsive dissorder for dumplings). With a fine amount of dough and filling leftover from making the gluten-free pot stickers, I wanted to see how versatile the dough is. The great thing about dumplings is their versatility, right? With the basic dumpling dough in your back pocket, you can use different fillings, create different shapes, and cook your dumplings in a variety of ways. So I put both kinds of gluten-free dumpling doughs (see the links below to the three recipe trials) to the test. My findings about how they worked with the various shapes and cooking methods are posted on VietWorldKitchen.com in this post. Related posts: Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial & Dough 3 (sorghum, sweet rice, and tapioca starch dough) Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial & Dough 2 (millet, sorghum, tapioca, and potato dough; includes tips on working with GF dumpling dough) Gluten-free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial 1 (on Asiandumplingtips.com) Guide to Building an Asian Dumpling Pantry Tolerance Test: Are Gluten-Free Asian Ingredients for You? If you have the enhanced e-version of Asian Dumplings, these technique videos are included. Otherwise, see the printed book for details and/or watch my videos below, which are on Asiandumplingtips.com: How to roll out Asian dumpling wrappers Basic Asian dumpling shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent How to shape a rope edge (for empanadas, turnovers, curry puffs) How to Fold a Closed Satchel What a difference a few years makes. My first attempt at gluten-free pot stickers was in December 2009. It was okay but I didn’t go at it again until now. And after going a second round with making a gluten-free basic dumpling dough, I became a little obsessed and went for round 3. The second dough made of millet flour, sorghum flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch was pretty darn good. It cooked up to a good chew without being overly rustic. But I was curious about how I could add a little tenderness along with that chew. I went back to my bookshelves and then into the kitchen. Was the third time the charm? Kind of yes and kind of no. Check it out on VWK: Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial 3 Related posts on this site and VWK: Gluten-Free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial 2 (with tips on working with GF dumpling dough) Gluten-free Pot Stickers: Recipe Trial 1 Guide to Building an Asian Dumpling Pantry Tolerance Test: Are Gluten-Free Asian Ingredients for You? If you have the enhanced e-version of Asian Dumplings, these technique videos are included. Other wise, see the printed book for details and/or watch my videos below: How to roll out Asian dumpling wrappers Basic Asian dumpling shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent Soon after the Asian Dumplings cookbook was published in 2009, people started writing me about gluten-free dumplings. My response was, “There are many gluten-free Asian dumpling recipes in the book. Check the rice, starch, and legume and tuber chapters for ideas.” As you may know, I tried my hand at making gluten-free pot stickers in December 2009 and they were just okay — mediocre, actually. The dough vexed me and I kept simmering on it until I had time a couple weeks ago to tackled it again. I made two (2) gluten-free dumpling doughs to use in place of the Basic Dumpling Dough on page 22 of Asian Dumplings. It was a really interesting experiment in which I blended my own flour. I also made unexpected discoveries about working with gluten-free dumpling dough. How I went about it and my technical notes are in this post on Viet World Kitchen.com: Gluten-free pot stickers: Recipe Trial 2 Check it out, even if you don’t eat a gluten-free diet. Chinese cooks excel at making interesting and tasty vegan dumplings. Here is a recipe that I made today from Beyond the Great Wall by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. Filled with cellophane noodles, napa cabbage, shiitake and wood ear mushroom and pressed tofu, the Hunanese dumplings are deep fried to a crisp. (I tried shallow-frying them too!) They are enormous for dumplings as each one is about 7 to 8 inches long. You can make them smaller, if you like. For details on these supersized Chinese dumplings, see the post on Viet World Kitchen. Don’t be put off by the name of this sweet bao. Egg custard buns are not a body sculpting issue that you need to work off, well…unless you eat too many of them! I made a batch today to help a young woman satisfy her boyfriend’s love for these steam filled buns. Who would think that leavened steam bao could help lovers? As with the chicken and shiitake mushroom bun filling, this one was developed to be used with the basic yeast dough in Asian Dumplings. Add it to your repertoire for an unusually fun sweet dumpling treat! The recipe for the egg custard bun filling is on Viet World Kitchen. I sampled a number of dumplings during my three-week trip to Asia last month. One of them was a Sichuan specialty called Zhong jiaozi, which literally means Zhong's poached dumpling. The name doesn't say much for the dumpling, which is extraordinarily easy to prepare but the flavors are synergistic and wonderful. Once back in the States, I looked through my bookshelves and tinkered in my kitchen until I could come up with a terrific version. These are a cinch. Use the basic dumpling dough made in the processor, roll out the wrappers, fill them and form half-moons (which look like crescents). Then poach them and you're done. A very satisfying Asian dumpling for the fall. Visit Viet World Kitchen for the Sichuan crescent dumpling recipe. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Interim pages omitted … Page 7 Go to Next Page »\n\n\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\nPAGE 7: Technique Videos and Photos Archives - Asian Dumpling Tips\nURL: https://asiandumplingtips.com/category/technique-videos-and-photos\nWords: 1,054\n────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────\n\nIn July I traveled back East to do a consulting job, stopping enroute in New York City to see my friends at Saveur. (I’ve been a contributing editor at the magazine since 2007.) We’d been talking about making a video of me giving a cooking tip or two and settled on one about folding dumplings. If you have Asian Dumplings, you know my motto about shaping dumplings. If you don’t have the book, it’s this: Get the wrapper closed. Practice pretty shapes later. Senior video producer Anique Halliday is a veteran of doing wonderful, fun educational videos; she worked on PBS projects before coming to Saveur. We strategized and planned on the phone in June and then in July, spent a couple of hours at the Saveur test kitchen to produce this: Saveur’s “Test Kitchen Tips” videos have run the gamut from the viral one on how to peel garlic in less than 10 seconds to the practical one on dipping truffles in chocolate. Asian food-wise, editor in chief James Oseland has shown folks how to tie a knot with lemongrass and how to use and chop kaffir lime leaves into fine hairs. (James wrote the amazing Cradle of Flavor cookbook, which I reference and use all the time.) If you’re looking for more Asian dumpling tips, jump over to this page. I just came back from a 3-week trip to Asia, where I went to Taipei, Tokyo, Kyoto, Beijing and Chengdu. There was much to learn, eat, and observe. Of course, I had to check out lots of dumplings. I watched the professional dumpling makers wherever and whenever I could. On this trip, I had my digital and Flip video camera. In Chengdu, China I captured some footage that reinforced authentic, time-honored dumpling traditions but also showed me some modern techniques too. Check out the post and video at Vietworldkitchen.com: Asian Dumpling Tips from Chengdu Pros Don’t be daunted by the task of making bao – the pillowy filled buns that you may have eaten lots of at dim sum. The shape is akin to cinching up a satchel (think of a hobo bag). You need this shape to master stuffed buns (Chinese bao, Filipino siopao, Vietnamese banh bao) and the graduate level Shanghai soup dumpling (xiao long bao, XLB). “The Perfect Shanghai Soup Dumpling” video I taped with the Chinese chef at Shanghai Dumpling King gives you a sense of rapid fire closed satchel making. You can work up to that but he started decades ago. The video below slows thing down quite a bit to help you along. Do note that this shape only works for wrappers that you make from scratch. Do not try this technique on purchased pot sticker or wontons as they are not moist enough to seal properly. That said, review the instructions in Asian Dumplings on how to roll out dumpling wrappers and watch the video. That will bring you up to speed on where this video takes off! A dumpling makeover tip: When making yeast-leavened bao, you can steam the dumpling with the pleats facing down to hide imperfections! No one will be the wiser. Related how-to videos: How to roll out Asian dumpling wrappers Basic Asian dumpling shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent How to shape a rope edge (for empanadas, turnovers, curry puffs) How to fold basic wonton shapes The Perfect Shanghai Soup Dumpling I made my first wontons when I was in elementary school. They were triangles. Because my mother would give me about 3 packages of wontons to fill and fold, I started with the simple triangle and graduated to more complicated shapes. Then I had friends show me their nifty ones. I've also watched plenty of Chinese restaurant cooks fold wontons using a single chopstick or a bamboo spatula. They work at lightning speed. Those wonton professionals have folded thousands, if not tens of thousands of wontons. It just takes practice. You can devise your own fanciful wontons but it helps to have a foundation to work off of. Here's a video that I taped with CHOW.com for their 2010 Lunar New Year dumpling-a-thon. If you're new to wonton folding or need extra detail aside from what is already in Asian Dumplings, this is the video for you! Video presented courtesy of CHOW.com Some other helpful links: Wonton skin buying guide (tips on finding, choosing, and using) Crab Rangoon fried wonton recipe (an American classic) Almost Meatless Pork and Vegetable Pot Stickers Recipe (w/ an interesting shape to learn) Modern Indian Chile Pea Puffs Recipe(a baked wonton acting like a samosa) Earlier this year, Mike Miller requested that I put up a video on this nifty technique for gussying up a turnover-like dumplings. He has been a diligent dumpling maker and reminded me in his comment on the pleated crescent video that I owed him this one. I promised Mike and now am delivering. You’ll find this advance shaping technique referred to in the following Asian Dumplings cookbook recipes: Mongolian meat and caraway pockets (p. 50), baked Filipino empanadas (p. 111), Southeast Asian curry puffs (p. 125), and my childhood favorite — Vietnamese shrimp, pork, and jicama turnovers (banh quai vac chien, p. 118). Aside from using the technique for dumplings, you can certainly put a rope edge on a pie crust. Enjoy and practice lots. Eat your way to perfection. Related videos: How to roll out Asian dumpling wrappers Basic Asian Dumpling Shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent A commonly seen Asian Dumpling shape (think pot stickers and har gow), the pleated crescent is a bit more advanced than the half moon, pea pod or big hug. I watched a lot of dumpling masters perform this shape and then figured out how to do it myself. Remember to work with both hands holding the wrapper in the air as that allows you to manipulate the dough better. You can certainly use this folding technique for store-bought wrappers. Be sure to moisten the wrapper first to create a decent seal. 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