Homemade Mushroom Dumplings
Craving the best dumplings in town? Well, I’ve got you covered. Follow this easy recipe for mushroom dumplings with homemade wrappers and turn your kitchen into a dumpling heaven.
These delicious homemade mushroom dumplings are naturally vegan and made from simple and healthy ingredients. The wrappers are easy to make from spelt flour or all-purpose flour.
After a successful wild mushroom forage, this recipe was born, but don’t worry – these dumplings can be made with any mushrooms you like. Shiitake or button mushrooms will work great. The filling is incredibly versatile, allowing you to get as creative as you want.
Ingredients for mushroom dumplings with homemade wrappers
To make these easy mushroom dumplings with homemade wrappers, you will need the following ingredients:
- White spelt flour (or all-purpose flour, if preferred). I choose spelt for its better nutritional profile, but feel free to substitute it with all-purpose flour.
- Water
- Sea salt or Himalayan salt
- Mushrooms: I personally foraged parasol and black trumpet mushrooms from the woods, but feel free to choose any mushrooms that suit your taste. Excellent options include shiitake, oyster mushrooms, and button mushrooms.
- Pumpkin, red kuri squash or orange sweet potatoes. While my original recipe features red kuri squash for added starchiness and creaminess, I’ve successfully tested it with pumpkin, sweet potatoes and butternut squash. This starchy addition not only enhances the sweetness and creaminess of the filling but also ensures it holds together, making the dumplings easier to both assemble and enjoy without any unexpected spillage.
- Naturally fermented soy sauce: the perfect match with the earthy notes of mushrooms, it will make the filling extra flavourful.
- Spices of choice (optional) – I personally don’t add any extra spices because I like how the mushroom flavours match with the gentle sweetness of squash or sweet potatoes. However, if you like a stronger taste, I recommend adding some powdered garlic, cumin or caraway, and smoked paprika powder.
Homemade dumpling wrappers
Making your own dumpling wrappers at home is surprisingly easy! If you’ve never tried it before, I hope this recipe encourages you to try. The process is not only enjoyable but also less messy than it might sound. It makes for a fun activity to share with friends, family, or even with kids.
All you need to do is mix the flour with salt, add hot water, and combine. Once the mixture has cooled down enough to touch, knead the dough until it is smooth. Allow it to cool down completely before letting it rest in the fridge for optimal results.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1-2 mm. This can be achieved with a rolling pin or a glass bottle; no need for any fancy equipment. Next, cut it into squares using a knife, or, for circular shapes, use a glass. And there you have it – your homemade wrappers are ready!
The mushroom filling
Making the mushroom filling for these dumplings is incredibly simple. Start by cutting the squash or sweet potato into cubes and baking it in the oven for about fifteen minutes, or until it’s soft.
Next, slice the mushrooms and cook them on a dry pan over medium-low heat until they release some water. This dry heating method enhances the flavour of the mushrooms, but if your pan requires it, you can add a bit of oil.
For an even simpler approach, skip the pan altogether. Just bake the mushrooms in the oven alongside the squash.
Allow the cooked mushrooms and squash to cool down, then finely chop the mushrooms and crush the squash with a fork. Season with soy sauce, mix well, and voilà – your dumpling filling is ready.
Assembling the dumplings
To assemble the mushroom dumplings, Place a full teaspoon of filling into each wrapper and seal it securely. Be mindful not to overfill to avoid any spills.
In the pictures, I closed these dumplings by gathering all the edges to the top and squeezing them shut.
However, feel free to use any method you prefer. One of the simplest approaches is to fold the filled wrapper in half, place it on a flat surface, and press the edges together with a fork to seal them.
Cooking the homemade dumplings
The best way to cook these mushroom dumplings is through steaming. I personally use a bamboo or metal steamer placed over a pan filled with water. To prevent sticking, I place parchment paper on the bottom of the steamer.
The typical cooking time is around three minutes over low to medium heat, but it may vary slightly based on the thickness of the wrappers.
If you don’t have a steamer, an alternative method is to boil the dumplings in water for three minutes. Alternatively, you can prepare them as pot stickers: fry them in a pan with some oil until golden-brown at the bottom, then add some water to cover the bottom, cover the pan, and cook on low heat for a few minutes.
Serving ideas
These dumplings are fantastic on their own, so I recommend keeping it simple and just dipping them in some soy sauce or chilli sauce.
For extra flavour, try a mixture of 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp maple syrup, a sprinkle of chilli flakes, and minced chives. Just dip them and enjoy!
Storing the dumplings
These dumplings are best enjoyed when cooked straight away. If you’d like to save them for later, I recommend freezing them. Dust them with flour or separate them with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
When you’re ready to make them, you can cook the frozen dumplings directly from the freezer, though it will take a bit longer compared to cooking them fresh.
Homemade Mushroom Dumplings
Follow this simple recipe to make the best mushroom dumplings with homemade wrappers. They are vegan, easy to make and absolutely irresistible.
Ingredients
- 1 cup white spelt flour (you can substitute with all-purpose flour)
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/2 tsp sea salt or Himalayan salt
- 1 cup pumpkin or red kuri squash* (cubed)
- 1 cup chopped mushrooms*
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- Spices of choice (optional)
Instructions
- Mix the flour with salt in a bowl.
- Bring 1/3 cup of water to a boil and pour it into the bowl with flour.
- Mix well with a fork or a spoon, and when the dough has cooled down enough, knead it with your hands. The longer you knead, the nicer and smoother dough texture you will get.
- Let the dough cool down a bit more wrapped in a plastic bag or a wax wrap (something that will protect it from losing moisture).
- Put the dough in a fridge and let it cool down for at least another half an hour. I like to make it the evening before and let it sit in the fridge overnight. That way it is easier to roll out and shape the wrappers.
- For the filling, cut the squash into small to medium sized cubes and bake it in an oven at 200 °C until it gets tender and loses some moisture - around 15 minutes or until soft, depending on the size of the cubes.
- Chop the mushrooms and heat them on a dry pan over a medium-low heat for a minute or so - until they dry out a bit. You might need to add a bit of oil if you don’t have a non-stick pan. Alternatively, you can just bake the mushrooms together with the squash in the oven. I've tried that out too with this recipe and it worked great.
- Let the mushrooms and squash cool down.
- Mince the mushrooms and crush the squash.
- Add some soy sauce (and spices if you use any) and mix everything.
- Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of one to two millimetres. If the dough has cooled down enough, it should be easy to roll it out really thin.
- Cut the dough into preferred shapes in order to make your dumpling wrappers. The easiest are either circles with about 7 cm diameter (cut with an edge of a glass) or 6-7 cm wide squares (just cut the rolled-out dough with a knife).
- Put one full/heaping teaspoon of the filling in the middle of the wrappers and close the ends well. This time I squished them on top in order to close them, but you can do any style that is the easiest for you.
- Steam-cook the dumplings for around 3 minutes.
- Serve with soy sauce mixed with some fresh chilli and minced chives or spring onions.
Notes
* Instead of squash, you can use sweet potatoes as the starchy ingredient in this recipe. Their texture and taste are similar enough to the pumpkin/squash taste and texture, so it will work great.
* I used parasol and black trumpet mushrooms that we foraged in the woods the day before, but you can use any mushrooms that you like. Shiitake and oyster mushrooms are my favourite options if I don’t have any wild ones, but the simple button mushrooms will also work great.
* I like to keep it simple and get all the flavour from good quality, natural ingredients, so I don’t use any spices apart from naturally brewed soy sauce. If you prefer to add some more spice to the filling, feel free to use any spices you like. Some of my recommendations are smoked paprika powder, garlic powder, black pepper and cumin or caraway.
* Also, I don’t use onions in these simple recipes because I just don’t think there is a need. However, if you like stronger flavours and would like to add some sauteed or oven-baked onions to the filling - absolutely, go for it!
* In case you find it a bit tricky to close the dumplings after putting the filling on the wrappers, here is a super easy trick that works every time. Close the wrapper around the filling in a way that keeps the wrapper folded in half with its edges matching, lay it on a flat, firm surface and press the edges with a fork to close them. This is a super easy way to close the wrappers and it is kids-friendly too.
* If you don’t have a steamer, you can cook these in water for about three minutes, or make them as pot-stickers.
