Gluten-Free Asian Dumplings Wrappers

I love dumplings of all kinds: Chinese potstickers, Japanese gyoza, Polish pierogi. Dumplings have been one of the hardest things for me to give up on my gluten-free diet. Also, unlike gluten-free pasta and pizza, which is easy to find in many supermarkets and even restaurants these days, g-free and allergen-free dumplings and dumpling wrappers are evasive.

Feel Good Foods makes frozen dumplings that you can find at G-Free NYC and some Whole Foods, but the fillings contain soy and sesame, which are verboten for many people with allergies. (I'll include a soy and sesame-free dumpling filling in a later post!) I've been working on a gluten-free dough that's strong enough to roll out and hold a wet filling, but still tender and lightly chewy like a traditional Chinese potsticker dough. I started with Garden of Gluten Free's and Asian Dumpling Tips' recipes. They were excellent starting points and include many great tips on working with the dough, which I'll share with you below. But the combination of white rice (for tenderness) and tapioca flour (for lightness and stretch) still left me with a dough that dried out very quickly and cracked when folded over the filling. I tried adding more water and oil, but that caused the dough to dissolve and become even more delicate. 

So I added glutinous rice flour to the mix. Glutinous rice flour, also sold as sweet rice flour, is used to make Japanese mochi and dumplings and other dishes across Asia. It's stretchy, soft, pliable, and strong. As its name suggests, its starches mimic the properties of gluten in wheat, but it does not contain any gluten.  Adding some glutinous rice flour strengthened the dough and gave it more stretch, and also allowed it to hold onto its moisture for a more tender dumpling. You can use these wrappers for any type of filling, be it mashed potatoes, onions, and cheese for Polish pierogis or shrimp, pork, and vegetables for an Asian-style dumpling.

For about 15 potsticker-sized dumpling wrappers, you will need:

• 3/4 cup tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour)
• 1/2 cup glutinous rice flour (also called sweet rice flour. I prefer Asian brands available in Asian supermarkets because they are so finely milled. However, they are not certified gluten-free. If contamination is a concern, stick to Bob's Red Mill, available at most health food stores and Whole Foods.)
• 1/2 cup white rice flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together well. Pour in the boiling water and oil and stir with a spoon to mix and also release steam and heat. As soon as the dough is cool enough to touch, knead with your hands in the bowl for about 2 minutes until the dough is stretchy, smooth, and shiny, and has pulled completely away from the sides of the bowl. Put the dough immediately into a large plastic Ziploc bag to prevent further moisture loss.

Now cut two pieces of parchment paper, about 8" square. (I like Reynolds Wrap non-stick Pan Lining Paper even better than parchment for this application. It's parchment on the side that touches the food and very thin foil on the other, so it doesn't wrinkle, tear, or absorb moisture as much as parchment does.)

Take a walnut-sized lump of dough, roll it between your palms to form a ball, and place it between the parchment squares. Using the heel of your hand, press firmly until the dough is an even circle about 4 inches across. You can also use a rolling pill or even a tortilla press for this, but be careful not to make the wrapper too thin, which will cause it tear when you add the filling.

To Fill: Make sure that your filling in relatively dry. A filling of shredded veggies, ground meat, and spices is better raw then precooked, because the ingredients won't have released their juices yet. Be careful not to overfill your dumplings. Start with a tablespoon placed just off the center of the dough wrapper. Fold the opposite side of dough over the filling and press closed lightly with a fork or your finger. If you have excess dough, you can trim the edge of the dumpling with a knife.

Fill your wrappers as you make them to prevent them from drying out, then place the raw dumplings on a parchment lined baking sheet and cover them with plastic wrap until you're ready to cook them. Don't worry about small cracks in the wrappers. Those will fill in when you cook them. If you have a big hole, you can patch it with a small piece of fresh dough.

You can also pop this baking sheet into the freezer, freeze off the raw dumplings, then put them in a plastic freezer bag and back into the freezer until you're ready to cook them. They do tend to dry out quickly in the freezer, so you'll want to use them within a couple weeks' time.

To Cook:  I prefer the classic steam-brown potsticker method. This will ensure that your raw filling and your wrappers are both fully cooked.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil and about 1/2 inch water over medium-high heat in a large non-stick saute or fry pan with a lid. When the liquid is simmering, add the dumplings about 1inch apart and cover. Steam for about 10 minutes. When the water is completely evaporated, remove the lid and pan fry the dumplings in the remaining oil until the bottoms are dark golden brown. Serve immediately.

Note: You'll want to eat these dumplings right after cooking. Just like cold rice, which gets hard in the refrigerator, leftover cooked dumplings make from rice flour will congeal in the fridge. Even when reheated, they won't be as tender as freshly cooked dumplings.