Wether you were lucky and your mom made them just for you or you would get them in your local asian neighbourhood, chances are that you’ve already ate a type of dumpling in your lifetime. But the truth is that, no matter in what way you were introduced to this paradise wrapped in dough, dumplings are a gift from heaven that is worthy of being studied.

The story of the dumpling

But what is the story about dumplings? Where did we start making them? Well the answer is more complex than the dumplings itself! It seems that the first recipe ever found of this delicious invention was in and old Roman cooking book called Apicius, however it did not had a proper filling and it was just boiled.

Filled dumplings arrived to Europe later on but they have a long history in Asia that goes back to 1,800 years. According to the traditional legend, the dumplings were invented by a man called Zhang Zhongjian who wanted to help the people from his village that were suffering from frost bite specially around their ears. He cooked some healing herbs, mutton and chili, made some dough to fold the filling to look like little ears and boiled his creation to finally create THE BIRTH OF THE DUMPLING 🥟…

In addition to these facts, one of the many reasons the dumpling became famously recognised all over the world is probably because it is a great way to take advantage of a small amount of meat to fill a lot of mouths. This may also explain why we can find them boiled, fried and steamed, because the dumpling fits perfectly in every kitchen…and in every heart 💖.

So…how many types of dumplings exist?

This adaptable dish covers a huge family of traditional plates from all over the world (yes! and its a great way to travel the world from home! ). It’s such a flexible recipe that the fillings are as varied as all the rainbow colours 🌈, you will never get enough from experimenting around the dumpling basic rules: dough + filling = FABULOUS! ✨

Because of this it is VERY HARD to know how many dumplings really exist around the world. But just in a quick search in google you will find more than 30 countries to have them as part of their national recipes (including countries like Germany, Italy, Russia, Norway, Ghana, Jamaica, etc) .

Is it hard to make?

It really depends on what type of dumpling you want to make, but if you want an easy and spicy one you can always try our CHIPOTLE PORK GYOZA & TERIYAKI GLAZE. However you choose to make your dumplings just remember that the heart of this dish is to feed the heart of people (with frost bite hehe jk) so make sure to put your personal touch in any recipe you choose to try!