Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More [Hardcover]

Andrea Nguyen (Author), Penny De Los Santos (Photographer)

Book Description

Release date: August 25, 2009

Is there anything more satisfying than a well-made Asian dumpling?

Plump pot stickers, spicy samosas, and tender bāo (stuffed buns) are enjoyed by the million every day in dim sum restaurants, streetside stands, and private homes worldwide. Wrapped, rolled, or filled; steamed, fried, or baked–Asian dumplings are also surprisingly easy to prepare, as Andrea Nguyen demonstrates in Asian Dumplings.

Nguyen is a celebrated food writer and teacher with a unique ability to interpret authentic Asian cooking styles for a Western audience. Her crystal-clear recipes for more than 75 of Asia’s most popular savory and sweet parcels, pockets, packages, and pastries range from Lumpia (the addictive fried spring rolls from the Philippines) to Shanghai Soup Dumplings (delicate thin-skinned dumplings filled with hot broth and succulent pork) to Gulab Jamun (India’s rich, syrupy sweets).

Organized according to type (wheat pastas, skins, buns, and pastries; translucent wheat and tapioca preparations; rice dumplings; legumes and tubers; sweet dumplings), Asian Dumplings encompasses Eastern, Southeastern, and Southern Asia, with recipes from China, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Tibet, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Throughout, Nguyen shares the best techniques for shaping, filling, cooking, and serving each kind of dumpling. And she makes it easy to incorporate dumplings into a contemporary lifestyle by giving a thorough introduction to essential equipment and ingredients and offering make-ahead and storage guidance, time-saving shortcuts that still yield delectable results, and tips on planning a dumpling dinner party.

More than 40 line drawings illustrate the finer points of shaping many kinds of dumplings, including gyōza/pot stickers, wontons, and samosas. Dozens of mouth-watering color photographs round out Asian Dumplings, making it the most definitive, inviting, inspiring book of its kind.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. She divides her treasure trove of recipes by dough type, including filled pastas, thin skins, stuffed buns, rich pastries and more. Japanese pork and shrimp pot stickers, Filipino chicken and egg buns, and spicy potato samosas whet the appetite and show the diversity of the offerings she provides. Line drawings highlight shaping techniques to make half-moons, pea pods, crescents and footballs. Nguyen includes recipes for making dough and wrappers from scratch, including rice sheet batter, wheat starch dough and basic dough, among others. She also showcases dessert dumplings such as fried banana spring rolls, and milk dumplings in cardamom and saffron syrup. Sections on sauces, seasoning and stocks, key ingredients and essential equipment round out a superb collection. This alluring and attractive book will appeal to a wide audience of home cooks and trained chefs. 75 full-color photos. (Oct.)
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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.”
—Cooking Light, Favorite Cookbooks, 2010

"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. She divides her treasure trove of recipes by dough type, including filled pastas, thin skins, stuffed buns, rich pastries and more. Japanese pork and shrimp pot stickers, Filipino chicken and egg buns, and spicy potato samosas whet the appetite and show the diversity of the offerings she provides. Line drawings highlight shaping techniques to make half-moons, pea pods, crescents and footballs. Nguyen includes recipes for making dough and wrappers from scratch, including rice sheet batter, wheat starch dough and basic dough, among others. She also showcases dessert dumplings such as fried banana spring rolls, and milk dumplings in cardamom and saffron syrup. Sections on sauces, seasoning and stocks, key ingredients and essential equipment round out a superb collection. This alluring and attractive book will appeal to a wide audience of home cooks and trained chefs. 75 full-color photos." (Oct.) 
—Publishers Weekly

“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

“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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press; Second Impression edition (August 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580089755
• ISBN-13: 978-1580089753
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.8 x 10.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > Asian

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

181 of 185 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Asian Dumplings September 12, 2009

By Lucy Dashwood

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have no idea what made me buy this book as I had taken out several books on dumplings from the library last year and they were completely inadequate, confusing, uninspiring and poorly conceived. I couldn't even look inside this one to see what was in there, right? But, overcome with a desire for dumplings, I splurged.

The dumplings I have made from Andrea Nguyen's book have been frighteningly delicious. The information is clearly presented with good line drawings to show you how and lovely photos to show what you're supposed to end up with. The ingredient lists are all minimal and easily obtained. You will make no large investments in items you will use once. (Don't you hate that about some cookbooks?) There are so many to chose from, the only problem will be making up your mind which one tonight. The door to delectable dumplings is now open.

This is a wonderful book. Thank you, Ms Nguyen.

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic overview of delicious dumplings! October 19, 2009

By R. Backus

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to know all there is to know about Asian dumplings! Andrea Nguyen has clearly spent many hundreds of hours on research, testing, and eating her delicious recipes. There is an excellent introduction with ingredient lists and descriptions, as well as appetizing photos throughout the book. The recipes are organized by type of casing - eg. yeast dough, rice, wheat and tapioca starch, etc. The dumplings are achievable both in skill level and in ingredients. Even in Switzerland, a browse through a couple Asian stores yielded almost all the ingredients I needed to get started. I especially liked the chapter on sweet dumplings at the end of the book! Definitely recommended to anyone looking to cook their way though a complete Asian dumpling repertoire.

63 of 67 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Guide to Asian Comfort Food Making October 6, 2009

By rodboomboom HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Nguyen has taken most of the risk out of preparing dumplings, those Asian comfort food we all like) from all the Asian cuisines (Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc.) by over quite a number of years experimenting with all these dumpling types and ingredients and techniques. The result is this focused volume on this specific Dim Sun favorite.

What I find exceptional about her approach is that she provides excellent aids in choosing such things as ingredients, e.g. stores or restaurants to search for to provide ingredients and samples of the cooking, as well as purchased wrappers or hand made. The line drawings of the dumpling assembly process are outstanding and the written instructions are thorough and clear, showing again that there has been much testing for us home cooks before publication. The four color photos of the results are outstanding, keeping the high standard of TenSpeed Press in tack. At the beginning is a most extensive writeup on key ingredients, with such fine details as possible substitutes and suggested brands, and where to look for them. With this style of cooking, this is most helpful.

Some good friends of mine lived in China and Hong Kong for years, so have experienced many types of Asian dumplings at their house. This motivated me to purchase this book, and bring more of this cuisine into my recipe array. I started with her recommendation, Filled Pastas, and so my voyage recipe was a great success: Japanese Pork and Shrimp Pot Stickers. From there I have barely ventured into all the types, but so far I sampled Panfried Pork and Scallion Mini Buns as well as Sweet Potato and Lemongrass Dumplings. The author's suggestion to not care at first too much about how they look, but just enjoy is pertinent for me and inspirational....

A superb reference and guide for this wonderful Asian comfort food: dumplings. Buy it and enjoy it. Read more ›

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars wonderful book January 20, 2010

By Brenda Pink

Format:Hardcover

Growing up in an Asian background, I'd become disappointed in some of the asian cookbooks showing how to make dumplings. Even knowing how to make some of the dumplings, I couldn't figure out what the books were trying to get me to do. This book is different. The instructions are great and I like the idea that the author gives recipes for the wrappers themselves. If one wants to use commercial wrappers to make things easier, they certainly can. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars was that some of the diagrams could have been better, or better yet, photos of the formation of the dumplings would have helped. Also, although there are some great photographs of the finished products, there are no captions so you don't know exactly what you are looking at. As well, a photo does not accompany each recipe. This book will help me to figure out recipes that I've been testing for years with no luck. Missing secret ingredients (from my cooking) are revealed in this book. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to try these exotic dumplings and has a basic knowledge of what the end point dumplings look like.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars exceptional cookbook - how cookbooks ought to be January 26, 2010

By M. De Klepper

Format:Hardcover

I wish there were more cookbooks like this....because this is not just a delicious collection of comfort food recipes, above all it is a very good cookbook. It is written clearly, and the recipe descriptions are foolproof. What makes it excellent is that recipes go beyond explaining which steps have to be taken; the recipes also include clear indications for when steps are succesfully executed.

For instance, the recipe for shanghai spring rolls (thin doughsheets for deep-frying) explains (p. 81): "stir [the dough mixture] for 4-5 minutes, about 200 strokes. Strands of glutinous, pasty dough will form, attaching themselves to the rim of the bowl as you stir, and become longer as you progress.[...] When done, the thick pasty dough should be elastic enough for you to lift and stretch it 12 to 14 inches from the bottom of the bowl. [...] Gather the finished dough together; it should hold a slightly mounded shape for a few minutes before spreading to touch the walls of the bowl." Wow!...I have never encountered such clear, and spot on, recipe decriptions.

These descriptions may seem over the top, but for the difficult preparations (spring roll skins; glutinous rice dough; rice sheets; translucent dough) there certainly are not. I've tried all the difficult preparations and they all turned out great, after the first try!