Koi Goldfish Dumplings (金鱼饺子)

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Yields: 1 Serving Difficulty: Medium Prep Time: 50 Mins Cook Time: 10 Mins Total Time: 1 Hr

These vegan koi goldfish dumplings are gorgeous and always a conversation starter!

It is so important for Chinese during Lunar New Year to have something that represents fish. Fish (鱼 yú) is the same sound as excess (余 yú). And this idea is to always have some fish on the table over LNY so you will 年年有余 (nián nián yǒu yú), or have lots of excess in the coming year.

Being vegan, it’s obviously rather difficult to have a lot of fish dishes unless you want to indulge in mock meat. Luckily, we can be a little creative and make koi goldfish dumplings!

As always with my dumpling posts, this is not really a recipe as much as a wrapping tutorial. You need to make your own dumpling skin for this recipe. To colour the dumplings red, I used 红曲粉 (hóng qū fěn) or red yeast powder. For the yellow, I used turmeric powder. You can also use beet and pumpkin. For more about natural food colouring, check out this guide from food52.

I absolutely enjoyed making these dumplings. Crafting something so beautiful out of flour and water is great therapy. These dumplings are so adorable that my daughter refused to eat them, although the adults had no problem at all 😀

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Instructions

0/16 Instructions
  • Make a long roll of coloured dough, and a long roll of white dough, and put them side by side.
  • Twist them together like a candy cane.
  • Roll the twist so they fit tightly together.
  • Cut it into 1-inch pieces and press flat into pellets.
  • Roll the pellets out into flat dumpling skins.
  • Put a heaped teaspoon of stuffing into the centre.
  • Fold the dumpling skin over the top. Fold the edge up on one side to make the fish eyes. Pinch tightly on the edges to secure.
  • On the open end, use your spoon to pack the stuffing in tightly.
  • Press the other side down firmly to create the tail piece.
  • Pinch the top and bottom of the "waist" of the fish to accentuate the tail.
  • Cut the tail into three segments and gently score to decorate. Gently fold the ridge of the fish in an accordion fashion to create a nice looking fin.
  • All done!
  • Do a few in red too.
  • After wrapping, you can freeze them and cook them later.
  • Cook the dumplings in a steamer or pan-steam them for a crispy bottom.
  • Gorgeous!

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