Beef up hearty cold-weather soups and stews with the addition of some delicious savoury dumplings.
Step 1: Sift 190g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour into a large bowl. Add 2 tbs finely chopped fresh chives and a pinch of salt. Use your fingertips to rub 75g chilled butter cubes into the flour mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Step 2: Make a well in the centre and pour in 60ml (1/4 cup) water.
Step 3: Use a round-bladed knife in a cutting motion to mix until a soft, sticky dough forms.
Step 4: Divide the dough into equal portions and roll each portion into a ball. See related recipes for cooking ideas. Alternatively, preheat oven to 220°C. Place dumplings on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until golden. Serve with soups and stews.
Great balls of flavour
Dumplings are without a doubt the perfect comfort food — warm and filling, and simple. They’re often considered peasant food because they’re made from cheap ingredients and can be used to make a dish “stretch” to feed more people. However, dumplings are known by many different names, come in both sweet and savoury versions, and are staples on breakfast, lunch and dinner tables around the world.
In fact, the humble dumpling is one of the most well-travelled balls of deliciousness on earth. Depending on your ethnic origin (or adventurousness when dining out), you’ve probably eaten one kind or another. It could have been a crisp dim sim at yum cha, a sweet dango at the end of a Japanese meal, a cheesy pierogi at your Polish cousin’s place, a plate of potato gnocchi at the local Italian, or a good old Aussie steamed golden-syrup dumpling.