Tiger, frog, puppy, kitten, or strawberry? Which cute dumpling do you like the most?

Let’s make some cute dumplings with homemade colorful vegetable dumpling wrappers!

My dumpling wrappers colored with spinach, pumpkin, tomato, black bean, and carrot. Paired with my mom’s pre-fried pork dumpling filling. So pretty and yum as always!!

Ingredients for Dumpling Wrappers

The ingredients for dumpling wrappers are very simple. You will only need to mix all purpose flour and cold water at a ratio of 2:1 – 400g flour : 200g water.

Do not use hot water for dumpling dough.

The cold water can prevent the thermal denaturation of the protein in the flour, forming more gluten, so the dough is firm, tough, and strong, and the dumpling wrappers produced in this way are firm and durable.

You can also mix in a pinch of salt (¼ tsp of salt per 400g flour) to make the dumpling wrappers chewier and less likely to crack while boiling.

If you want your dumpling wrappers to be colorful like mine. You can simply substitute the water with equal amount of vegetable juice: 

Orange dough – carrot juice

Yellow dough – pumpkin puree (Note that pumpkin puree contains slightly less water than other vegetable juices, you can add a little bit more pumpkin puree to make sure that the dumpling dough is not too dry. Use 210g pumpkin puree for 400g flour. )

Green dough – spinach juice

Light green dough – cucumber juice

Pink dough – tomato juice

Black dough – black bean soy milk (The black bean soy milk can only dye the dough into grey. You may need to add a small amount of black food coloring if you want to use the dumpling dough to make eyes for the cartoon dumplings.)

Blue dough – butterfly pea flower

Purple dough – red cabbage

How to Make Dumpling Wrappers

Step 1: Gradually add cold water to the flour, stir with a pair of chopsticks until there’s no dry flour in the bowl, and knead the dough with your hands, your boyfriend’s hands, or a stand mixer for about 5 minutes. Roughly shape the dough into a ball.

    It’s okay if the dough looks unsmooth now. It will get smoother after resting.

Step 2: Resting the dough. Wrap the kneaded dough with plastic wrap or steamed cloth, let it rest for 15-20 minutes to relax the gluten and increase its extensibility.

    During this process, the viscosity of the dough decreases and the surface turns smooth, which makes the dumpling wrappers taste soft but won’t crack easily.

Step 3: Knead the dough again. Sprinkle a little flour on the working surface, knead the dough vigorously for 10 minutes. I used my stand machine to knead the dough at speed 2. The dumpling dough takes a much shorter kneading time than bread dough. 

Step 4: Make into discs.

The traditional method is digging a hole in the middle of the dough ball, turn it around and rub it to make a cylindrical strip. Cut the cylindrical strip into 3 to 5 strips, roll each one into a 1.5 inch diameter rope, then cut the ropes into small pieces of dough. Each piece of the dough should weigh around 15 grams. Roll each small dough into a ball, flatten it into disc shape, then use a pin roller to roll the dough into 2mm thick wrappers.

Check out this recipe made by Lisa for how to make dumpling wrappers in a traditional method.

For this cute dumpling recipe, we can use a pasta machine and a cookie cutter to make things easier~

Specifically, you will dust the dough with flour, pass the dough through the pasta maker‘s largest setting for a couple of times until the dough becomes a smooth sheet. Then gradually turn your pasta maker to thinner settings, until the dough becomes a 2mm-thick sheet. Click to see how to use a pasta machine.

DIY Cute Dumplings~

Now we have the colorful and healthy dumpling wrappers ready. It’s time to DIY some cute anime dumplings!

What tools did I use to cut out the eyes and ears for my cute dumplings?

A round piping tip to cut out small and large circles for eyes, a metal straw to cut out tiny circles for eyeballs and blushes, and a small knife for more complex shapes.

I made my dumplings into 5 different looks. I personally like the frog most! Let me know which one is your favorite：

Find my pork dumpling filling recipe here!

And please don’t let my pictures limit your imaginations!

Looking forward to see your uniquely cute dumplings~

How to make Cute Dumplings

EQUIPMENT

• Blender

• Pasta maker

• Cookie cutter

INGREDIENTS

White Dumpling Wrappers

• 200 g water (room temperature)
• 400 g flour (all purpose)
• ¼ tsp salt

Pink Dumpling Wrappers

• 200 g tomato juice (Blend 2 medium-size tomatoes. No need to add water.)
• 400 g flour
• ¼ tsp salt

Yellow Dumpling Wrappers

• 210 g pumpkin puree (Steam 200g pumpkin until soft, add 50g water, blend until smooth, weigh 220g pumpkin puree.)
• 400 g flour
• ¼ tsp salt

Green Dumpling Wrappers

• 200 g spinach juice (Blanch 150g baby spinach in a pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and squeeze any remaining water out. Blend the blanched spinach with 80g cold water, weigh 200g spinach juice.)
• 400 g flour
• ¼ tsp salt

Black Dumpling Wrappers

• 210 g black bean soy milk
• ¼ tsp black food coloring
• 400 g flour
• ¼ tsp salt

Orange Dumpling Wrappers

• 200 g carrot juice (Blend 2 medium-size carrot (about 120g) with ½ cup of water until smooth, weigh 200g carrot juice.)
• 400 g flour
• ¼ tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Use a blender to get 200g vegetable juice of your choice.

2. Add 200g juice/water and ¼ tsp of salt to 400g all purpose flour. Mix with a pair of chopsticks by stirring clockwise until there’s no dry flour in the bowl.

3. Knead the dough with your hands or a stand mixer at speed 2 for 5 minutes. Shape dough into a rough ball. Cover with plastic food wrap, rest the dough under room temperature for 15 minutes.

4. Knead the dough with your hands or a stand mixer at speed 2 for 7-8 minutes, knead until it becomes a smooth dough. Cover with plastic food wrap, rest the dough under room temperature for 1 hour (or in the fridge overnight, so that you can prepare the dough the night before).

5. Dust the dough with flour, pass the dough through a pasta maker‘s largest setting for a couple of times until the dough becomes a smooth sheet. Gradually turn your pasta maker to thinner settings, until the dough becomes a 2mm-thick sheet. Click to see how to use a pasta machine.

6. Dust your working surface with flour, spread the dough sheet, use a cookie cutter to cut out round dumpling wrappers 4 inches in diameter.

7. Wrap dumplings. Check out my pork dumpling filling recipe here! Place a tablespoon of filling in the middle of a wrapper, fold the wrapper in half, press to seal the edges together. Lastly press the two corners together to get an ingot shape dumpling.

8. Be creative and decorate the dumplings with other colorful dumpling wrappers.

9. Steam over medium high heat for 15 minutes, serve with aged vinegar and chili oil.

My other dumpling recipes you will also like: