Glutinous Rice Dumplings

On my last trip to Shanghai I really wanted some soup dumplings but in that particular restaurant they did not serve those but instead a different type of dumpling with sticky rice on the outside. it was my first time ever having this type of dumpling and i had thought this would be a great gluten free alternative.

Recipe adapted from https://www.xiachufang.com/recipe/102201981/

serving: 16-18 dumplings (depending on filling size)

prep time: 30 mins plus 4-24 hours to soak the glutinous rice

cook time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of glutinous rice

  • 250-300g lean pork or minced pork

  • 1 egg (optional)

  • 1 cup cabbage, chopped and diced (optional)

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp black pepper

  • 1 tsp sesame oil

  • 1 1-inch ginger, finely chopped

  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped

  • 1 tsp white sugar

Method:

Put the glutinous rice in a large bowl, add more than double the water and soak it well overnight.  or If you are in a hurry, you must soak it for at least four hours. Drain well and leave to dry.

  1. If you are using cabbage, place diced cabbage into a small bowl and add a pinch of salt and mix, set aside for 10 minutes. After there will be some liquid, try to squeeze out as much as you can.

  2. If you didn’t buy minced pork then mince the Pork.

  3. Add eggs, salt, black pepper, white sugar, sesame oil, and mix. Then add ginger, chopped green onion and cabbage. Stir well until all ingredients are mixed evenly together, let it stand for more than half an hour. to taste the seasoning of the filling, fry off a bit in a pan and taste. adjust seasoning accordingly.

  4. prepare the steamer. You can use sliced carrots or potatoes or lettuce rounds for the bottom of the dumplings. Or you can simply use parchment paper.  

  5. Take a small spoonful of pork stuffing and put it in the palm of your hand. Use two palms to round as much as possible.

  6. Put it in the glutinous rice and roll it a few times. Try to make an even layer of glutinous rice.

  7. Place on a vegetable slice or on parchment paper.

  8. After the water is boiling, steam on medium heat for 20-25 minutes.

  9. Turn off the heat and continue to cook for three minutes. Serve immediately.

Dipping Sauce:  makes roughly 90g sauce (My recipe)

  • 1 tsp ginger, minced

  • 2-3 green onions (scallions), finely sliced

  • 1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

  • 2 1/2 tbsp soy suace

  • 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar

  • 2 tsp sesame oil

  • 3 tsp sugar

method: 

  1. If you want to have more depth in flavor, add a bit of oil to a pan and fry off the ginger, garlic, and green onions until fragrant and slightly browned.  place in small bowl to cool.

  2. add all the remaining ingredients to bowl, taste, and adjust seasoning accordingly.  it should have a bit of sweetness to it.

what a great alternative! although the name seems DECEIVING as one would think that glutinous rice would be made out of a lot of gluten, it is ACTUALLY COMPLETELY gluten free as its just rice, another name is sticky rice.

i have tried other gluten free dumpling doughs, some with success but many with failures so i kind of gave up. but this is so simple and consistent, the only difficult part is remembering to prepare and soak the rice beforehand but other than that, super simple. regular dumpling dough whether frozen or made from scratch also takes longer than this. also as the rice expands quite a lot when steamed you don’t even have to worry about completely covering the whole filing with rice. my filling was a bit liquidy probably because of both the cabbage and the egg, but once cooked it was actually ok and not dry. you can omit the cabbage for a more solid filling and maybe next time i try making my dumplings a little bit smaller so it is easier to eat. but you do have to eat these right away as they get cold quite quickly. you can eat them plain or with a bit of soy sauce but i like a bit more flavor in my sauce so i had made my dumpling sauce. i think for all future dumpling recipes i will just use glutinous rice it’s so much easier and less time consuming.

cooking, chinese, gluten free, porkJackie Wongdumplings, glutinous riceComment