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YouTubeDumpling recipes go by many names worldwide:
Georgian khinkali
Russian pelmeni
Russian vareniki
Polish pierogi
Azerbaijani dushbara
Armenian manti
Chilean pantrucas
Japanese gyoza
Chinese jiaozi
Italian ravioli
…
the list goes on!
We also have Kozhukattai and Mothagam (Tamil), Modhaka or Kabudu (Kannada), Kudumu (Telugu), Pitha (Bangladesh, West Bengal). See this article.
In Indian sub-continent, we also have 'kachori' and 'samosa' but such preparations are fried in oil (discouraged in Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines) or baked in an oven. Such preparations are not steamed.
To make a Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) dumplings, we need variants of these popular recipes with three changes:
- Use whole grains, not refined grains.
- No animal products like meat, fish or dairy products like butter & 'ghee'.
- For sweet filings, use dates instead of sugar.
A couple of recipes:
- Juicy Khinkali with Mushrooms & Spices — they ask us to saute the mushrooms in butter but we can replace that step by WFPB alternatives.
- Vegan Khinkali — can this recipe be made successfully with whole grain flour? Most probably yes, as exemplified by Kozhukattai recipes below from Tamil Nadu, India.
Barnyard Millet Kozhukattai — uses whole grains! But also oil — can this be made oil-free?
Brown Rice Kozhukattai — uses whole grains! But also oil — can this be made oil-free?
Brown Rice Kozhukattai — uses whole grains! But also oil — can this be made oil-free?
Little Millet Kozhukattai — uses whole grains! But also oil — can this be made oil-free?
Kodo Millet Kozhukattai — uses whole grains! But also oil — can this be made oil-free?
Foxtail Millet Kozhukattai — uses whole grains! But also oil — can this be made oil-free?
Kodo Millet Kuzhukattai — uses whole grains! But also oil — can this be made oil-free?
Pearl Millet (Bajra) Kozhukattai — uses whole grains! But also oil — can this be made oil-free?
Little Millet Kozhukattai — uses whole grains! But also oil — can this be made oil-free?
Little Millet Kozhukattai — uses whole grains! But also oil — can this be made oil-free?
Ulundhu (black gram) Kozhukattai — sweet: Seems to be oil-free. Yay! I'd use dates instead of jaggery. For the 'cover', the recipe is Vella Kozhukattai, which explains that the Japanese Mochi uses glutinous sweet rice flour (is that a whole grain flour?) but in South India, we use white rice flour. How will this recipe taste with whole grains (brown rice, for example)?
Oil has been used at one step in the recipe: when we start rolling dough into a circular flat shape. Can we avoid oil in this step? In other recipes below, wheat kadubu steams up just fine without any oil.
Don't use oil. This is a recipe for a steamed wheat cup which may filled with chutney or veggie mix or something sweet (dates & coconut, for example).
Steamed whole wheat kadubu with methi chutney. I prefer using dates instead of jaggery.
This recipe is a combination of boiling and steaming.
Can this be made from brown rice?
The recipe for kadubu is oil-free. The filling has oil, which may be removed.
This recipe has an outer shell and a filling. The outer shell is made exactly like Kadubu recipe (see the section above) and steamed wheat chapati recipe. For puran poli, steaming is done with a sweet filling inside. This filling is a combination of chana dal (soaked, ground & cooked with jaggery — I prefer dates instead of jaggery). Cardamom powder and nuts enhance the taste.
Oil-Free Recipe: Qadbu Puran Poli — they suggest using ghee at serving time; we can skip that step for a Whole Food Plant-Based recipe.
A great Whole Food Plant-Based recipe. No oil used at any step. For the Puran Poli filling, watch
An awesome recipe with brown rice (soaked overnight and ground), grated coconut and jaggery (I prefer dates instead of jaggery).
Modhak video (13 mins, Hindi) is an oil-free recipe which boils the batter. I imagine we could have steamed it instead. The video uses jaggery; we may use dates for a Whole Food Plant-Based recipe.
A preparation made with wheat flour and chana dal. In both videos below, the preparation is first boiled in water, then shallow-fried in oil. The latter step (shallow frying) may be replaced by preparing a masala paste (like we do for various oil-free curries) and mix the boiled bhakose with such a paste.
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