How to tell if dumplings are cooked

Although modern diet is rich and diverse, it cannot replace the experience that traditional diet brings to people. For example, dumplings are a kind of pasta with a relatively long history. They achieve the perfect fusion of dough and various ingredients to form a unique delicious dish. However, cooking dumplings is a technical job. If you want to cook the dumplings just right, you must be able to observe the cooking process. Let’s take a look at how to tell if the dumplings are cooked?

Dumplings made at home are basically cooked as soon as they float. If you are worried, you can scoop one out with a colander and poke it with chopsticks. If the skin feels elastic, it is cooked. However, quick-frozen dumplings must be cooked for more than 15 minutes to ensure they are fully cooked.

When cooking dumplings, boil water over high heat, open the lid and put the dumplings in. The steam in the pot will quickly dissipate and the dumplings will be constantly turned in the boiling water, so they are cooked evenly and the skin is not easily broken. Otherwise, the steam will cause the dumplings exposed above the water to break. When the dumpling skin is cooked, turn down the heat, cover the pot, and the filling will soon be cooked.

Notes on cooking dumplings

1. Do not cover the pot as soon as the dumplings are put into the pot

If you cover the pot as soon as the dumplings are put into the pot, the pressure inside the pot will be too great, and the dumpling skin will easily be overcooked. Once the skin is broken, the dumpling filling will be all over the pot. Therefore, after putting the dumplings in, wait for the water to boil again, wait for a few minutes to allow the dumpling skin to be evenly heated, and then cover the pot after the dumpling skin is cooked.

2. It is not advisable to not add water in the middle

Some people cook dumplings until the pot boils completely, which is inappropriate as it will inevitably break the dumplings. As the saying goes, "roll dumplings three times and roll noodles twice", there is some truth to this.

In order to cook the dumplings quickly without breaking them, add an appropriate amount of cold water after the water boils to prevent the boiling water from overflowing the pot or the dumplings from breaking due to boiling too quickly. Generally, it is enough to add cold water 2 to 3 times when cooking a pot of dumplings.

To prevent the dumpling skin from breaking during cooking, in addition to avoiding stirring during the cooking process, the two key points are to add some salt to the water used to cook the dumplings and to add some ice water before serving. The dumplings cooked in this way will not be sticky, and the filling will not fall apart even if the skin is broken.