Vegan Bunny Elle

Turn your rice paper into these easiest steamed crystal dumplings. They’re vibrant, stunning, naturally gluten-free with a high-protein tofu veggie filling.

Happy Chinese New Year and Year of The Horse! Of course, we have to celebrate with some dumplings, which is the most important dish for the Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner. Traditionally, dumplings are made with a wheat dough wrapper, but if you’re short on time or just looking for an easier alternative, we can use the all-mighty rice paper!

I made a major improvement in how I cut and piece together the rice paper to get them as close to the shape of traditional dumpling wrappers as possible. And with the rice paper wrapper in a decent shape, we can achieve that classic, perfect dumpling look.

The fillings are entirely customizable. I used my go-to umami tofu veggie fillings. And to make them even more festive, I dipped my rice paper in beetroot juice, blue spirulina, and turmeric water for some pops of color. The “dyes” are all natural and won’t affect the taste of the dumplings at all.

Tricolor Rice Paper Dumplings with Vegan Fillings

Festive, naturally colored and even more delicious than they are stunning! Make these easy rice paper dumplings and turn any meal into a special occasion.

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Ingredients Method Video

Ingredients

  

• 6 rice paper
• Pink water bath – 2 1/2 inch slices of beetroot 2 cups of water
• Blue water bath – 2 teaspoon blue spirulina 2 cups of water
• Yellow water bath – 4 teaspoon turmeric 2 cups of water

For the fillings

• 10 oz extra firm tofu
• 1 carrot grated
• 3 oz shiitake mushroom finely diced
• 2 scallion chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon coconut amino
• 1 teaspoon dark rice vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder or cornstarch
• Cooking oil

Method

 

1. Prepare the fillings first, in a large skillet or saute pan, heat a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat, fry off the scallions and garlic first for 1 minute or so, until aromatic;
2. Crumble the tofu into the pan, add in the soy sauce to color and season the tofu, continue to break down any larger piece of tofu;
3. Add in the carrots, shiitake mushrooms, cook till the mushrooms have let out the moisture, then season with coconut amino, white pepper, and add more salt to taste;
4. Once the fillings are all well combined, sprinkle in the arrowroot powder or cornstarch, quickly stir with your spatula to mix it in evenly, the fillings should quickly become more “sticky” and can hold together easily, turn off the heat and transfer the fillings into a bowl;
5. Prepare the colored water baths, this is optional, you can just use plain water;
6. Cut one rice paper in halves, dip the half rice paper into the water for 2-3 seconds, then cut the half again into quarter;
7. Transfer the dipped rice paper quarters onto your work surface, have the two quarters overlapping each other 3/4, with the two pieces pointing in opposite directions, add 1 tablespoon of filling into the center, fold up and seal the edge, now you’ll have a half moon shape;
8. Use the thumbs and index fingers from both hands to create pleats along the edge, repeat the process to finish the rest of the rice paper and fillings;
9. Transfer the dumplings into a steamer, steam for 5 minutes;
10. Serve hot, enjoy!

Video