I love Asian steamed dumplings. They’re like my new favorite food. In fact, when I go to Chinese restaurants, I’m almost happier ordering an appetizer of dumplings with some steamed vegetables on the side and call it a meal. They are THAT good.

Typically, dumplings are pork, which I don’t typically cook with. When I started craving more dumplings recently, but didn’t feel like paying for the restaurant price of them, I started researching dumpling recipes and found a myriad of different options– including even healthier versions (honestly, even restaurant dumplings are pretty decent for you. I mean, if you ate a whole plate of them plus dinner, then no…but in general, they’re low in calories and low fat because they’re steamed). Anywho, I decided I wanted to try both a healthy meat version and a veggie version.

Yesterday, I finally got to try out the veggie version (but rest assured, meat is to come!). And boy, am I excited to share this with you.

Let me just start off with saying that my recipe is less than 27 calories PER DUMPLING. How glorious is that?

Now, after much research, I found three recipes I thought were decent, but none of them truly spoke to me. So, I decided to make up my own recipe based on the common principles in each and then put my own unique flair on it. Definitely one of my better experiments. And SUPER easy to make. This is perfect for when you want a friend to come over and help fold while you both chat away and catch up on each other’s lives. I’m thinking dumpling parties may be a thing in my future. It was just so much fun. Plus my friend who helped me decided to whip out her phone and make a mini movie on Vine (check it out).

Steamed Asian Veggie Dumplings

Yields: 48-60 dumplings

Ingredients:

1.5 – 2 cups chopped mushrooms (roughly 1.5 packages. Feel free to use more!)
1 yellow onion chopped
1 package of broccoli slaw (from produce section with carrots and cabbage in mix)
1 package of cole slaw mix (from produce section with green and red cabbage, plus carrots)
1 inch of fresh ginger minced (use less if you’re not a huge fan of ginger)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon canola oil
4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon of dried parsley
1 egg
Wonton wrappers (my package came with 48, but I needed more because I had leftover filling)
Water (for sealing)
Lettuce (for steaming)
Pepper to taste
1. Combine mushrooms, onion, broccoli slaw and coleslaw in a food processor (mine was very small so I did each item individually and combined in a big bowl).

2. In a large sauce pan/skillet/or wok, heat canola oil with ginger and garlic on medium high heat. Let it simmer for less than a minute and then add the vegetable mixture. If it seems very large, rest assured, it will cook down. Stir mixture occasionally to prevent from burning and to evenly cook the mixture. (roughly 5-10 minutes)

3. Once the mixture starts cooking down, add soy sauce, parsley, and pepper. Mix evenly and taste it. If you need more soy sauce or any other seasoning, add this now but keep in mind, you will be dipping the dumplings in soy sauce later so you don’t need too much.

4. Remove from heat and mix in a scrambled egg very quickly, as to prevent chunks of egg from cooking individually. The egg is being used as a binding factor.

5. Spoon 1-2 teaspoons of the filling into the center of a wonton wrapper. With your finger, wet the edges and fold over diagonally. With kitchen shears, cut the excess edges off in a random fashion (though, this is optional).

6. Line your steamer basket with lettuce leaves and place over boiling water for 10 minutes, covered.

And ta-da! Perfection. Dip in soy sauce and enjoy with some healthy veggie stir fry or even use as an appetizer to impress your friends. I think I may bring this to my next potluck! They were so good! (and good for you!)

Now, calculating these are a little tricky because if you’re cutting off the edges (which I highly recommend), you’re also trimming some unnecessary calories. However, I can’t calculate that difference. But here’s my estimate via the MyFitnessPal recipe calculator, without taking into account the trimmed off wontons.

Nutrition Facts: (per dumpling) Calorie: 27, Carb: 4, Fat: 0*, Protein: 1, Sodium: 71, Sugar: 0*

*Okay, so you may be wigging out about how there’s no fat or sugar in this recipe. I mean…how can this be? The truth is, the amount that it is divided per serving is minuscule, it doesn’t register on the calculator. But if you’re curious, the whole batch of 60 dumplings had Fat:25 and Sugar: 29. But for the record, it’s impossible to eat 60 dumplings by yourself. I had 8.