Turkey Dumplings with Butternut Squash Puree

up close of a dumpling being dipped in a puree

Turkey Dumplings with Butternut Squash Puree

These steamed turkey dumplings with butternut squash puree sprinkled with pomegranate seeds are a comforting and delicious way to enjoy dumplings this fall.

Course Lunch & Dinner Recipes

Cuisine Asian Fusion

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 50

Servings dumplings

Calories 588kcal

Author Takes Two Eggs

Ingredients

Dumpling Dough

2 cup (283 g) All purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup (170 g) boiling water (~212°F or 100°C)

Turkey Filling

1 pound ground turkey 15% fat
2 ½ cup napa cabbage minced
1 tablespoon garlic freshly minced about 5 medium cloves
1 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
3 green onion stalks finely chopped
2 teaspoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Butternut Squash Puree

3 tablespoon unsalted butter
½ yellow onion sliced
1 teaspoon fresh garlic minced about 3 cloves
½ butternut squash
1 tablespoon light brown sugar packed
¼ teaspoon salt
Pinch white pepper
½ tablespoon fresh sage chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary minced
¼ teaspoon fresh ginger minced
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chicken stock low sodium

Garnish

Pomegranate seeds
Parsley

Instructions

Make Dumpling Dough

Mix the flour and water together. Add flour and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer with a dough hook attachment or a large mixing bowl and mix with chopsticks. While the mixer is on low, slowly pour in the boiling water. Mix until the water is absorbed and the dough is combined and formed. The dough may be a little crumbly and dry at this point.
Knead the dough. Transfer to a well-floured cooking surface and hand knead for another 5-8 minutes until dough is round and smooth. The dough should be soft, smooth, springy, and not stick to the bowl, and not too tender. Add flour if the dough is too soft and doesn't hold its shape. Add water if the dough doesn't come together.
Rest the dough. Place dough in a covered greased bowl or a medium ziplock bag, seal, and allow to rest and hydrate for at least 30 minutes. The dough can rest for up to 2 hours before being used.

Turkey Filling

In a large mixing bowl, mix together with your hands the turkey, napa cabbage, minced garlic, minced ginger, green onions, sugar, salt, white pepper, dark soy sauce, and sesame oil until homogenous, and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the refrigerator.

Butternut Squash Sauce

Slice the squash in half and remove out the flesh and seeds with a spoon. Roughly dice one-half of the squash into small 1 inch cubes.
Using a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the butter on medium heat until melted. Next, saute the minced garlic and onions until browned and the onions are translucent for about 4-5 minutes.
Add in the cubed squash, sugar, salt, and pepper. Cook the squash on medium heat for about 8 minutes to soften and charred brown stirring occasionally.
Add the sage, rosemary, ginger, and cinnamon. Stir and cook for 30 seconds until the squash is coated and fragrant. Then add chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce to medium-low heat to simmer. Simmer until squash is tender and can be easily pierced with a fork, about 20-25 minutes. Blend until pureed taste and season with more salt and pepper as needed. Set aside.

Assemble

Divide the dough. Lightly flour your work surface. Remove dough and cut the dough in half and keep one half in the bag/bowl. Roll out one-half of your dough into a 1” thick rope. Cut into 16 equal pieces about 2 cm long.
Roll dough into a disc. Place all the pieces of dough in the ziplock bag to prevent drying out. On a floured work surface, roll 1 piece of dough into a circle and then flatten it out with a small rolling pin into a 3.5”-4” disc. The dough will be very thin. Try to roll the dough out so the edges are slightly thinner than the center.
Fill and pleat. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of your round dumpling wrapper, avoid overfilling. Fold the dumpling in half like a taco and pinch together in the center leaving the sides not pinched. Start pleating to the left of the center pinch and seal it to the right. Continue gathering dough and sealing pleats until you reach the end of about 4 pleats. Repeat on the right side sealing the pleats to the left with another 4 pleats to form a "V" shape. Repeat with remaining dumplings and place dumplings on a lightly floured baking tray covered with a towel until ready to be cooked.

Cook and Serve

Steam the Dumplings: Prepare your steamer by boiling about 2 inches of water to your steamer. If you are using a wok, boil the water in the wok up just below where the steamer sits. Line your steamer with perforated parchment paper. Fill the steamer with dumplings, spaced 1/2 inch apart. Cover the steamer with the lid and steam on medium heat for 10 minutes or until completely cooked through. Try not to peak in the steamer until after 10 minutes or you will release the steam.
Plate the butternut squash sauce into a shallow bowl. Top with salt and pepper.
Place the dumplings in the bowl, garnish with parsley and enjoy!

Notes

Homemade dough is always > store-bought. Homemade dough creates a fresher dumpling that holds in the flavors of the filling better than a thin store-bought wrapper. Homemade dough is also made with only 3 pantry essential ingredients and is incredibly simple to make at home. Alternatively, you can use a thicker store-bought dumpling wrapper.
Make sure to use boiling water for the dumpling wrapper. The flour needs the hot boiling temperature (~212°F or 100°C) of the water to react properly and create the pliable dumpling dough that we need.
Do not overfill your dumplings! Use just enough to place in the center of the dumpling wrapper leaving enough room to pinch along the sides. You will know how much is too much with practice. If there is too much filling it will be hard to seal the dumpling without the filling oozing out.
Make sure to tightly pinch the edges of your dumpling to seal in the filling to prevent it from bursting. You don't want any rogue filling to be oozing out of your dumpling too early!

Nutrition