A fun family theme for dinners together can be to taste your way around the world without leaving your own kitchen!
Consider having an International Dumpling Night once a month. Many countries enjoy dishes involving dough wrapped around a filling and cooked to produce bite-sized mouthfuls of goodness.
The week before, choose a country that you and your family would like to find out more about. Explore its popular dishes for that country’s particular version of dumplings and choose a recipe. Include customary condiments and dips as needed. While most are savory, some dumplings are sweet desserts!
Young culinary explorers may wish to decorate the table based on the country being “visited”. Music from that country playing in the background can add to the ambiance. There may be other dishes that also interest you to go with the dumplings and you could plan to make those too. While learning about a country’s cuisine, you often learn a little about the country itself!
Purchase ingredients and plan time to make the dumplings together. For vegetarian recipes Tofutti® carries dairy-free sour cream, ricotta cheese and frozen desserts.
Popular dumplings you may wish to sample on International Dumpling Night are:
Samosas – crispy deep-fried triangles from India filled with combinations of potatoes, peas, lentils, and sometimes ground meats.
Empanades – from Argentina, Spain and Portugal, baked or fried stuffed pastries filled with combinations of ground meats, fish, olives, onions and even fruit.
Ravioli – from Italy, squares of pasta with such fillings as cheeses, ground meats, nuts, squash, and spinach and served with tomato sauce.
Perogis – originally from Poland, soft dough filled with combinations of minced meat, potato, or cheese. Boiled then fried with onions.
Wontons – deep fried crispy packets from China filled with combinations of ground pork and Asian vegetables.
Apple dumplings – popular in the USA, peeled and cored whole apples filled with cinnamon and sugar then wrapped in a sweet dough and baked until the apple is soft.