Guiyang Dumpling Pastry

Guiyang Dumpling Pastry

　　Known as the “Millennium Ancient Prefecture,” Guiyang is a place where both adults and children love to eat “dumpling pastry.” This is a specialty of Guiyang and also a unique local term. Once you set foot on this hometown soil, you can enjoy dumpling pastry to your heart’s content—whether boiled, steamed, or fried. It’s widely available on the streets and is both affordable and delicious.

　　The tradition of eating dumpling pastry dates back to who knows when. In the past, ordinary families would only make it during special occasions such as the Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, Start of Summer, Mid-Autumn Festival, or when celebrating a baby’s full moon. Making dumpling pastry was considered a sacred task—people would bathe, change clothes, and burn incense before making it, though the reasons remain unclear. As living standards improved, dumpling pastry became a common everyday food. Today, Guiyang Dumpling Pastry is famous far and wide for its crystal-clear sheen, diverse flavors, thin yet hearty wrappers packed with filling, enticing aroma, and its semicircular shape symbolizing good fortune.

　　There are many varieties of dumpling pastry in the hometown, categorized by ingredients into glutinous rice dumpling pastry, sticky rice dumpling pastry, mugwort leaf dumpling pastry, sorghum dumpling pastry, sweet potato dumpling pastry, buckwheat dumpling pastry, lotus root starch dumpling pastry, and bracken root dumpling pastry. During harder times, there was even millet bran dumpling pastry. By season, there are Li Fu Dumpling Pastry, Spring Festival Dumpling Pastry, Qingming Dumpling Pastry, and Celebration Dumpling Pastry. Among these, the Qingming Dumpling Pastry made around the Qingming Festival is especially distinctive. During Qingming ancestor worship, dumpling pastry is an essential offering—these ritual dumplings are usually made purely of rice and dried, making them suitable for long-term storage. The dumplings people eat during Qingming are made by adding a small amount of mugwort leaves to the rice flour, turning the white dough into a deep green color. When bitten into, they offer a fragrant hint of mugwort, and are said to have certain medicinal benefits. If named after the leaves used to wrap them, there are also tung leaf dumpling pastry, lotus leaf dumpling pastry, and pomelo leaf dumpling pastry.

　　Hometown dumpling pastry features thin wrappers and generous fillings, mainly including garlic, scallions, shredded radish, green beans, Chinese cabbage, tofu, cured meat, and a touch of chili powder. The fillings come in a variety of flavors—sour, sweet, spicy, and salty. The general process for making dumpling pastry involves first selecting high-quality rice, typically a mix of glutinous and sticky rice. Then the rice is washed clean with water, dried, and ground into rice flour. A suitable amount of rice flour is placed in a basin, mixed with water, and stirred. Next, the rice flour mixture is kneaded vigorously until it becomes highly sticky. This semi-cooked dough is then divided into small, glutinous-ball-sized pieces, which are flattened by hand into thin, round discs. A rice bowl is placed upside down over the disc, the excess dough around the rim is torn off, and the bowl is lifted to reveal an ultra-thin, perfectly round rice flour wrapper. The wrapper is gently placed in the palm of the left hand, while the right hand picks up the prepared filling and places it in the center. The wrapper is then folded in half, enclosing the filling, and the edges are pinched tightly together. More experienced makers can even pinch beautiful patterns along the edges.

　　Once the dumpling pastry is made, it is neatly arranged on bamboo or stainless steel trays and then steamed in a large pot. The pastry is cooked entirely by steam, ensuring it is thoroughly heated through and properly done. Steaming dumpling pastry is a true art—insufficient heat leaves it undercooked, while too much heat causes it to stick to the pan, become soggy, and lose its shape, letting the filling leak out. Therefore, producing a pot of dumpling pastry that excels in color, aroma, taste, and appearance depends greatly on the filling, technique, and heat control.

　　Friends, when you visit Guiyang, be sure to try Guiyang’s dumpling pastry—in truth, you’re savoring a piece of culture.

　　Author: Yu Guo Source: Kaifeng Hunan