Pierogi, ravioli, momo, wontons, baozi, jiaozi — these are just a few of our favorite filled dumplings.
It would be impossible to write about them all. So for this story, we're focusing on Asian dumplings that do not require any special equipment (sorry, ravioli fans) and easy-to-find ingredients (sorry, no sticky rice dumplings today).
While most filled dumplings' roots can be traced to China, many food historians believe dumplings were created by multiple cultures independently.
Scanning ingredients lists, it's easy to see jiaozi (China), gyoza (Japan) and momo (South Asia) are branches of the same family tree. Manapua are the Hawaiian cousins to baozi (China). In the Philippines, these filled breads are known as siopao.
What's a jiaozi and those other ones, you ask?
First, let's define dumpling.