I think it is safe to say that a lot of people like dumplings 🥟- and more safe to say that they are too complicated and time consuming for most people to make themselves (yes, you could order them but that is besides the point). I realized I could make dumplings by dipping the protein in a thick batter instead of wrapping it.

The benefit was this was a little bit easier, however, it still required an action per small food piece. The solution to this lazy chef challenge came accidentally when I was running out of my protein (seitan in this case) and I didn’t realize, so I made a bowl of batter, and was only going to get a couple small dumpling pieces out of it. The forces of not wanting to waste food or be hungry drove me to create a dumpling pancake.

A dumpling pancake tastes just like a dumpling, but it looks like a pancake and is as easy to make and eat as one. Here is a rough outline if you want to make one:

1. Prepare the protein - I use my seitan, which is naturally very savory, but if you aren’t using seitan, I would recommend marinating it in something like soy sauce and vinegar.
2. Pan medium heat, add thin layer of oil
3. Mix gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour (make sure it is rice based) with water in bowl (optionally add egg)
4. Dump some of the protein in the bowl like you would put chocolate chips in a pancake
5. Put batter in pan like pancakes (cover pan if you can) - they will need to cook a little longer than pancakes because of the rice based flour
6. Decorate with something pickled (I used pickled beets), season with something savory, consume with soy sauce

I know it sounds complicated, but I don’t dedicate a lot of time in my life to food. I was able to prepare, cook, eat, and clean up this meal in less than 30 minutes. I’d love to hear from you if you try and make these.