I’ve always had utmost respect for the cooks at Chinese restaurants, who huddle over a counter, rolling out perfectly thin circles of dough, one right after another, before crimping them with mind-blogging precision to turn out handmade dumplings quicker than I can take a breath.

But I have even more appreciation for their mad skills now, having tried my hand at making my own dumpling wrappers for the very first time.

Ever since I was a kid making wonton, gyoza and potstickers alongside my mom, we’d always make the filling from scratch, but buy the pre-made wrappers from an Asian market.

With the start of the Lunar New Year this week in yet another pandemic month, I figured now would be as good a time as any to finally check off that box in the annals of dumpling-making.

“Let’s Make Dumplings!” (Ten Speed Press, 2021), of which I received a review copy, proved a perfect resource for that undertaking.

It’s a comic book cookbook — yes, really — by cookbook writer Hugh Amano and illustrator Sarah Becan.

Read more