Squeezing vegetable juice loses vitamins
Whether for dumplings or buns, common fillings are limited to a few types. Animal-based fillings include pork, beef, mutton, eggs, and shrimp. Plant-based fillings include chives, cabbage, celery, fennel, and carrots. These ingredients are highly nutritious on their own, and combining them helps maintain nutritional balance. However, in practice, to make the filling rich and flavorful, producers tend to use more meat and less vegetable to avoid a "dry" texture. Traditionally, vegetable juice is also squeezed out during preparation. In fact, this causes a significant loss of soluble vitamins and nutrients like potassium.
Following the principle of balancing dietary acid and alkalinity, "acidic" meats, eggs, and refined white flour should be balanced with "alkaline" vegetables. For instance, a balanced filling mixture would combine one part meat with three parts unsqueezed vegetables. Kelp and wood ear mushrooms are best for fillings
To achieve a soft, juicy texture, fillings often contain large amounts of fatty meat, animal fat, and vegetable cream. The meat used is at most 70% lean, with a fat content typically exceeding 40%. Even fillings made from low-fat fish and shrimp often have animal fat added to improve the texture. This introduces a large amount of saturated fat and calories, which is detrimental to consumer health.
To achieve true nutritional balance in filled foods, start with the ingredients: reduce the amount of fatty meat and animal fat, and increase the proportion of vegetables. For meat fillings, pair them with vegetables rich in dietary fiber. Add foods rich in soluble fiber, such as shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, silver ear mushrooms, and other various mushrooms, as well as kelp and seaweed. These improve texture, help reduce the absorption of cholesterol and fat, and control the rise in blood lipids after eating meat fillings. Bamboo shoots and dried vegetables also have a fat-absorbing effect. Various bean products and fish can also be used in fillings as a substitute for some meat, which helps reduce the fat content. At the same time, it's important to note that when eating these filled foods, one should avoid high-fat dishes and instead pair them with light, cold-dressed vegetables. Vermicelli should not be used as the main filling
In comparison, vegetarian fillings based on eggs and vegetables are healthier. The fat in them comes from vegetable oil, and the proportion of vegetables is relatively high. Because eggs contain a lot of phosphorus, these fillings should be paired with green leafy vegetables rich in calcium, potassium, and magnesium, as well as ingredients like dried shrimp and seaweed, to promote acid-base balance. Pure starch materials like vermicelli have low nutritional value and should not be used as the main ingredient in fillings. In terms of cooking methods, filled foods with a high vegetable and low meat content have a high water content and are prone to falling apart. Boiling them results in significant nutrient loss and a poorer texture. Frying or steaming might be better options. Filled foods with a higher meat content are suitable for boiling or steaming; it's best to use as little oil as possible for frying to avoid adding extra fat. Appendix: Example of a healthy dumpling filling
500g of green vegetables, 240g of pork shoulder filling (10% fat), 100g of shrimp, 1 egg, 17g of dried shrimp, 170g of fresh mushrooms, 20g of dried shiitake mushrooms, 22g of scallions, and 75g of vegetable oil for the filling. Paired with 700g of flour. The small amount of water released from the green vegetables can be absorbed by the dried shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimp.