餃子小書: Little Dumpling Book
and little dumpling bundles, too
This is Yun Hai Taiwan Stories, a newsletter about Taiwanese food and culture by Lisa Cheng Smith 鄭衍莉, founder of Yun Hai. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, sign up here.
Happy Year of the Fire Horse! I’m sitting in the airport waiting to board a flight to Taiwan. I’ll be spending the Lunar New Year there with my family for the first time.
This week, I’m excited to introduce Little Dumpling Book, our first ‘cookbooklet,’ shipping free with all orders during the Lunar New Year period. This is a special collaboration with our friends at Taiwanese cooking blog CHOOCHOO-ca-CHEW, who have just launched a new online dumpling course. (P.S. They’re offering Yun Hai customers 10% off the course with code YUNHAI). We’re also offering Little Dumpling Bundles, recipe kits corresponding to the book, priced at 12% off (or 88折, scroll down for explanation).
In addition, our Year of the Horse Red Envelopes are here! We make red envelopes every year with O.OO, our design collaborators in Taiwan, who print them in their risograph studio. We’re including one set free of charge in every order over lucky $88; just be sure to add a set to the cart.
And! as! promised! QQ Horse and QQ Snake are happening this year. If you read my last newsletter, you know I never made QQ Snake, and now I’ve made that right. Scroll all the way to the end of the letter for a sneak peek and a rundown of more upcoming events.
Make dumplings like you never have before, because it’s hard times right now and we need all the symbolic unity, hope, and prosperity we can get.
Dumplings have come to symbolize good fortune, and are especially popular during Lunar New Year. Making them together reinforces our bonds, reaffirms our best intentions, and sets the tone for a fresh start to the year. Freeze them and gift them to your neighbors and friends. Invite people over to share them with you in the coming months. Let food be a means to connect and show care.
Last Friday, Yun Hai participated in a national strike for one day. We closed our brick-and-mortar and online shop for 24 hours to protest and condemn ICE, remember those who have been killed and hurt by them, and to stand in solidarity with all those resisting in Minnesota. ICE OUT EVERYWHERE.
We did this to make noise by being quiet, and to exercise our right as business owners to close, communicating that we prioritize people over profit, community over convenience. It was our way of demonstrating to the world what we care about and what we will not stand for.
With a responsibility to care for and provide for their employees, many businesses couldn’t close for the strike, and we respect that, too. But many of them stood in solidarity with those protesting in Minnesota, regardless, and said so. Thank you to all those who closed, all those who supported, all those who protest and resist, and all the immigrants in this country who continue to show up for their friends, family, co-workers, and community, despite the dangers they face.
Instead of business hours, we held gathering hours, and invited folks to come to the shop to share jam sandwiches and something warm to drink. A few friends stopped by to share stories, experiences, hopes, and angers. I felt angry, but also found hope in stories of decentralized networks of aid, communication, and support.
It felt powerful to stand in a circle with those across the country to vocalize our commitment to humanity, and that it still exists and isn’t for the taking. It was its own kind of dumpling making: connecting with each other, setting and affirming intentions, and bringing about what I hope will be an inflection point at a time when every day brings new lows. ICE OUT EVERYWHERE.
This Lunar New Year, we’ve collaborated with Minnesota-based Taiwanese cooking blog, CHOOCHOO-ca-CHEW, to bring you original dumpling recipes and curated product bundles. All this is the brainchild of Tiffany Alexandria, who grew up in Taiwan and has worked tirelessly to bring Taiwanese food to her community in Rochester, Minnesota. When we started the collaboration, we didn’t know what would be happening in her state a few months later.
I reached out to her just after the strike to ask how we at Yun Hai could help. Here’s her thoughtful reply.
So how can people in New York help? I think continuing amplifying the voices of people in MN is so important, we want people to know the truth, the situation we’re living in and any other city could be next, we definitely don’t want that. People need to learn and know how severe this actually is and take it seriously to drive changes for the whole country.
Here is a list of organizations I gathered from friends who are on the ground helping or reporting on what’s happening:
The Salt Cure Fund to support Minnesota’s restaurants.
Marcia Howard 38th Street: a collection of links to support the various organizations at the intersection where George Floyd was killed.
COPAL Minnesota, the MN chapter of a member-based organization established to improve the quality of life of Latin
éfamilies.The Alliance of Chicanos, Hispanics and Latin Americans (ACHLA) a grassroots nonprofit serving the Rochester area and southeastern Minnesota.
I hope you’ll all consider Tiffany’s words and supporting the organizations she’s shared. And now, more about our Lunar New Year collaboration.
Little Dumpling Book
I’ve been dreaming about publishing lo-fi, lo-key Taiwanese ‘cookbooklets’ for a while. Because of our growing audience base, we now get enough orders to justify a large print run, and can produce mini cookbook pieces at quantity and give them away to our customers by keeping them low-cost.
When I told Tiffany about this idea, she graciously agreed to develop the recipes for us as a way to kick off her new dumpling course with a bang (or a fold?). Our role was to design the publication and cover the printing. It’s a win-win!
To keep them inexpensive enough to give away, we focused on a few criteria:
no binding (so we folded it)
limited colors (so we went with our red and green)
low cost materials (so we chose lightweight paper)
high print run (so we decided to put them in every online order and give them away with purchases at the store—they are slated to arrive at the store this afternoon, so it’s safest to swing by from Saturday on)
Here’s what’s inside:
Gu Gu Chicken Dumplings, with goji berry, wood ear, and shiitake mushroom, to nourish the body and soul.
Mala Beef Gyoza, bursting with all the flavor of a hot-and-numbing hot pot, commonly enjoyed during the New Year.
Oolong Shrimp Dumplings, where Taiwanese Three Delicacies meets Dragon Well Green Tea Shrimp.
Fly’s Head Dumplings, capturing all the flavor of a favorite homestyle Taiwanese dish, bursting with chives.
Bloom and Blossom Dumplings, a vegetarian number inspired by cai bo dan 菜脯蛋, or preserved radish omelet, a Hakka dish common throughout Taiwan.
And Passion Fruit Hot Mustard Gyoza, a sweet and tangy take on a gyoza featuring Passion Fruit Mustard hot sauce from our friends Empress Hot Sauce in Taiwan.
The recipes are a testament to the skill and creativity Tiffany brings to the practice of making them. Here’s more about the Dumpling Club, in her words:
The Dumpling Club is an invitation to cook alongside Tiffany of CHOOCHOO-ca-CHEW in your own kitchen. It will transform the way you cook, taste, and understand dumplings—giving you the confidence to make them part of everyday meals and meaningful celebrations alike.
What started as a way for Tiffany to reconnect with her Taiwanese roots through dough and filling has become an online dumpling masterclass that turns folding into a cultural journey. She’ll guide you through making soft, chewy wrappers and juicy, flavor-rich dumplings from scratch—showing you what to look for, what to feel, and why it matters.
Along the way, she will share the tips behind techniques, family stories, her mom’s secret recipes, and how thoughtful, high-quality Taiwanese ingredients elevate every bite. This is slow, intentional food—meant to be shared, remembered, and passed on.
Cook along at home, deepen your craft, or host a dumpling party with people you love.
While you’re at it, check out this great video Tiffany made about Wah Kueh in Tainan, complete with vivid scenes of Taiwanese street life. As I said, I’m on my way now, and can’t wait to eat this savory steamed rice flour pudding.
Little Dumpling Bundles
For our Lunar New Year bundles this year, we decided to adopt a convention common in Taiwanese shops, and offer a 12% discount, written above as 88折.
In the US, we’re used to discounts being presented as what’s being removed, but in Taiwan, discounts are presented as what’s still being paid. In other words, 12% off is 88% on. This may be helpful to you if you’re walking around shopping in Taiwan and see a lot of high number “discounts.” 95折 does not mean 95% off, but 5% off! And even more confusingly, if just one digit is used, it’s referring to the tens place, so 9折 means 10% off. It took me way too long to learn this.
So, as is customary, we’re offering three dumpling bundles at 88折, each one based on a different recipe in the Little Dumpling Book. Each bundle also comes with a bamboo dumpling filling paddle, engraved with the Yun Hai logo, aww.
Bloom and Blossom Dumpling Bundle
This vegetarian dumpling recipe bundle is inspired by Hakka-style preserved radish omelet 菜脯蛋. Preserved daikon radish adds salty, piquant crunch to a rich filling of egg, firm tofu, green beans, and bean thread noodles.
Fly’s Head Dumpling Bundle
This dumpling recipe bundle puts a twist on classic pork and chive dumplings. Based on the Taiwanese stir-fry dish Fly’s Head, it gets its punchy, funky flavor from a mix of fermented black beans (the “flies’ heads”), garlic chives, and ground pork. Bonus: garlic chives symbolize longevity, so eating these dumplings brings double the good fortune, symbolizing both prosperity and long life.
Gu Gu Chicken Dumpling Bundle
This dumpling recipe bundle pays homage to mushroom (gu gu 菇菇) chicken soup, a warming elixir that draws deep flavor from dried shiitake and richness from chicken. Balanced with woody camellia oil and sweet goji berries, these dumplings will nourish your soul.
Year of the Horse Red Envelopes
As we do every year, we collaborated with our close friends at design studio O.OO to create this set of three unique red envelopes celebrating the Year of the Horse. They feature Lunar New Year iconography and wishes of good fortune.
This year’s designs were inspired by the Eight Horses, an animal motif in traditional Chinese art that references the steeds of the legendary King Mu of Zhou. Each horse represents a fortuitous quality such as wisdom, harmony, and strength.
Embodying the charged energy of the coming Fire Horse year, every envelope is printed with a dynamic horse-related saying:
馬到成功: “victory is achieved when the warhorses arrive,” to wish one swift success
馬踏飛燕: “the horse treads on a flying swallow,” one name for a Chinese bronze artifact depicting a galloping horse balanced atop a swallow—it represents swiftness, freedom, and mastery
萬馬奔騰: “ten thousand galloping horses,” referring to an overwhelmingly powerful force
Designed and printed in Taipei with soy-based inks on a risograph printer.
A few more things before I go…to Taiwan (yes, I’m literally boarding)
QQ merch is underway! Here’s a sneak preview. Yes, it’s a long story. Yes, it involves the history of photography. Yes, it also involves kindergarten. Yes it’s got a Western Wear Flair. And yes, it’s wearing glasses. Coming February 16th, and QQ Snake will be there, too. Sign up to be notified when these drop!
Save the date for a Lunar New Year QQ party in our shop on Sunday, February 22nd. I’ll be back from said trip to Taiwan and am bringing a suitcase specifically dedicated to party favors.
And our Hu Ye Tiger God Shirts by Emilie Liu are back in stock! Our Sourcing Manager Feng, in Taiwan, shows it off perfectly below. Don’t all come running at once. Ok, do.
Our much loved Kumquat Slices are back for the season! We’re getting these especially for Lunar New Year. Kumquat is auspicious because of its Chinese name. The first character 金 means “gold,” and the second character 桔 is a homophone for fortune 吉. There’s a saying “金為財，桔為吉” that roughly translates to, “gold represents wealth, kumquats represent good fortune.”
In case you missed it, here’s the most recent episode of Cooking With Steam, featuring congee three ways. Look out for our final episode coming just ahead of Lantern Festival, featuring our friend Jess Wang of Gu Grocery and her tangyuan techniques!
And finally, consider making an Ai Yu Jelly Punch for your Lunar New Year gathering—a great large-format cocktail for entertaining parties.
Photo: Off Hour Studio.
88折,
Lisa Cheng Smith 鄭衍莉
Written with editorial support by Amalissa Uytingco, Jasmine Huang, Grace Jung, and Lillian Lin. If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with friends and subscribe if you haven’t already. I email once a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. For more Taiwanese food, head to yunhai.shop, follow us on instagram and twitter, or view the newsletter archives.
This project is SO FUN! I love being inspired by amazing ingredients and some of my favorite dishes. Thank you for this opportunity. 💖🥟