I’m looking for the least physical up time (physical disability greatly limits how long I can hold posture). I don’t do dairy and I do not want to use a bunch of oil.
The last time I made chicken, I made a bed and stock using beer, apples, onion, potatoes, sweet potato, cumin, cinnamon, and brown sugar. The apples and potatoes were EOL and had to get used for something. This turned out fantastic. I use the chicken and onions for something else and this left me with the stock, all the chicken fat, and the rest. I mashed this and blended it all. It tastes absolutely fantastic like a very sweet and unique pastry filling.
I could easily add some chicken bits and make a dumpling or use the mix in a light and airy filled pastry. What I have not done in over, gosh probably two decades is make any kind of dough or bread.
This could turn into one of the things I play with and tune for years but I need a good low effort cheap entry point for a simple dough and way to cook it that doesn’t tax my back hard at all and without any diary.
I like abstracting and understanding what I’m doing on a fundamental level. Pointing me at cultural traditions that fit my constraints is best. With me, there is no such thing as too much detail if you feel like sharing. TIA
If you’re interested in Asian style dumplings, you can get premade wrappers. I tend to do that. I’m also disabled, with my disability affecting my muscles in general. I have mostly stopped making homemade dumplings, but I do sometimes manage it.
If you really want western style ones where you need to make your own dough, you might want a stand mixer to do the kneeding for you. Then you can use a pasta machine for rolling out the dough. This is a lot easier than doing it by hand and with a rolling pin, but still some work.
One thing that helps me is separating tasks so that I can have a break. For example, if I want to make pierogi, I will make the dough, then leave it alone and rest myself up a bit, then roll it out into flat sheets, rest a little bit again, then finally put it all together and make the dumplings. Then wait a bit before cooking so I can rest up again. Covering the dough and dumplings with a damp cloth or paper towel is essential to that process.
You might want to look into molds for sealing the dumplings rather than doing it by hand as well. You can find these for pierogi and pot sticker style dumplings and some really good ones for ravioli. There are probably more that I’m not aware of.
Oh, and none of the doughs that I have ever made or used required dairy.
I hope any of this is helpful. I’m not sure if I’m answering specifically what you’re looking for.
Also, if you can it helps to get multiple people involved and do big batches, then freeze them for later.
Once a year (this Sunday actually) I get together with some family and friends and make a ton of pierogies
People come with premade fillings, and we divide up the work, some people making dough, others rolling it out, someone filling them, another person bagging them up, etc.
We also use something like this so we can bang out 18 pierogies at once, lay down a sheet of dough, spoon filling into them, another sheet on top, roll over it with a rolling pin and you’ve got pierogies.
Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that. Making a huge batch and freezing them is always the way to go.