6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.com

Hello this is 6 minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil and I'm Beth. In China they're crescent-shaped and filled

with pork and cabbage. In Nepal they're called mamos and are fried with buffalo meat. In Ireland they're soaked in Guinness gravy and Italians

fill them with spinach and call them gnockey. They can be steamed or fried and are found

all over the world. I'm talking of course about

dumplings.

Dumplings are a group of dishes where a filling is wrapped inside pieces of cooked dough. They're basically dough envelopes with a filling

inside. Fillings can be anything from meat and fish to vegetables, tofu or cheese, and the dough is usually based on a starchy grain like wheat, rice, corn or potato.

In fact, the English word dumpling comes from a 17th century adjective dump meaning do like.

The really amazing thing about dumplings is that they're found all over the world.

Over the centuries different countries and regions have experimented with flavours and

fillings to create something unique. Wherever in the world you are there's probably

a special kind of dumpling for you. In this program, we'll be sampling a dumpling from the West African country of Ghana,

and as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

Great, but first I have a question for you, Beth.

Probably the most famous British dumplings,

suet dumplings, are cooked on top of a chicken or beef stew.

They're made from suet, but what exactly is that?

Is suet A, wheat, B, potato, or C, animal fat?

I think so it is made from animal fat.

Okay Beth we'll find out if that's the correct answer later in the program.

The origins of dumplings are a mystery.

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