Ok - I thought you were making Asian dumplings! I was gonna tell you mine always fall apart cuz I can’t pinch em together tight enough. Buy em in the frozen section!
I assume you are making drop dumplings, intended to be fluffy and light? In that case, part of the problem may be the dumpling dough contains too much liquid. They need to be rather on the stiff side. Another reason may be the temperature of the liquid they are dropped into. If it is boiling, roiling over in the pot, it will destroy the dumplings in the process before they are set. The liquid needs to be at a simmer, with just slow bubbles. Also need to drop the dough onto meat or veggies to provide support on the bottom and reduce the amount of liquid that is absorbed on the bottoms before they can cook. Dumplings dropped into liquid can absorb a lot of it, and end up kind of squidgy gooey. Also, if you let them cook in the pot too long, or sit in it off the heat, they will disintigrate as they suck up the liquid. Finally, if you drop and plop the lid on right away, you can get a lot of condensation on the lid that drops down on the dumplings, adding that extra liquid and dissolving them. It helps if you drop the dough, and let it simmer without a cover for a few minutes- maybe 4-5, before you put on the lid.
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