Chinese Dumplings (Jiaozi)

饺子 / 锅贴

I learnt this dish from my sister-in-law who makes excellent Chinese dumplings - from making the dumpling wrapper, filling and cooking the dumplings. It is a wholesome and healthy one-dish meal which I prepare for my family regularly. I make these dumplings in a big batch so that I can freeze some of the dumplings for a quick meal another day - just boil the frozen dumplings (no need to defrost) in a pot of water or pan fry them.

Ingredients:

A. Dumpling wrappers: 3 cups plain flour, 1 cup water (makes about 60 dumplings)

B. Dumpling filling: 

780g minced pork

200g Chinese chives / cabbage

2 tablespoon sesame oil

2 tablespoon light soy sauce

2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon Chinese wine

1 egg

dashes of pepper

C. Vinegar Dipping Sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/8 teaspoon chilli oil (optional)

Ginger (cut into very thin strips)

Method:

A. Prepare Dumpling Wrapper

1. Only two ingredients are required to make the dumpling wrapper. No need for weighing scale either because the ratio of flour to water is 1 cup of water to 3 cups of plain flour. I use the rice cooker measuring cup (180ml). You can use any cup. Just make sure you use the same cup to measure flour and water. 

2. Put plain flour in large mixing bowl. 

2. Pour water into flour gradually and mix using hand / spatula to form a rough dough. Don't dump all the water in at one go. Leave 10% and slowly add to flour. Knead for 1-2mins in the bowl, then transfer to the bench top to knead until the dough is soft and elastic. Takes about 5-10minutes.

3. Put the dough in a plastic bag (to prevent drying) or cover dough with a plastic wrap and rest the dough for 30 mins. The picture below shows how much water is left after my kneading. You don't have to use up all the water. 

4. Cut the dough into smaller pieces and take one piece out at a time to make wrapper. Continue to keep the dough covered to prevent drying.

5. Lightly flour the bench top. Roll the dough using your hands into a log/rope of 2cm in diameter, followed by cutting them into smaller pieces of about 8g (or your preferred size). Dust each piece with flour to prevent them sticky together. With the cut side facing up, use your palm to flatten the dough. Dust the rolling pin with plain flour and roll each dough into a circle of 3cm in diameter. Don't worry, there is no need to get a perfect circle.

6. Jump to Section C below for steps on how to wrap the dumpling.

B. Prepare Dumpling Filling

1. Cut the Chinese chives into very small pieces. If using cabbage, discard the core which is hard and cut the leaves into very small pieces.

2. Mix all the ingredients (except Chinese chives/cabbage) in a mixing bowl until the mixture is sticky. I find that using a pair of chopsticks and stirring the mixture in a clockwise direction for 10 minutes will produce the sticky consistency.

3. Add the Chinese chives / cabbage and continue to mix thoroughly until it almost looks like a paste.

C. Wrap Dumpling

1. Sprinkle generous amount of plain flour all over the tray where you will put the wrapped dumpling.

2. Using the wrapper prepared in Section A (Prepare Dumpling Wrapper) of Method, place the wrapper in your non-dominant hand. Place one heap tablespoon of filling in the center of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper over and pleat the wrapper using your preferred method. Below are step-by-step images of my pleating method.

4. Place the wrapped dumpling on the tray and cover with a cloth or plastic to prevent the dumplings from drying up. Repeat until all the dough has been used up. Note: If there are leftover filling, use a spoon to scoop them into balls and fry them.

D. Cook Dumpling

1. You can either boil the dumplings (shui jiao, 水饺) or pan fry them to make pot stickers (guo tie, 锅贴). The difference is that boiled dumplings are moist and juicy, while potstickers are crispy on the outside and juicy inside.

2. To make boiled dumplings, boil a pot of water over high heat. Then, lower heat to medium and add the dumplings one at a time into the water, and wait for the dumplings to float to the surface. If there are any dumplings that are stuck to the bottom of the pot, gently loosen them with a pair of chopsticks. Pour a cup of water into the pot and wait for the water to boil again. Transfer the dumplings to a plate immediately once the water has boiled again and the dumplings look transparent.

3. To make potstickers, add sufficient oil to a cast iron skillet or non-stick pan, and heat over medium heat. Add the dumplings one at a time to the skillet/pan, pleated side to face up. When the base of the dumplings are light golden brown (about 2minutes), reduce heat to low and pour water* (10ml per dumpling) into the skillet/pan and cover it with a lid to steam the dumplings until all the water has evaporated (about 2-3minutes). Transfer the potstickers to a plate once they are cooked through. 

* to make dumplings with 'wings' (known as Hanetsuki Gyoza (羽根つき餃子) in Japanese), add some plain flour (or potato starch) into the water using a rough ratio of 1 tea spoon flour to 40ml water. Once the water has evaporated, a thin crispy lattice pattern will be formed at the bottom of the pan connecting all the potstickers.

4. Serve the dumplings / potstickers with vinegar dipping sauce. 

Note to self:

150g plain flour 

Pinch of salt

75g water (40g hot water 35g rm temp water ) 

Mix all dry ingredients pour in hot water at 1 side by using a pair of chopsticks to mix than add in the 35g rm temp water Mix all together, knead n let it rest for 30min aft 30 minutes knead till smooth dough rest another 1hour and the dough is ready to use