Jiaozi Fit For a Pig
Jeordy and I have long enjoyed creating well known dishes at home from scratch. As we are both great fans of Chinese cuisine, and Chinese New Year is impending, we decided it was definitely time to make our own potstickers, or Jiaozi.
Jiaozi are a type of Chinese dumpling commonly eaten throughout East Asia. Though their origins are uncertain one theory suggests that in China Jiaozi used to be named 'tender ears' and were used to treat frost bitten ears in the Han dynasty.
Though we cannot confirm whether or not our own homemade Jiaozi will cure any ailments, they are extremely tasty, a great meal, and a lovely way to engage with and celebrate Chinese New Year, and our entrance into the Year of the Pig!
Ingredients:
For Dough
2.5 cups Flour (plus some for rolling out)
1/4 tsp Salt
2/3 cup boiling hot water
1/3 cup ice cold water
For Filling
8 oz Ground Pork
3 tbsp Soy Sauce
3 tsp Rice Wine Vinegar
1.5 tsp Sesame Oil
1.5 tsp Cornstarch (or cornflour in the UK)
8oz Cabbage
2 tbsp Chives
3 Shiitake Mushrooms
4oz Water Chestnuts
For Sauce
4 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
2 tbsp Honey
1 tsp Sesame Oil
2 Cloves Garlic
1.5 tsp Fresh Ginger
In a large bowl we measured in 2.5 cups of plain white flour and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. We poured in 2/3 cup of freshly boiled water and stirred the mixture immediately and vigorously until it resembled loose crumbs. We then poured in 1/3 cup of ice cold water and stirred again to create a shaggy dough.
I kneaded the dough in the bowl before taking it out of the bowl onto a flat surface. I then kneaded it thoroughly until it was smooth, about 5 minutes.
Once smooth we placed the ball of dough into a bowl, covered it with a damp cloth and set it aside.
In a bowl we mixed the ground pork with soy sauce, ground pepper, cornstarch, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. The bowl was then set aside.
While we made pork dumplings, you could just as easily substitute any ground meat, finely diced prawns, or leave out the meat altogether for a vegetarian/vegan option!
Meanwhile we cut up all of the other filling ingredients: mushrooms, water chestnut, cabbage and chives form our garden. We then placed the shredded cabbage into a small bowl with salt and set aside. (We don't own a shredder so we just diced all ingredients as small as possible which worked perfectly.)
Taking the shredded cabbage I wrapped it all in a tea towel, then I twisted and squeezed the tea towel squeezing all the water out. Be sure to use one you don't care about; I have occasionally ripped a few doing this.
We then added the squeezed cabbage, and the rest of the filler ingredients in to a large bowl/saucepan. (I think we need to invest in a mixing bowl...) We mixed well and made sure to add plenty of salt and pepper.
Next we turned out the rested dough onto a floured surface. We cut the dough in half and kept it under a tea towel.
With the other half, we rolled it out into a long sausage about an inch thick.
We cut the sausage into 20 even pieces. We individually rolled these little squares into balls with our hands and then squashed them flat.
We took a quashed piece and rolled it into a very thin circle, making them into 'dumpling wrappers.' We tried to get them as thin as possible without them breaking or sticking. When rolling them out, put flour down and keep picking them up in between roles to avoid sticking.
In one of these circles we added roughly a tablespoon of filling.
Note: Out Jiaozi were a bit bigger than normal, so if you want smaller ones, adjust the size of your wrapper and amount of filling accordingly.
We then turned the parcels over on themselves and sealed them by pitching the edges together.
We repeated this process with all the dough until all the filling was gone. We also had some dough left over at the end.
Next I made a dipping sauce. I mixed together 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, 2 large cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, a thumb of fresh ginger and 2 tablespoons of honey. This is only a rough estimate of the basis of the sauce. I would advise tasting and tweaking the sauce for personal taste.
We then placed 1 cup of rinsed rice in a saucepan, added 2 cups of cold water and left it on medium heat until cooked and a little sticky.
In a large saucepan we heated peanut (ground nut) oil. When sizzling we added as many dumplings as possible without them overlapping.
On quite a high heat we waited for one side to brown and go crispy before turning them over and allowing the other sides to crisp. This happens quite quickly, generally 30 seconds to a minute.
Once both sides are adequately brown, we added 1/4 cup of water. When the water is addd to the hot oil, stand back as it may splash, then immediately put the lid on the pan to steam them.
Let them cook for 2 minutes with the lid on, then take the lid off and let them cook for another 2 minutes. The dumplings expand quite a lot and should soak up all the excess water in the pan. If this doesn't happen after the 4 minutes use a bit less water.
We repeated this for all the prepared dumplings. We also placed cooked dumplings in the oven on a low temperature while they waited for more to be cooked. This helped them to get a little more crispy.
We served them hot, accompanied by jasmine tea and jasmine rice.
Now you can make your own Jiaozi! Let us know what you think, and have a very happy Year of the Pig!
