The humble dumpling- food of peasants the world over, yet dangerously close to gastronomic perfection. Take something good, wrap it in something good, and dip it in something good. How can you go wrong? It seems that every culture has it’s own version of the dumpling- gyoza, mandu, jiaozi, pierogi, ravioli, pelmeni. While the details vary, the fundamentals remain the same.
The Asian variations are my favourite- the combination of ginger, sesame, rice vinegar, and any range of veggies and meats is heavenly. In Singapore, I practically lived on the steamed and fried jiaozi sold in the local hawker centres- S$2 for 15. I think our record consumption was 90 between 2 people over many a Tiger beer. That’s probably not something that I should be proud of, but I am.
This recipe is for a simple jiaozi and lends itself extremely well to variation and creativity. I like to make pork dumplings, but you could use chicken, beef, tofu, mushrooms- whatever you fancy. It’s also a very frugal meal- the ingredients in this recipe (excluding a bottle of sake) cost me under $10 and will make anywhere from 75-100 jiaozi, easily enough for 4 or 5 meals. You can freeze leftover, uncooked dumplings on a cookie sheet to prevent them from sticking together, then place in a bag once frozen. When it’s time to cook, you can just cook them from frozen, just add a few minutes to the steaming time.
Ingredients:
Jiaozi
- 400g ground pork
- 1 Chinese cabbage
- About 4 inches of ginger root
- 7-8 cloves of garlic
- 4-5 green onions
- 3T sesame oil
- 4T soy sauce
- 3T sake or rice wine
- 1 package of gyoza wrappers (wonton wrappers can also be used in a pinch)
Dipping sauce
- ½ c soy sauce
- ½ c rice vinegar
- 1 t sesame oil
- ½ t hot chili oil (optional)
Method:
- Finely chop the cabbage, ginger, garlic and green onion.
- Mix all ingredients (except for the wrappers!) together in a large bowl. Let sit for a couple of minutes.
- Here’s a tip I picked up from Jamie Oliver- before wrapping the jiaozi, take a spoonful of the filling mixture and fry it on a hot pan just long enough to cook it, about 1-2 minutes. Taste it to make sure the flavours are how you would like, and add or subtract ingredients as desired.
- Next, the fun part- wrapping! Hold a jiaozi wrapper in your palm and spoon about 1T of mixture into the centre. Moisten the edges of the wrapper using your finger and a small bowl of water. Fold the edges together and pinch to seal. Repeat, repeat, repeat. There are many different ways to wrap, but I find this to be the easiest, as anyone who has ever received a Christmas present from me will confirm that wrapping is not my strong suit.
- Heat a pan to medium-high heat and add a little bit of oil. Place the dumplings on the pan so they’re “sitting up”, with the joined edge on top. Fry until the bottoms are a crispy golden brown, usually about 3-4 minutes.
- Increase the heat and add about 1 c of water to the pan. Cover immediately and let the jiaozi steam for 8-10 minutes.
- Mix dipping sauce ingredients together and serve with gyoza.
This is my preferred method of cooking the jiaozi, and it gives a soft yet crispy dumpling. The more traditional method is to steam the dumpling first in a bamboo steamer (or boil in water), then pan fry for a few minutes if desired. They are also wonderful just steamed, and probably a little healthier.
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