Introduction of Chinese Dumpling
Chinese dumpling (Jiao Zi) is one of the most well-known food in Chinese cuisine. With the carbohydrates come from the dumpling skin, proteins and fibers come from the meat and vegetable infills, it’s not hard to see the nutrient value inside this small dumpling.
History of Chinese Dumpling
In fact, the original dumpling recipe was developed by a doctor, Cheung Chung King, in Han dynasty (About 200 AD).
Back in that time during winter, many people suffered from chilblain due to poverty and famine. Dr. Cheung would like to cure people from the illness, he stewed lamb and pepper with some Chinese medicines (Note: These ingredients regarded as “hot” in terms of Chinese medicine, which are benefit in keeping bodies warm) in a pot as soup.
Then he wrapped the soup residues by dumpling skin and served both soup and dumplings to people. Many people cured by this warm soup and dumplings. Hence, dumplings became popular among the China Northeast as a “warm keeping” food inherited through generations.
Modern Chinese Culture of Jiao Zi
Nowadays, Chinese dumpling becomes one of the irreplaceable daily foods in Chinese culture. On every Chinese New Year Eve, Chinese families gather and make Chinese dumpling together as their dinner. Wrapping dumpling become a significant tradition and memory that Chinese families share and represent their wishes in New Year.
Chinese dumpling (Jiao Zi 東北餃子)
Ingredients
Dumpling Skin (Can be replaced by ready-made dumpling skin)
- 300 g Plain Flour
- 160 ml Cold Water
- 1 tsp Salt
Infills Ingredients
- 500 g Minced Pork
- 200 g Chinese Chives/ Siu Bok Choy
- 2 gloves Garlic
- 1-2 piece(s) Egg
Marinades
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
- ¼ tsp Potato Starch
Instructions
- Prepare all ingredients.
Prepare Dumpling Skins (Step can be skipped if using ready-made skin)
- Place flour and 1 tsp of salt into a large bowl. Add water into the bowl bit by bit.
- Mix them well using spoon at the beginning, then knead the dough for 10 minutes until it turns into a smooth ball.
- Cover the dough using a piece of wet towel for an hour.Tips: This step can ensure the dough rise and loose enough to form firm dumpling skins.
Prepare Infills
- Chop the Chinese chives (Or if you don’t like the taste of Chinese chives, you can use siu bok choy instead) and garlic, then place them into the minced pork. Marinate the mixture using all marinade stated above. Beat the egg and add to the marinated mixture.
Wrap Dumplings
- Make the dough into a donut-shape then into a circular shape. Cut it at one point to form a long dough. Cut it into small pieces (About 10g per piece).
- Use rolling pin to roll the small dough into flat circular dumpling skin.Tips: Sprinkle plain flour onto each dumpling skin so to avoid stick together when the skins overlay each other.
- Wrap the infill we prepared in step 4 using dumpling skins we prepared. Tips: Use little bit of water to spread at the edge of dumpling skins and make it easier to seal.
- Boil the dumpling with chicken soup/ water. Then you can serve your DIY dumpling!Tips: Traditionally, we serve the dumplingwith Chinese black vinegar. Or you canserve it with chili oil if you like spicy stuff!
