Jiaozi Chinese Dumplings Recipes

CHINESE DUMPLINGS (JIAO ZI)

Steps:

• On a flat surface, mix salt into 500g flour, slowly stir in water, adding as much as is necessary to form a smooth dough. Don't add all the water at one time. Knead the dough into a smooth ball. Cover the dough with a tea towel or some plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
• While the dough rests; add ground pork, Chinese cooking wine, sesame oil, salt, soy sauce, minced ginger, finely chopped scallions and 2 tbsp chicken stock in a large bowl -- stirring in only one direction. When ingredients are combined, add finely chopped chives, stirring in the same direction, and mix well.
• Dust a clean surface with reserved flour, and turn out the dough. Roll the dough into a long cylindrical shape with a diameter of about 3 cm.
• Divide the dough into roughly 40 pieces. Use a sharp knife to maintain cylindrical/round shape. Turn each piece on its flat side, and press to flatten into a small disc shape. Roll each piece out into a thin round sheet with a roughly 6-7 cm diameter.
• Place a small portion (~1 tbsp) of the filling into the middle of each wrapper. Wet the edges of the dumpling with water. Fold the dough over the filling into a half moon shape and pinch the edges to seal. Repeat.
• Add a pinch of salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Add half the dumplings into the boiling water, giving them a gentle stir so they don't stick together. Bring the water to a boil again, and add 1/2 cup of cold water. Cover and return to a boil. When the dumplings come to a boil for a third time, strain and place them on a serving plate, serve immediately.
• Heat 2 tbsp oil in a non stick skillet on medium to high heat. Place dumplings in, sprinkle 1/3 cup water evenly over the dumplings. Cover with a lid and let steam 5-6 minutes.
• When the water evaporates, remove the lid, check if the bottom of the dumplings have formed a nice golden crust. If not, let them cook uncovered a little longer. Place them on a serving plate, serve with dipping sauce.
• When waiting for the dumplings to cook, prepare your dipping sauce. Divide the dipping sauce ingredients into two small bowls, mix well and set aside.

JIAOZI CHINESE POTSTICKERS (PALEO, WHOLE30, KETO)

Steps:

• Dice the tip ends of the radish or turnip. Peel the skin with a vegetable peeler.
• Use a mandolin slicer, slice the daikon or turnip as thin as possible, about 1/16th-inch thickness.
• Place the discs one-by-one over a large sheet pan (you might need two) and lightly sprinkle with coarse sea salt on both sides. Let them sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
• In the meantime, make the dumpling fillings. In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients from scallions to arrowroot starch. Stir the filling in one direction until it becomes a sticky paste, about 1-2 minutes. Cover and store in the fridge.
• Pat dry the daikon with clean paper towels. Try to keep them in perfect moisture balance - not too dry and not too wet. There shouldn't be visible water droplet on the surface. You can also cover them with a slightly damp paper towel while you work on the dumplings one-by-one.
• Add a small amount of dumpling fillings to the center and use the back of a small teaspoon to smooth the filling. Apply a small amount of pressure to press the filling onto the radish slices. This will help them stick together better.
• Gently fold it in half to create a half-moon shape and press the center edge to seal with your thumb and index fingers.
• In a well-heated non-stick or cast iron skillet, add 1tbsp oil. Pan fry the dumplings for about 2 minutes over medium heat. You might need to fry them in separate batch so as to not overcrowd the skillet. Please do not flip the dumplings.
• Add ½ tbsp water. Cover with a lid. Lower the heat to medium-low and steam the dumplings for about 2-2.5 minutes. The fillings should be cooked through.
• Uncover. Cook for an additional 30 seconds. Off heat, carefully remove them one-by-one with a small spatula. Place the seared side up over a large serving plate.
• Some of the fillings might separate from the dumpling wrappers as you remove them from the skillet. Simply place them back. They will stick together once cooler. Serve with dumpling dipping sauce on the side. Serve immediately.

JIAOZI (CHINESE PORK AND SHRIMP DUMPLINGS)

Steps:

• Mix 1/2 cup cold water and cornstarch in a bowl until combined. Combine the filling: pork, shrimp, cabbage, chives, onions, ginger, garlic, cornstarch paste, wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and mix well.
• Mix flour and remaining water and knead the dough into a smooth ball. Use extra water/flour to get a slightly smooth and sticky ball. Let sit for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into little balls that roll out into 4-inch diameter circles. You will have about 30 dough circles.
• Place 2 teaspoons of the filling onto the middle of each of the dough circles.
• Wrap by folding the dough circles with filling in the middle in half and pinching the edges to seal.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Gently add about 10 dumplings into the boiling water. Bring the water back to a boil and add 1/2 cup more cold water. Repeat this twice before taking the dumplings out to serve; the pork filling should no longer be pink and shrimp should be firm. Repeat the boiling and adding of cold water with each batch of dumplings. Adding the cold water between boils reduces the starch buildup in the water.

HOW TO MAKE CHINESE DUMPLINGS (JIAOZI)

Steps:

• Mix a small pinch of salt with flour, dig a hole in center and then stir the water in. Mix the flour with water with chop-stickers during the process so you can adjust the water amount if necessary. Then knead the dough for 8-10 minutes with a stand mixer or by hand until the dough is almost smooth. Cover and rest for 15 minutes. Then re-knead the dough for 2-3 minutes so we can get a very smooth dough. Cover and continue resting for 1 hour.
• When the dough becomes soft and smooth, cut into halves and knead each half into a round ball. Take one half and dig a small hole in center. Then shape it to a large circle round. Cut so we will end up a long log. Shape the log around 3cm in diameter. Divide the long log into small dumpling dough pieces (each around 10g). Dust each of them so they will not stick together. Press one down and then roll it into a wrapper around 10cm in diameter. You can refer to the video for the technique.
• Get your assistants here and begin to wrap the dumpling at the fastest speed, because the wrappers will get dried out soon and become harder to seal together.
• In a mixing bowl, add ground pork, a small pinch of salt, egg, light soy sauce, white pepper, oyster sauce grated ginger and salt. Then place the green onion on top and drizzle hot oil on green onions. This helps to improve the aroma of the green onion.
• Stir the filling in one direction for 2-3 minutes until getting a paste texture and the filling becomes quite sticky. Set aside for 1 hour or cover with plastic wrapper and overnight.
• Finely chop chives and mix with 2 tablespoons of sesame oil or other vegetable oil. Mix chive with pork before wrapping.
• Brush 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan (nonstick pan recommended for beginners), place the dumplings in. Pleats side up.
• Heat over medium fire until one side becomes browned. Swirl around 1/2 cup of water and then cover the lid immediately. Continue heating until all of the water is evaporated.
• Slow down your heat and heat until the bottom becomes crispy and golden brown.
• Heat a large pot of water to a boiling, add a small pinch of salt. Then cook the dumplings in batches. Slightly move the dumplings with a large ladle or scoop so they will not sticky to the bottom. Then the water begins to boil again, add around 1/4 cup of cold water. Repeat once. When the dumplings become transparent and expand because of the air inside. Transfer out.