Dumplings 饺子

Today our dish was dumplings 饺子(jiao zi)!! This is a very traditional dish and I'm sure a lot of you have heard of it before! My family has always made our own dumplings; I remember my parents in the kitchen making the dough and the stuffing. They would make over 500 dumplings at once! (Which is kinda' cray crayyyyy.) My favourite dumpling stuffing includes pork and corn! But today, we have another recipe. 

Step 1: Make the dough

• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 3 cups of flour
• 1 1/4 cup of water

You want to first combine the salt and flour. Then pour in the water and mix until the entire mixture have the same consistency(, which should be thick and "doughey".) Put it in the fridge for later use. 

Hello, meet Chance! 

Step 2: Make the stuffing

• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Chinese rice wine
• 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
• 3 tablespoons of sesame oil

• 1 cup of ground pork
• 1/2 cup of green onions
• 1 1/2 cup of shredded nappa cabbage
• 2 slices of ginger (minced)
• 1 clove of finely peeled garlic

Mix everything together and it should look something like this!

Step 3: Making the skin（饺子皮）

Take the dough out of the fridge and roll them into balls slightly smaller than ping pong balls. Now sprinkle some flour on a flat surface and also on the roller. Press the roller against the ball of flour to make it into a rounded sheet (as shown below). 

Step 4: Wrap the meat with the skin （包饺子）

Hold the skin in your palm; take about a tablespoon of meat and put it at the center of the skin. Dip your finger in water and trace the outer rim of the skin. The water will act as the "glue," allowing the skin to stick together when you fold one side over. Now you've made your very own dumpling! :)


Step 5: Cooking the dumplings

Boil a pot of water (you can add some salt in the water to quicken the process). Put in your dumplings; when they start to float, add in a cup of water. Even though the skin may be cooked, the meat inside isn't. Repeat this process three times and you can finally scoop them up for eating! 

I like eating my dumplings with something spicy! So today, I mixed soy sauce with chili oil and it was sooooooo yummy!

Today I had so much fun making dumplings! I definitely was horrible at making the dumpling skins! Thank goodness for Chance or else I'd probably be eating meatballs haha! Although the process was long and tested our patience, biting into our very own hand-made dumplings make the hard work and the wait so worth it. And because it tasted so good, I wouldn't change anything on the recipe. 

Traditionally, Chinese dumplings have their own shape. This is cultural because it is shaped as a piece of gold or silver back in the day. China was one of the very first countries to use money in exchange for something. Dumplings were shaped this way because represented wealth. 

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Thank you for reading! I know the weather where I'm at sucks today, but hopefully wherever you're at is nice and sunny! Have a wonderful day! :)


Evann