How To Make Chinese Dumplings

Chinese name: 饺子 (jiǎo zi)
Characteristics: Dumplings taste fresh and delicious in various shapes.

In China, especially in northern China, making and eating dumplings is an important activity for most families on New Year's Eve in Spring Festival.

 

Seasonings:
salt
soy sauce
cooking wine
white vinegar
sesame oil
chicken essence (chicken stock/bouillon)
five spices powder
red chili oil
small dried shrimps
chopped cilantro
Note: the amount of the seasonings listed above can be appropriately used according to one's personal taste.

Step 1: Clean the meat and chop it. Put into a basin or dish. Clean the lotus root after peeling it first. Cut it into small diced pieces. Put into a dish or basin. Clean and chop the ginger and the green onion. Place into separate dishes.

Step 2: Take 3 bowls of flour and pour into a small basin. Add in some salt and stir it well. Make a hole in the middle and gradually add small quantities of water until it forms into small pieces. Sprinkle some more water on the flour pieces and stir by hand to form a paste on a board and smooth it out. Put it into the basin to be fermented.

 

Step 3: Add some cooking wine, soy sauce, five spices powder, salt,  chicken essence and the chopped lotus root, ginger and green onion into the ground meat. Stir it well and pour into a dish.

 Step 4: Pick some fillings prepared before and put at the center of the wrapper (less filling should be put if you are not used to make dumplings). Fold and pinch the wrapper from the middle to the two outer sides. Put the pinched side on the forefinger. Clasp the hands and pinched it hard. A meniscus shaped dumpling is out.

Step 5: Take out of the flour paste and place on the board. Sprinkle some flour on it. Rub it by hand again. Cut a small section from the paste to be rubbed into a stick. Cut the flour stick into small dough. Roll it flat with a rolling pin. Place into a dish on top of each other, with corn starch in between to prevent each piece from sticking to each other.

 

Step 6: Find a small basin or bowl. Add in salt, chicken essence, white sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and red chili oil. Stir it well. You can also add in some chopped green onion to enhance the flavor. Pour it into a dish.

Step7: Pick out 3 teaspoons of the seasoning sauce and put into a soup bowl. Add in the dried small shrimps and chopped cilantro (add in some salt or sauce if you like more taste). Stir it well.

Step 8: Scoop out the boiled dumplings with a table spoon or a draining spoon and put into a dish if you prefer dry dumplings, which can be eaten with the seasoning juice prepared before.

Step 9: Pick out 1 tablespoon of soup and pour in to the soup bowl with seasoning sauce. Scoop out the boiled dumpling through a table spoon or a draining spoon and pour into the bowl.

Step 10: Place a wok over high heat. Fill it with water. Add in the dumplings one by one until the water is boiling. Add in 1/4 table spoon of water when it boils. Repeat this twice again. Turn off the heat.

The wrapper is usually made from flour and water, but the fillings vary a lot, ranging from all sorts of meat and vegetables to seafood, mushrooms and even fruit. Dumplings are meniscus, angular or ingot shaped traditionally, but nowadays they are made into flowers, birds, fish and insects, more like arts and crafts than food. It is also a tradition in northern China to eat dumplings on the day of winter solstice.