Chinese recipe
How to make Jiaozi (boiled dumplings)
饺子 (jiǎozi)
Northern China
Half-moon dumplings of thin wheat dough, filled with minced pork and cabbage or other fillings, then boiled, steamed or pan-fried. In the north, families make them together on New Year's Eve, because their shape looks like the old gold and silver ingots used as money.
Ingredients
- About 40 round dumpling wrappers (from an Asian shop)
- 300 g minced pork
- 250 g Chinese cabbage (napa cabbage), finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch for the cabbage
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- For dipping: black vinegar and soy sauce, mixed half and half
Method
- Sprinkle the chopped cabbage with a pinch of salt, leave for 10 minutes, then squeeze out as much water as you can.
- Mix the pork, cabbage, spring onions, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and salt, stirring in one direction until sticky.
- Put a teaspoon of filling in the middle of a wrapper, wet the edge with a little water, fold into a half-moon and press the edges firmly together.
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add about 15 dumplings and stir gently so they do not stick.
- When the water boils again, add half a glass of cold water. Do this twice more. When the dumplings float and the filling is cooked through (cut one open to check that no pink remains), lift them out.
- Serve hot with the vinegar and soy dip.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Some families hide a clean coin in one dumpling; whoever finds it can expect good luck in the new year. If you try this, warn everyone at the table before you eat.
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