Dumpling Wrappers [jiǎozi pí - 饺子皮]
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 eggs @ room temp.
1/2 cup water (1 cup without eggs)
1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
Combine salt and flour. Lightly beat eggs and water; add to a “well” in dry ingredients and slowly incorporate together. Depending on size of eggs, you may need to add a touch of oil, preferably peanut, or water for more moisture to work in all the flour. If too wet, slowly add more flour. Form into ball, rub sesame (peanut) oil over surface; cover and let rest for about an hour.
Cut dough in half; roll one part at a time as thin as possible—near to 1/16 inch. Much thicker and dumplings come out too doughy for my taste. Use 3 in. cookie cutter to cut dough for the dumplings. Place on paper bag, overlapping by no more than half so they don’t stick together. (You want as little flour dusting as possible.) Makes about 4 dozen wrappers—or “skin,” according to a literal translation.
Cultural note: my recipe is “Westernized,” in that it uses eggs. For most noodles/wrappers here, only water is commonly used, harking back to the days when fresh eggs were commercially scarce and expensive. If time or patience is an issue, in the states you can find frozen wrappers at Asian specialty stores. I somewhat recall Central Market also carries them. They aren’t as good as homemade of course, but they are serviceable.
Here in China, you can find very good, fresh jiaozi pi at most “wet” markets (shichang), which are incredibly cheap (about 3 kuai per yi jin…roughly 50¢ for 500g…or about 50 wrappers). Hence, I’ve settled for convenience and have never made home-made wrappers here.
* For trivia buffs out there, nowadays 10两 equals 1斤 (.5kg) but in ancient China, 16两 was equivalent to 1斤. So the idiom “half a jin, eight liang” (bànjīn, bāliǎng, 半斤八两) refers to two things that are about the same…like “six of one, half a dozen of another.”
* Source: Like a Local
Meat Dumplings [jiǎozi ròu - 饺子肉]:
1 lb. lean ground pork
1/2 lb. ground veal (optional)
1/2 cup thinly sliced spring onion (green only)
1 egg
To your taste:
1 tbsp. crushed garlic
1 tbsp. crushed ginger
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper (white or black)
1 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)
2-4 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
In small mixing bowl lightly beat egg with all ingredients, except meat. In large mixing bowl, break up the strands of ground meat by hand as much as possible. Pour egg/spice mixture over the meat and combine thoroughly, but the less you “knead” the meat, the more tender your dumplings will be. Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Place about 1 tbsp. meat in wrapper, dampen inside edge of one half of the wrapper with water, fold over and lightly press with fingers, working from one end to the other making sure excess air is squeezed out. Place on paper bag (or any non-sticky surface) and press edge with tines of a fork to seal. There are also many variations of folding the edge of the wrapper to seal (and shape).
Makes about 40-60 dumplings, depending on how “stuffed” you make them. If you run out of wrappers, yet still have stuffing, you can either freeze or use in a stir fry dish.
Traditional Oriental Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp. sesame oil (less or more to taste; caution—very strong flavor)
1 tbsp. thinly sliced rings of spring onion (green only); or chives
Optional: 1 tsp. extremely thin slivers of ginger about 1/4 in. long
Combine soy sauce and sesame oil and lightly whisk. Serve in small dipping bowls. Enough for 4-8 people, depending on how much sauce each person likes. Per person portions only need to be about 2-4 tbsp—enough for around 4-8 dumplings each. Sprinkle green onion (ginger slivers) in individual dipping bowls at the last minute.
Cultural note: This “traditional” dipping sauce is my traditional dipping sauce. Partly depends on what part of China you’re in, but I’ve noticed that the Chinese typically do not use/serve sauce with dumplings.
Steamed Dumplings [zheng jiaozi]:
Layer steamer bed with lettuce/cabbage or lightly oil to prevent sticking. Steam fresh jiaozi for 8-10 minutes; frozen jiaozi for roughly 12-14 minutes—until skin becomes translucent. If steamed on top of—serve on bed of lettuce/cabbage.
Pan-fried Dumplings [jian jiaozi]:
Saute fresh dumplings in pan (with the bottom lightly covered with peanut oil) over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, or until bottom is a light golden brown. Carefully add enough hot water (splatter! splatter!) so that dumplings are about a quarter deep in water. Cover (slightly vented) over medium low heat until all water has evaporated, about 3-4 minutes; top of dumplings should be translucent now. Remove cover; if bottoms of dumplings aren’t golden brown “enough,” continue sauteing until satisfied, perhaps 1-2 minutes. To pan fry frozen jiaozi, follow same procedure, but it will require roughly twice the total cooking time.
I used to turn and brown both sides, but now prefer browning only one side. This delivers the requisite “crunch,” while preserving the equally exquisite “silky” texture of the upside. Sui bian ni (up to you)!
Storing Dumplings:
Due to the somewhat tedious nature of making jiaozi, especially if you do home-made wrappers, I often make a double (or near double) recipe and immediately freeze most of them…whatever doesn’t get gobbled up that meal. While fresh jiaozi are clearly superior, I’ve found little to complain about when frozen jiaozi are properly cooked. And it’s easier to make and store a batch of jiaozi when there isn’t a gaggle of guests with watering mouths hanging around. For a dinner party, frozen jiaozi will ease the pressure.
Best method I’ve unearthed so far, to prevent them from sticking together, is to place the first layer in a (lightly oiled) 9 x 13 baking pan. Cover that layer with wax paper and continue layering until you run out of dumplings. Freeze overnight; then remove and stash together in a good, plastic freezer bag; replace in freezer and use as needed.
