i made dumplings about two weeks ago, just out of random craving that i want to eat dumplings. So here i went, stock on dumpling skins; got myself a big chinese leaf, meat. And there was i chopping my meat hard into mince. Please don’t say, you can easily get the prepared mince at the supermarket. The meat is just NOT the same! You can certainly taste the quality of the meat.
At recent Taiwan variety/cookery shows, i learnt that dumpling is actually eaten by Taiwanese and in Northern China to celebrate Chinese New Year. This is because they think dumplings looks like Sycee 元寶, which was a type on currency used in ancient dynasty. Eating dumplings in the beginning of the year is like filling yourself with sycee, in another words filling yourself in wealth, fortune… So now, i m determine to make even more for this up coming 2nd or 3rd day (as in Monday/Tuesday). As on the first day of Chinese New Year (on 14th Feb; yes.. its valentines day), your meal should be meat free. =)
Chinese leaf and Pork Dumplings
adapted from 包出好點心 with my personal preference.
jiaozi skin approx 30
Pork chop x 2 slices or mince that’s already prepared.
cold water
spring onion x 2 or 3, chopped up in tiny bits
ginger juice 1 tablespoon
chinese leaf, half plant
Seasoning:
light soya sauce 2 tablespoons
chinese wine 1 tablespoon
sesame oil 2 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon
white grounded pepper 1 teaspoon + 1 teaspoon
salt a little + a little
Chicken stock powder 1 teaspoon
Pork chop, incl the fat, slice and chopped till mince. Ideally, it should be 50 fat 50 meat in order to get that aroma and texture, but with health concern wise… better to have lean pork chop with that bit of fat. what you can do is add some water while you chopping.. this enhance the meat, and also easier to get it into mince.
Once done, marinade with soya sauce, wine, sesame oil, pepper, salt and chicken powder. mixed well and add in the chopping spring onions, mixd well. leave for at least 30 mins.
meanwhile, blanch the chinese leaves. squeeze the excess water, chopped into small dice and squeeze out all the excess water again. add into the mince, and add additional sesame oil, salt, white pepper and chicken powder.
Wrap the filling using jiaozi skin, easiest is fold in half and make it into a sycee shape, or fold patterns like mine (but sorry i couldn’t manage to demonstrate with my own pair hands + camera).
To cook the jiaozi. boil up a pan of water, add some salt, input the jiaozi and cook until the water is boiled or the jiaozi is floating on the surface of water. this should take around 3 – 5 minutes. once cooked, you can put a few drops of oil into the pan, give it a stir and take the jiaozi out. this is to avoid the jiaozi from sticking to each other. IF you would like to pan fry it, drained the water and pan fry it till golden.
**it is super hard to give you a precise quantity of the seasoning to use, as some prefer light taste while others like stronger flavour. so best is to marinade it and try out one or two pieces before wrapping everything up if this is your first time making jiaozi.
**if you want to store it in freezer, you can do so by freeze them individually, once they are firm, you can store them into bags. Else they will stick together into a BIG lump….
single eye & lid 