food & drink: jiaozi (Chinese dumplings)

To celebrate the start of april, I'm making up a new batch of jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) to freeze.  They're great for quick meals during the week.

To start, I headed out into the garden and harvest my garlic chives (see my separate post here).   

Then I got my other ingredients ready and started preparing!


Ingredients
100g garlic chives, finely chopped
500g chinese cabbage, finely chopped
1-1.5 tblsp ginger, finely chopped
500g chicken mince
2.5 tbsp light soy sauce
1.5 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tbsp sesame oil
750g - 1kg of dumpling or wonton wrappers


Preparation

1. sweat the chinese cabbage by putting small batches in a frying pan and heating over a high heat for a few minutes, stirring continuously, until the cabbage wilts. This reduces the moisture from the cabbage and makes it easier to work with.
2. when the chinese cabbage cools, combine with the other ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well.
3. prepare a work space with a small bowl of water, storage containers, dumpling or wonton wrappers and a bowl of flour
4. prepare the dumplings by placing a small teaspoon of mixture in the middle of the wrapper, wetting the edge of half of the wrapper with water and folding over.  for dumpling wrappers, fold into a half moon shape and crimp the edges.  for step by step photos, see here. for wonton wrappers, fold diagonally and fold into a wonton shape or, if this is too difficult to master, fold to create an envelope. for step by step photos, see here
5. if freezing, stack the dumplings in storage containers with a dusting of flour between each layer to prevent sticking

Cooking

1. to cook, bring a saucepan of water to the and add the dumplings.  cook for 8-10 minutes
2. serve with green vegetables and oyster sauce or soy sauce

I was initially very daunted by the idea of dumplings before a friend stepped me through the process!  I try not to worry too much about how they look as I still haven't quite mastered how to fold them. I just focus on getting the flavours right!  


I developed my recipe after finding a whole heap of jiaozi and wonton recipes on the net and practicing with my favourite Chinese cookbook, Food of China by Murdoch Books.

P.S. check out my posting on the taste test here