Chicken Dumplings (Jiaozi)

Saturday is usually the day when I do my grocery shopping and hangout with my girlfriends. As it turned out to be a rainy Saturday last week, my girlfriend and I have decided to trade in window shopping for an afternoon of dumplings making. Rainy days do make people crave for soupy and steamy food. Since we don’t have Yum Cha / Dim Sim places in Orange, make-your-own dumplings is definitely on the card.

To me, dumpling making is not exactly fuss free. Sure we now have the luxury of getting pre-made dumpling wrappers and mixing mince meat with some sauces and spring onions is no rocket science, my personal hurdle in making dumplings is actually wrapping them. Yes, I’m Asian and I suppose to be good at it like high school calculus (disappointingly, I’m hopeless in both of them 🙁 ).

Having a friend who is a dumpling expert will ensure a successful (and pleasurable) dumpling making experience. In fact, making dumplings with the company of friends and family makes the entire process less laborious and more joyous as compared to do it on your own in front of a tv or start talking to yourself as you go.

With the pleasant distraction and guidance from my friend I was glad to end up with a tray full of pipping hot dumplings and unsurprisingly it didn’t take long for us to finish them off while watching DVDs. That’s what I called a perfect ending to a rainy Saturday! Yum.

(My friend’s recipe)

Makes 80 dumplings

Ingredients:

1kg minced chicken

9 stalks of spring onions, finely chopped

9 cabbage leaves, finely chopped

2 tsps ginger, minced

1 tsp garlic, minced

2 tbsps soy sauce

2 tbsps shaoxing rice wine

1 tbsp sesame oil

1.5 tbsps salt

80 ready-made dumpling wrappers (look out for “jiaozi” or “gow gee” on the packaging – these are thicker than wonton wrapper)

Method:

1. Sprinkle salt over cabbage together and mix to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes. Then squeeze the “juices” out from the cabbage.

2. Mix to combine the remaining ingredients plus the cabbage in a large bowl.

3. Wrap the dumpling (please find the following photos to illustrate the steps of wrapping the dumplings). If you want to taste test the dumplings, start prepare a pot of boiling water before wrapping the dumpling. Drop in the first dumpling in the boiling water and it will float to the surface when it is cooked. Taste the dumpling and add more seasoning if necessary.

4. When you are satisfied with the seasoning of the filling, start wrapping the dumplings (technique is shown below).

5. To cook the dumplings: placed the dumplings in batches in boiling water. It’s important not to crowd the dumplings in the pot to avoid them sticking together.

6. Serve immediately. If not, try to lay them out individually on a lightly greased tray as the dumplings will stick together as they cool.

There are many ways you can wrap the dumplings. I used to fold into half moon (without any pleats/ruffles) but I think you need the pleats to give the dumplings a proper texture. So for a beginner like me, I think one pleat dumpling wrapping technique is a good start. If you like to escalate your wrapping skill to multiple pleats, check out bakingpowders for detailed instructions.

One Pleat Dumpling Wrapping Technique

Step 1: Spoon about 1/2 tbsps on filling in the middle of the wrapper. Dip your index finger into a bowl of water and wet the edge of the wrapper. This is to ensure the edges will adhere while wrapping.

Step 2: Lift 2 sides of the wrapper and pinch hard in the middle of the semi-circle (over the filling) like the photo below.

Step 3: Using both hands, fold in the other 2 sides of the wrapper to form a “H”.

Step 4: Fold the top left of the tip to the center.

Step 5: Fold the top right of the tip to the center and make sure both tips are overlapped. Pinch hard to seal the tips and edges in the middle.

Step 6: Pinch the remaining edges to seal any exposed fillings.

Step 7: Done! 🙂

To eat the dumplings, spoon some of your favourite chilli paste/sauces (or my personal fav chilli sambal)…

OR you can concoct your own dipping sauce…

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsps white vinegar

1 tsp garlic, grated/minced

0.5 tbsp sugar

chopped fresh chilli (optional)

1 tsp sesame oil

some white pepper

(This is a general guide on how I would prepare the sauce, feel free to adjust to suit your taste. 🙂 )