DUMPLINGS

Chinese dumpling, is commonly called "JiaoZi" in Mandarin and "Gao Zhi" in Cantonese, consists of minced meat and finely chopped vegetables wrapped into a round thin piece elastic dough skin which are then sealed and pleated by hands. As a carrier of culture, dumplings are typical of tradition Chinese cuisine cultural. It is totally different from any Western food. For example, a hamburger is sandwiched with beef or chicken. It can be seen clearly from the outside but dumplings are quite different. One cant know its stuffing from the outside but can only find out once it is eaten.  Dumplings are usually boiled or steamed. The meat fillings can be ground pork, beef, chicken and even fish. Filling mixtures vary and depend on personal interest and region too but whatever the fillings are, the wrapping skill needs to be exquisite to make dumplings look attractive. Dumplings are eaten all year round at any time of the day, breakfast, lunch or dinner. It can constitute as one course, starter or side dish or even as the main meal. 

Dumplings dated back many centuries from the originated place in Yellow River valley where wheat was grown. Chinese people already knew how to grind wheat into four, make wheaten type of food with stuffing back in the period about 2,500 years ago during the Spring and Autumn seasons. Dumplings are one of the most important foods in Chinese New Year. Since the shape of it is similar to ancient Chinese gold or silver ingots, symbolize wealth.  As the Spring Festival marks the start of a new year, Chinese people choose to eat dumplings to connote their wishes for good fortune in the new year. China has been perfecting the art of dumpling making since the Sung Dynasty.

There are also ways of serving dumplings from place to place. In general, dumplings are boiled in clear water and served dry with vinegar, soy sauce, chopped garlic or chilli oil. But in some parts in the Northern China, dumplings are boiled in broth together with vermicelli  and vegetables to make like soup noodles.

I had some friends coming over for a chill out night during the weekend and i was thinking, the best way to serve them is to make some nice lots and dumplings to let them dig in, rather then common dishes with rice and soup.

Ingredients:-

• 200 gram of pork mince meat

• 10 pieces of Chinese leaves

• handful of fresh corianders 

• 2 cloves garlic

• small pieces of ginger

• 3 tablespoon of salt

• 4 tablespoon of sugar

• 10 tablespoon of soy sauce

• 2 tablespoon of white vinegar

• 2 tablespoon of sesame oil

• 2 egg yolks

Preparations:-

• Blend the Chinese leaves in blender until bits. Squeeze the remaining water out from the leaves.

• Blend the garlics and gingers.

• Chopped the corianders.

• Mix everything together in the mince meat.

(I get the wrappers from Chinatown rather then to make the dough myself, which save up lots of the time)

• Wrapped the fillings on the dumpling wrapper as desire shape. But don't be too greedy on the fillings or else it will gonna break out while in the process of cooking, or else, undercooked from inside.

I made 3 types of dumplings that night - Steamed ("ZenJiao"), boiled ("ShuiJiao") and pan-fried ("JianJiao").Now there are 2 different types of pan-fried dumplings. If fried uncooked, for example without boiling or steaming them first, they are called "GuoTia" in Mandarin or "WorTip" in Cantonese (Chinese cuisine are indeed very complicated in words and ways of cooking!).

Cooking:-

• Steamed the dumplings like normal process of steaming for 10 minutes.

• Boiled the dumplings on a boiling pot. The water should rest down after the dumplings was put in. Pour in a glass of cold tap water when it starts to boil again. Wait for it to boil again. That means it is cooked. Take it out and set it aside to use for pan-fried. Repeat the steps again for the soup dumplings. Add some desire vegetables to sparks up the colour and presentation.

• Pan-fried the cooked dumplings on a heat-up pan until golden brown.

D' Threesome ~