Recipe & Video Authentic Chinese Dumplings (Jiaozi)

[bakedbeans18]

Hi cookingbites people! Made some dumplings using a recipe my Grandma and Dad gave me for authentic dumplings made exactly like they do in China. It takes awhile, but it makes A TON of dumplings that easily serves 6 - 8 people. Or you can freeze them and reheat when needed.

I would recommend getting help from family and/or friends as it's much easier with multiple people.

Ingredients:

• Dough:
  • 6 Cups of Flour
  • 1 ⅔ Cup Lukewarm Water
• Filling:
  • 2 lbs Ground Pork
  • 4 - 5 Napa Cabbage Leaves
  • 1 Tbsp Minced Ginger
  • 4 Spring Onions, Minced
  • 1 Tbsp Salt
  • ⅓ Cup Water
  • ¼ Cup Soy Sauce
  • 1 tsp Sesame Oil

Directions:

Dough

1. Add the Flour and lukewarm water in a bowl.
2. Knead it into a shaggy dough
3. Turn it out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 5 - 10 mins or until not sticking to you or the table. The motion is to PUSH the dough, then pull back. Not just press into the dough. We're trying to develop a gluten network through kneading and the push and pull method does the best job at this.
4. Set it aside, covered, while preparing the filling

Filling

1. Chop up the Napa cabbage leaves into a fine mince, then set in a bowl and salt it. Let it sit while the prep the rest
2. Mince up the ginger and green onions then set aside
3. Add ground pork to a bowl and add the salt, water, and soy sauce in small additions while stirring in one direction (I chose clockwise) - this will develop a better protein matrix that stays juicier as it cooks. It should look stringy with visible meat strands
4. Add the ginger, scallions, and sesame oil and stir again
5. Wring the cabbage out dry - it should release a shocking amount of water. Then add the cabbage to the pork and stir

Assembly

1. Rip a chunk of dough off and lightly knead it into a flat disk
2. Then poke a hole in the center and working your hands around the doughnut shape, stretch out the circumference of the dough
3. Rip the dough at a point, then roll it into a log about the diameter of an adult thumb
4. Cut or rip pieces off the dough log the size of half and adult thumb
5. Roll those pieces into balls, then smash flat to make small disks
6. Using a rolling pin, roll from the edge of the disk to the center then slightly rotate and repeat, making sure to leave the center thicker than the edges. This will allow more filling to be put in the dumpling. Repeat this till the disk is ~3in/7.5cm
7. Put a Tbsp of the filling in the center of the dough
8. Press it down to remove air pockets
9. Take the opposite ends of the dough and fold them together, Pinch em to form a seem.
10. Using your thumb and base of your index finger, crimp/seal the edges to form the dumpling.
11. Repeat steps 1 - 6, THEN steps 7 - 10 in batches. Doing all the dough at once will dry it out before you can fill all the disks

Cooking

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil
2. Stir it to form a current/whirlpool
3. Drop the dumplings into the whirlpool
4. Cover and lower the heat to medium
5. Once the water starts boiling again, add some cool water and gently stir to form another whirlpool
6. Cover the repeat step 5 two more times, or until the meat registers 165F
7. Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked dumplings from the pot and plate em up

That's it! Again, it does take some time and is best done with others. But this recipe makes a truly staggering amount of dumplings that last for multiple meals.

I hope you make it and let me know how it goes!

 

[Timenspace]

Sounds wonderful!

 

[TastyReuben]

Excellent video!