Chinese dumplings (jiao zi)

A festive favourite in North China, it’s not unusual to have each member of the family polish off a dozen of these dumplings in one sitting! Tip: boil the water three times before the dumplings are served—this is the traditional method of cooking them to achieve the best texture and to give it more bite.

Makes 28-32 dumplings
Prep time 40 minutes
Cook time 20 minutes

meat filling
800g pork, minced
2 tsp black pepper powder
2 tsp white pepper powder
2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp Chinese yellow wine (hua diao jiu), or sherry
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp sesame oil

vegetable base
1 inch ginger, grated
4 tbsp coriander leaf and root, finely chopped
1 tbsp salted preserved vegetables (dong cai), finely chopped
2 tbsp Chinese chives, finely chopped (optional)
3 tbsp Chinese cabbage, finely chopped
2 tbsp shitake mushrooms, finely chopped

dumpling skin dough
pinch sea salt
1 cup cold water
4 cups white plain flour

garnish
2 tbsp black vinegar
1 tbsp ginger, sliced into strips

• To make the meat filling, combine all the meat filling ingredients into a bowl. Stir the mixture in only one direction, to prevent the meat from toughening.
• Add all the vegetable base ingredients into the meat filling and mix well. Set aside.
• To make the dumpling skin, combine the salt and cold water and mix well. Add in the flour slowly, through a sieve, and knead the dough
for about 20 minutes, or until the dough is shiny. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 15-20 minutes.
• Roll the dough into a tube of 2cm diameter, and cut the tube to pieces of 1cm width. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten with a rolling pin, to form a round flat skin.
• Scoop one spoonful of the filling onto the flattened round skin and wrap it like a dumpling.
• Bring a big pot of water to boil, then add the dumplings. Let the water boil again, then add in about 2 cups of cold water. Wait for the water to boil again, and the dumplings are ready to be served with the black vinegar and ginger dip.

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