Making dumplings

The dumpling is a common Chinese food which generally consists of minced meat and finely chopped vegetables wrapped into a elastic piece of dough skin. Although they are an everyday staple, they are also very important for the celebration of Chinese New Year in northern China, when all the family members gather.

This is because the pronunciation of dumpling (饺子, jiao zi) also refers to the hinge between the old and the new year, and it is shaped like an ingot, a type of ancient Chinese money to symbolise wealth. So it is considered lucky to eat dumplings to bring good luck in the coming year.

Apart from being eaten on Chinese New Year’s Eve, and special family reunions, dumplings are also traditionally eaten for farewell to family members or friends.

Popular meat fillings include ground pork, ground beef, ground chicken, shrimp and even fish. Popular mixtures include pork with Chinese cabbage, pork with garlic, chives, shrimp with vegetables, pork with spring onion, garlic, shrimp with mushrooms etc. Filling mixtures vary depending on personal  tastes and region. In Mostar we cooked beef with carrots and tomatoes. It is best to make dumplings with other people in a production line to prevent the wrappers from drying out. The following is the procedure to make dumplings. You will need:

500 grams (4 cups/18 ounces) all-purpose flour

265 millilitre (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons/ 9 ounces) water at room temperature

About 4 cups of dumpling filling

The first step - dough

Make dough by pouring water little by little into the flour to make a tight or stiff dough in a wide mixing bowl. Knead well for about 10 minutes to make the dough soft and pliable on a floured surface. Place in a floured bowl, cover with a moist cloth and set aside for ideally 2 - 4 hours (but the longer, the better) to make it springy, while making fillings. The dough will have softened and smoothed. Knead it again for 3 - 5 minutes, then let it rest again for 30 minutes or longer.

Step 2 - fillings

The way to make fillings is to chop meat with some fat (otherwise your dumplings may be very dry) and vegetables very fine and then mix them together with seasoning such as spice, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil etc. Mix energetically for 6-8 minutes so that the mixture resembles a paste.

Step 3 - Cut dough

Roll the dough into a long thick rope, then slice it into small pieces.

Step 4 - Wrappings

Press the small pieces of dough into flat rounds. Roll out dough wrappings roughly 7 millimetres wide, 1 millimetre thick, trying to keep the edges thinner than the centre.

Step 5 - Wrap the fillings into dough wrappers

Drop about a tablespoonful of filling into the wrapper and  pinch the edges together at the centre, and then bring in each side and pinch together so that the filling can not drop out. Work quickly so the wrappers do not dry out - if they do, brush a little water on the edge to seal firmly. Don’t let the filling touch the edge or it won’t seal completely.

Step 7 - Boil dumplings

Put the made-dumplings into boiling water to cook for about ten minutes until the dumplings bulge and float on the water.  Continue boiling for 1 minute until the dough looks transparent and swollen. Then quickly remove from the pan before they start to fall apart! Dumplings should be cooked within 30 minutes of being made so that the dough doesn’t absorb the filling juice as this would make it fall apart. If you’re not going to use them more or less immediately, it’s a good idea to freeze them. Don’t cook too many at once, or they may stick together, depending on size, you may be able to cook 20 at a time in a large pot of boiling water.

Or you can fry them first, sealed side up, by heating 1 - 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to a large frying pan, frying each side for about 2 minutes until browned, then adding a thin layer of water to the pan, about 1 cupful. Cover the pan and let the water absorb. This should take approximately 5 minutes. Do this in batches.

Step 8 - How to eat

The boiled dumplings can be eaten together with the soup or separately.

Additionally, serve with one or more of these condiments:

1. Chinese black vinegar and sliced ginger.
2. Mix together 1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar, 1 teaspoon light soy sauce, ½ teaspoon sesame oil.
3. Chinese black vinegar and some fresh chilli oil according to your taste.

Enjoy!

©️ Written by 孟秀坤 Xiukun; Edited by Suyin Chan 陈素茵