Although I’m an ocean away and busy job-searching now, sometimes I feel my heart is still in China. To remedy this, I recently did some research on the best Chinese cookbooks out there. Learning how to cook great Chinese food has always been high on my To Do list – but I either didn’t learn much from my past lessons or forgot everything due to my pea-size memory. Looking at detailed recipes and pretty pictures always helps for a refresher.

After browsing online, I went to the lib and got The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking (Barbara Tropp) and Martin Yan’s Chinatown Cooking. The former is a picture-less, thick old textbook teaching you everything you could want to know about Chinese cooking. Barb doesn’t just tell you how to make a dish – she tells you why you should season a dish a certain way – how to balance the yin and yang of the food – which cleaver is best to avoid hacking your pork balls. It’s intensive but good for learning about Chinese food-ism. Martin Yan’s book is more fusion cooking, teaching “Chinatown” classics. I got it cause the pictures are pretty. Plus he has a super appealing Canto steamed fish recipe.

The first Chinese dish I craved is the hearty northern-style dumpling or jiaozi. I made these a few times in Chengdu with Stephanie’s family and still dream about my Beijing corner dumpling store and their tomato-and-egg dumplings. Heavenly.

Usually making dumplings is a massive family occasion. The whole clan gathers around the table and chats while dexterously folding the meat in moist round wrappers. As my mom had the flu and was unable to help me, I was alone in producing my dumplings. But it proved the theory that the more effort you put in something, the better it tastes – after a few hours chopping and folding, these beauties tasted incredible.

Pork & Cabbage Dumplings (Serves: An extended Chinese family)

Filling:

  • 1 lb fatty pork (rib, shoulder, butt – or to make it easier, buy ground pork)
  • 1 lb Napa cabbage
  • 2 green onions, white and green minced (or 1/2 to 1 cup Chinese chives if you can find these at an Asian food store)
  • 1 heaping tbl minced ginger
  • 1 tbl Shao Xing rice wine or dry sherry
  • 2 tbl Sesame oil
  • 1 tbl light soy sauce
  • 1 tsp salt, to taste
  • 1 tbl cornstarch
  • 1/4 to 3/4 cup chicken or pork stock

Separate the cabbage leaves and blanch in boiling water for about two and a half minutes. Let them cool; meanwhile, chop the pork with a cleaver into 3/16″ to 1/4″ inch homogenous filling. (Again, ground pork may be less tasty but easier.) Place chopped meat in a bowl. Wring out the water from the blanched cabbage using a kitchen towel, and chop to 1/4″ to 1/2″ pieces. Mix this together with the meat and all remaining filling ingredients, adding the cornstarch last.  Add chicken or pork stock slowly as you mix the filling in one direction. Continue adding stock until mixture is visibly wet and “sloppy.” If you’ve added too much liquid, and the filling is impossible to handle when making the dumpling, add more cornstarch to firm it up. Keep in mind that the filling will firm up when it is refrigerated. When you are ready to fill the dumplings, make one and boil it to test the flavor and texture, and making any adjustments at that time.

Wrapping the Dumplings:

I bought pre-made dumplings wrappers at the store as making the dough involves careful combining of boiling water and flour and a lot of rolling. If you want to be authentic, you can find the wrapping mixture online. If not, buy round frozen jiaozi or gyoza wrappers. Brush the outside edge of the dumpling with a little water to help it stick. Then place a large tablespoon of filling in the middle. Fold straight across in the middle – then create a “pleat” on the two sides. With your pointer finger, push the outer right corner in to create two folds – pinch the front fold with your thumb and pointer, the second fold with your pointer and middle finger. Do the same on the other side.

Confused yet? This rockin video might help.

Boiling the Dumplings:

In a large pot or kettle full of boiling water on high heat, add dumplings and stir gently to prevent them sticking to the bottom. Once the water is boiling fully, turn heat to med/med high, and boil for 4 to 6 minutes. Test the dumpling to make certain it is done. Serve immediately.

If you are boiling frozen dumplings, add approx 1 minute to the cooking time.

Dipping Sauce:

In China, you usually only use a basic dumpling vinegar, which you can probably find at Asian food stores. But we found this recipe for a sweet dipping sauce which was also really good.

  • 1/2 cup light soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup sweet soy sauce
  • 2 tbl Shao Xing wine or dry sherry
  • 2 tbl rice vinegar
  • 1-1/2 Tab finely minced ginger, steeped in 1/4 cup hot water for 30 min.

Now sit and enjoy your jiaozi! And let me know if you find other dumplin filling recipes.

Advertisement