Recipe - Chinese Dumplings (Jiaozi)

On the eve of Chinese New Year, our family will gather together to make the Chinese dumplings aka jiaozi. When I was a little girl, I enjoyed the process of making the dumplings. I still remember vividly that my grandmother would put a coin inside one of the dumplings. As the old wives' tale goes, the person who eats the dumpling with the coin will have all the luck for the whole year. I guess this is one way to make us eat more. The more dumplings we eat, the higher chance that we may be the lucky person. @-@

Now that my grandmother has passed on, we still continue to make dumplings during Chinese New Year Eve. It is through this event that brings back the fond memories and tends to bring the family members closer together. Please read on for the full recipe.

Makes about 60 dumplings
Preparation time: approximately 2 hours (excluding marinating fillings and dough resting time)


Ingredients

Dumpling skin:
300g plain flour
150g water

Fillings:
300g shoulder butt pork
6 grey prawns (remove shells and veins)
100g ku chye / chives (cut into small pieces)
200g wong bok / bok choy / Chinese cabbage (chop into small pieces / blender)
2 pieces shiitake mushrooms (cut into small cubes)
2 bunches of dried vermicelli (soak for about 10 minutes and cut into short strips)
1 egg

Seasoning:
0.5 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoon light soy sauce
3 tablespoon sesame oil
3 tablespoon hua tiao wine
Dash of pepper

Dippings:
Black vinegar
Ginger (slice into thin strips)


Instructions for fillings
1. Mince pork and prawns together.
2. Mix in ku chye, bok chye, shiitake mushrooms and vermicelli into the minced pork and prawns.
3. Beat the egg into the fillings.
4. Add in the seasoning into the fillings, stir well and leave it in the refrigerator for about 1 hour (for marinating).


Instructions for dumpling skin
1. Make a hole in the heap of flour.
2. Slowly add water into the flour and mix evenly.
3. Knead the mixture till it does not have the sticky texture.
4. Cover the dough with a wet cloth and put it aside for about 0.5 hour.
5. After 'resting' the dough, knead again and roll into a long round strand.
6. Cut the long dough into small balls (3L x 3B cm).
7. Flatten each ball before using the rolling pin to roll it into a flat round disc.


Instructions for making dumpling
1. Place the flatten dough onto your palm, scoop a teaspoon of fillings and place in the centre.
2. Fold the flatten dough over and pinch at the top end first.
3. Fold in the bottom edges to secure the fillings.
4. Fold one crease over and pinch it, continue creasing and pinching from one edge of the dumpling to the other edge.


Instructions for cooking dumplings
1. Place dumplings neatly on a greased strainer.
2. Place the strainer with the dumplings into a wok of boiling water.
3. Steam it for about 10 minutes.
4. Serve with ginger and vinegar.