Inauthentic Jiaozi

If you were to tell me that I would only be able to eat one thing for the rest of my life I would cry. But then I might just choose this.

As you can tell by the title, this isn’t exactly an authentic version of these delicious little Chinese dumplings. Rather these are an amalgamation of my childhood Jiaozi version (courtesy MamaFizzle), mixed with my appreciation of Ravioli, and my own taste-bud’s emphatic contribution in my experimentation to acheive Ultimate Deliciousness.

This is (for me, anyway) the Ultimate Deliciousness.

Part 1: Inauthentic Dough:

–4 cups flour
–1 teaspoon salt
-A bit of sugar (I put a 2 tablespoons in there)
–2 eggs in a measuring cup
-Fill the rest of the measuring cup with water up to 1 to 1 1/2 cups

Make dough with whatever amount of water works best for your climate. Knead. Cover with cling wrap and let sit for a couple of hours…

Part 2: Inauthentic filling

Authentic Jiaozi uses raw stuffing which gets cooked later in the dumpling itself when boiling. For me (and MamaFizzle), pre-cooking makes it easier and faster for later, and more flavorful. So I just stir-fried my delicious filling:

–Minced meat
–Grated Carrot
–Chopped up Cabbage
–Spring Onions
–Oyster Sauce (I used lots and lots ‘cuz yum)
–Soy Sauce
–Salt

That’s just my personal preference, but remember, whatever filling you use needs to be slightly too salty and too flavorful to be eaten plain. Also, try and boil away excess liquid. Working with liquid in the filling just makes things a lot harder later.

Part 3: Making the Dumplings

This is the time consuming, tedious part, that is only really worth it because these things are so so delicious, and also, you can make them in bulk and freeze them, which makes for incredibly delicious ten minute snacks later…

Like in the photos, you make little balls, flatten them into little circles, put a bit of filling in, fold it back, and use a fork to crimp the edges:

Make sure you keep the rest of the dough covered while you’re working. You don’t want it to dry out. Freeze them by sticking them on a flat surface in the freezer (I just used a plate) and leave to freeze. You can flip them over after about an hour so it won’t stick to the surface later. When they’re frozen, put them in a ziplock bag.

Now for the best part. The barely ten minute- easy snack. Seriously. Just dump however many Jiaozi you want into a pot of boiling water. Cook until the Jiaozi float.