Dumplings

Dumplings (饺子) are common all over China and made in many different ways depending on the region. Today, we focus on the boiled dumpling of the north. It's filled with minced meat and vegetables and the thin wrapping is made of wheat flour. It goes great with soy sauce and black vinegar. Above, we enjoy them topped with a sauce of fresh sautéed tomatoes.

Method

Make a firm but pliable dough from wheat flour and water. Ball it up, cover it, and set aside.
 

Fill up a large bowl half way with minced pork. Finely mince ginger and scallions and mix them in. Also mix in some ground Szechuan pepper and a good amount of light soy sauce (more than you think you need). Next add the appropriately minced vegetables desired, anywhere from half to equal the amount of meat.

- For pork and leek dumplings, you just add minced garlic chive (韭菜) to the mix and no leek (the common name is a mistranslation). 

- For cabbage dumplings, you add finely minced napa cabbage leaves with the water removed. Before you add them, salt the chopped leaves and squeeze them as dry as possible with your hands.

- For root vegetable dumplings, grate daikon or carrot into fine shreds. Daikon has a bitter taste which is best removed by boiling. This will require cooling and squeezing to get the water out before mixing into the meat, which is fairly tedious.

Heat up a spoonful of the filling in a microwave to determine if it has the appropriate saltiness and adjust accordingly.

Roll out the dough into thin sheets with a pasta machine and cut out palm sized circles using an empty can. Place a little bit of filling in the center and wrap with the dumpling sheet, crimping the edges to seal it. Work fast as dried dough does not shape or seal well.

Add the dumplings to boiling water and stir to prevent sticking. When the water boils up again, add a bowl of cold water to temporarily stop the boiling. Do this 2 more times. At the final boil, you can scoop out the dumplings and eat them immediately or run them under cold water to prevent further cooking and sticking.

Notes

Dumplings are rather tedious to make from scratch. As a result, they are ideal for making in large quantities as a family activity. They are often eaten on Chinese New Year and year round as well.

Making the wrappers from scratch give the dumplings a better texture. The dough can also be rolled into a long roll, cut into little segments and individually rolled by hand with a small rolling pin. This is a more traditional way to make the wrappers, but I've always found this to be pretty difficult, so I opt for rolling a big sheet then cutting out the wrappers.

These dumplings go well with savory sauces like black vinegar and soy sauce. Other sauces include sambal oelek (rooster sauce) and soy sauce + sugar + scallion.