Making Jiao Zhi (Chinese dumplings)

Posted on 17 February 2008 under Chinese Food

It’s still CNY and I wanted to do some festive cooking.. I thought of steamboat, but it’s just a couple of us, I decided to make jiao zi instead. Every year, I’ve read about China chinese cooking jiao zi for their CNY dinners. Looks pretty good; making it from scratch with all the raw materials seems enticing.. Preparing the filling was easy; just mix your choice of meat with veg and seasoning.

I mixed the mince meat with mince garlic and ginger, chopped onions and spring onions. Marinade with oyster sauce, sesame oil, pepper, chinese cooking wine and light soy sauce.
I had more issue with the dough though..I think I added too much water while I was kneading the dough..It got real sticky, but was ok after I let it sit for about 40 mins.And we started making dumpling skins…I must say it’s rather therapeutic making dumpling skins; very comforting indeed. hehe. And it’s lovely making it with friends or close ones, just yakking away while placing the filling and folding the dumpling skins; laughing at the awkward looking dumplings we’ve made Cook the dumplings in boiling soup ( mine was chicken stock with sesame oil and pepper)..And tahdah! Ok la for my first try at making jiao zi..At least it looks like jiao zi..hahaha..Other than the slightly thick skin, it was passable. Think I will make this again quite soon