Handmade Chinese Dumplings "Jiaozi"

There used to be an Asian Shop in our neighbourhood.
They did sell Homemade Dumplings filled with either Minced Meat or Shrimps and I can tell you they were divine.
A couple of years ago they retired and in the absence of a successor they closed the shop.
So no more delicious dumplings…
Only now I was brave enough to try and make my own ones and I have to say we loved them.




Ingredients for 4 people

For the dough

400g flour
200ml water
salt

For the filling

1 piece fresh ginger (2cm)
30g chives
4 spring onions
300g minced meat of beef and pork, in equal shares
1 tablespoon rice wine
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
salt

Method

Mix the flour, some salt and 200 ml of lukewarm water in a bowl and make it into a smooth, elastic dough using your hands.

Peel the ginger for the filling and chop very fine.
Wash the chives, shake dry, clean the spring onions, wash and chop both very fine as well.
Mix the ground meat with ginger, chives, spring onions, rice wine, sesame oil, vinegar and soy sauce thoroughly in a bowl and add salt.

Shape the dough into quarters and then form each portion of dough into a 2cm thick roll.
Cut each roll into pieces about 2 cm long.
Shape each piece into a ball, use a little flour to thinly roll out the dough into circles (approximately 5 cm in diameter).
Spread the filling onto the dough, fold each circle into half-moons and press the edges together with your fingertips.

I use a plastic dough press for this.
Use a big pot and bring about 3 liters of water to the boil, add some salt.
Add the dumplings and cook them for about 4 minutes, remove and drain them.
Now simply dip into the sauce and enjoy.

Usually the dumplings are eaten together with a dip made of:

1 piece of ginger (ca. 2cm)
6 tablespoons of rice vinegar
6 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil

But we prefer a sweet chili sauce ;-)