猪肉饺子Pork Dumplings
Zhūròu jiǎozi
Wrappers from just flour and water, a pork, napa cabbage and pressed tofu filling seasoned with two soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil and black vinegar, then boiled.
- Time
- 1 h 40 hands-on, 1 h 50 total
- Makes
- dumplings
- Chapter
- 面点 Dough and dumplings
- Source
- Family recipe
配料 Ingredients
Wrappers
Filling
做法 Method
Dough
Put 300 g all-purpose flour in a large bowl. Drizzle in a little of 150 ml cold water and stir with chopsticks.
Keep adding water a splash at a time, stirring after each, until there is no loose flour left in the bowl. Stop there, even if water is left over.
Press the shaggy pieces together by hand and knead into a firm, smooth dough, about 5 minutes.
Cover and rest so the dough relaxes and rolls out without springing back. Make the filling while it rests.
Filling
Squeeze 400 g napa cabbage hard, a handful at a time or wrapped in a clean towel, to get out as much water as you can.
Put 450 g ground pork in a large bowl with 1 tbsp fresh ginger, 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine and 1 tsp Chinese black vinegar. Stir in one direction with chopsticks until the meat turns sticky and pulls together.
Add 150 g pressed tofu, 400 g napa cabbage, 3 green onions and 1 tbsp sesame oil. Fold through until evenly mixed, without working it more than that.
Roll and wrap
Knead the rested dough briefly, then roll it into a long rope about 2.5 cm thick. Keep whatever you are not working with covered.
Cut the rope into 40 pieces, each about 11 g. Toss them in a little flour so they don't stick.
Flatten a piece with your palm, then roll it into a round about 8 cm across, turning as you go so the edge ends up thinner than the middle. Roll a few at a time; fresh wrappers dry out fast.
Put a scant tablespoon of filling in the middle of each wrapper. Fold it in half and pinch the edges firmly closed, pleating if you like. Fresh dough sticks to itself; dab on water only if the edge has dried.
Set each dumpling on a floured tray, not touching the others. Repeat until the dough and filling are used up.
Boil
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the dumplings in batches and nudge them with a spoon so they don't stick to the bottom.
Each time the water comes back to a boil, add a cup of cold water. After the third time, the dumplings should float, puff up, and feel firm.
Lift them out with a slotted spoon. Serve hot, with more black vinegar on the side.
笔记 Notes
Tips
- The amounts are a starting point. Work by feel: the dough is ready when the bowl is clean of loose flour, and the filling is right when a test dumpling tastes right. Boil one and adjust the soy before you wrap the rest.
- Plain cold-water dough gives a chewy wrapper that holds up to boiling.
- To freeze, set the tray in the freezer until firm, then bag them. Boil from frozen with one extra round of cold water.
