Jiao Zi (饺子)

This is a special post for my cousin Kristie who is living on Cayman Islands. We were online chatting about food, and I was describing what we were planning to have on this Winter Solstice evening. She requested for the recipe, so here it is!

The recipe below has been adapted from a well cherished recipe from my mother. It's developed from the basic meat seasoning recipe. The seasoned meat is very versatile. It can be used as meatballs in simple soups for noodles, or steamed as a dish to go with rice, and as below used for Jiao Zi wrapping!

I've included an extended list of ingredients as you will see. Excluding the optional ingredients will still give you a basic seasoned mince not lacking in taste.

Makes approximately 40 dumplings.
Ingredients:

1. 500g fresh ground pork
2. 1 egg
3. 1 tsp salt
4. 1 tsp sugar
5. 1 tbsp sesame seed oil
6. 1/2 tsp pepper
7. 3 tsp cornstarch
8. 3 spring onions thinly chopped (optional)
9. 6 water chestnuts chunky chopped (optional)
10. 200g shrimps roughly chopped (optional)
11. 2 packets (200g per pack) of Jiao Zi pastry

Method:

1. In a deep bowl or plastic container with lid, season ground pork with salt, sugar, pepper, sesame seed oil and egg. Mix thoroughly, then add cornstarch and mix until cornstarch is well disolved into meat. If in a bowl, use cling wrap to cover bowl, otherwise just pop the lid on the plastic container and chill prepared mince in the fridge.



2. This can be prepared 1 day ahead. If preparing on the same day, allow at least 30mins chilling time.
3. Whilst chilling meat, chop up the shrimps, spring onions and water chestnuts. Put aside in separate containers.
4. Bring out chilled mince from fridge. Add shrimps, spring onions, and water chestnuts into mince and mix well.



5. Now the wrapping of Jiao Zi begins... Taking one Jiao Zi wrap on one hand, using another scoop up a spoonful of mince and lay it in the centre of the Jiao Zi wrap.




6. Use some cornstarch in water to mix up a light solution that can help the sealing of the sides. Apply the cornstarch solution to the sides, then lightly fold it over into half, slowly sealing and lightly stretching the sealed wrapped edges.






7. When you're almost complete with wrapping, start a pot of hot water to boil. Add a dash of oil just before putting the Jiao Zi into the boiling water to prevent them from sticking together. Cook for approximately 10minutes, but usually when they float to the surface, it indicates that it's cooked.



8. The presentation and serving can vary depending on individual taste. You can serve it in a special soup; or serve it dry with special sauces (sweet & sour chilli sauce, garlic chilli sauce, sliced ginger in vinegar & soya sauce). If you're a Jiao Zi fan, you will know there are many ways to savour this dish. My favourite is the ginger in vinegar & soya sauce.

Here I share with you an article (in Chinese) with a short history of the Winter Solstice (冬至節). It gives you a short background to the significance of the Winter Solstice in Chinese culture. Hope you enjoy the Jiao Zi with this article!