PolitiCook.net

Tieyu’s Pork Jiaozi

Written by Anne Hawley on April 20, 2008 – 11:26 pm -

I was lucky enough last year to make the acquaintance of a visitor to my Mandarin class, a young woman named Tieyu who was here on an exchange from China. She said she loved to cook. Since she was here by herself and brand-new to the US, I invited her to my house and asked if she’d like to show me how to cook something traditional. We went shopping at the local full-service pan-Asian grocery, where she helped me understand what I was buying.

Then we came home and made dumplings. Jiaozi. Little slippery, boiled bites of savory deliciousness, which my whole family came over and helped us eat. They’re kind of a production number to make, but loads of fun. Real party food. The uncooked dumplings freeze well, if by some chance you have any left.

I understand that traditional Beijing-style jiaozi are quite plain–just pork and a bit of salt inside the wrapper, depending on dipping sauces for added piquancy–but Tieyu’s recipe, from farther north, has all the piquancy built right in.

Tieyu’s Pork Jiaozi

Aromatic soy sauce for dipping (this recipe is from Fuchsia Dunlop’s wonderful Land of Plenty)

1/3 cup dark soy sauce
2/3 cup water
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1 2-inch piece of ginger root, slightly crushed with the flat of a knife
1 star anise
1 2-inch piece of cassia bark
1 generous sprig of fresh fennel-top

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan, bring just to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Strain before serving.

Wrappers:
2 cups unbleached white flour
2 tsp salt
Water

Mix flour and salt together. Add water to make a soft but not sticky dough. Knead well (I use the stand mixer). Divide the dough into a couple of pieces, flour them, and cover with a bowl to rest for 20 minutes or so.

Or, you can buy small dumpling wrappers, but that’s no fun.

Filling:
1 lb fresh unseasoned ground pork
1 large bunch nira (Japanese chives–somewere between green onions and western chives. You could use either, or a combination of both, as a substitute, but the key is LOTS. They come in huge bunches at the Asian market, and the whole bunch goes into the filling.)
2 eggs
1/2 cup good quality mild cooking oil (I use grapeseed)
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
1 large piece of ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon Szechuan pepper (aka Chinese prickly ash bark powder, aka hua1 jiao1 mian4). This is a key ingredient in Szechuan cooking, and there’s no substitute.
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

Finely chop all the nira. Peel and finely mince both the ginger and the garlic. Using a pair of chopsticks, your hands, or a wooden spoon, mix these, and all other ingredients, into the pork in a large bowl. You will have a big old mess of loose, oily, chivey, meaty filling.

Put a big pot of salted water on to boil.

On a large surface, with plenty of flour at hand, roll and squeeze each piece of the wrapper dough into a log or rope about an inch in diameter. Break off small pieces (I actually use a kitchen scale, and 9 grams is the perfect size).

With plenty of flour around, flatten each piece under the center of your palm, making kind of a UFO or lentil shape.

Using a Chinese rolling stick (a Western rolling pin will work in a pinch), roll each piece out around its edges, leaving a slightly thicker middle, keeping them as circular as you can. The wrappers should be quite thin, and about 3 inches in diameter. Stack these up, keeping plenty of flour on them to prevent sticking together.

Put a small lump–a scant tablespoon or so–of the filling into the center of a wrapper. Do not let the filling touch the edges, or the dumpling won’t seal properly. Bring the edges together. Pinch the top and make a little tuck at each corner, forming a little “purse”. Be sure the dumpling is well crimped shut.

Put the dumplings into the boiling water, enough at one time to make a layer in the pot. Gently nudge them around to be sure they don’t stick together or to the bottom of the pot. When the water returns to the boil, add a cup of cold water.

Bring the water to a boil a second time, then add another cup of cold water. Repeat for a third boil and a third cup of cold water. When the water boils for the fourth time, the jiaozi are done. Lift them out with a big slotted spoon and drain them carefully. Then make more.

Serve piping hot with dipping bowls of the warm aromatic soy sauce. The jiaozi are also delicious with a little chile oil.

Tags: Chinese dumplings, jiaozi, Szechuan cooking
Posted in Food, Recipes |