Polly also showed me how to make Jiaozi (Chinese Dumpling) when she came over to make the salted mustard with pork belly dish. Polly learned how to make Jiaozi from Xiao Qin who came from Taiwan.
Jiaozi is a Chinese dumpling which consists of minced meat and chopped vegetables wrapped into a piece of thin dough. The more popular meat filings are ground pork, ground beef, ground lamb, or shrimp. The vegetables can be Chinese cabbage, green onion, leek, chives, shiitake mushroom, water chestnut, etc.
Jiaozi can be boiled or shallow-fried and then steamed. When shallow-fried and steamed, it’s call potsticker.
On Chinese New Year’s eve, making and eating dumpling is a tradition in China. Family members would get together to make jiaozi.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs lean ground pork
- 1 bunch green onions
- 8 pieces shallots
- 2 medium onions
- few celery sticks
- 10 pieces of dried shiitake mushroom, soak overnight
- 4 packages of dumpling skins, about 200 pieces
Seasoning:
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 2 eggs
All the ingredients except the dumpling skins and eggs have to be chopped finely. Mix all the ingredients except the dumpling skins together with the seasonings in a large bowl.
Click on the link below for the instructions.
Instructions
 Here is how to make the Jiaozi. Place a full teaspoon of the meat mixtures onto a piece of dumpling skin on your palm. Use a finger to dab the edges of the dumpling skin with water. You dont have to wet all the edges, just four corners will do. |
 Form into a moon shape by bringing the edges together. Press the edges to seal the dumpling. |
 Crimp the edges to make sure the edges are tightly sealed. |
 This recipe yields about 200 Jiaozi. You can adjust the amount of the ingredients to suit your family. The Jiaozi can be frozen at this point. It will last for a few months in the freezer. |
 To cook the Jiaozi, bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop in the Jiaozi gently and keep stirring with a pair of chopsticks to prevent them from sticking to one another and to the bottom of the pot. When the water comes back to a boil, add in half a cup of cold water. This is to prevent the dumpling from breaking up due to the over rolling boil. When the water comes back to a boil, the dumplings are cooked. |
You may serve the Jiaozi with some noodles in soup or just enjoy them with some dipping sauce like sweet chilli sauce or a vinegar sauce.
I will certainly make these for my family. They keep well in the freezer and comes handy for a simple noodle soup or just for snacking. Polly, thank you so much for sharing.
Yummy! I’ve always wondered how the Chinese restaurants make their dumplings. This seems to be the closest recipe. 🙂 I love the site and am looking forward to future recipes.
I saw the photo and said “Tortelli Cremaschi”, a special tortello made during Ferragosto in the city of Crema. These are formed in exactly the same way. So cool!
glad to know that yrs kids love it so much. So, how many actually end up u manage to make? (for me, 1.5 lbs meat = 100 pcs)?
Wow, I’ve never thought of putting celery in dumplings, but that’s the great thing about them, isn’t it? Versatility. My mom used to throw in some cilantro, water chestnuts, and shrimp, plus a little cornstarch. It’s been ages since I’ve made any, but you’ve made me want to try it again!
Hi Polly, I managed to make about 200 pieces with the 3 lbs of meat.
Surely there should be some minced fresh ginger in this, no?
Hi Steve, Polly’s jiaozi recipe is somehow rich in onion flavour, however if you like ginger, you may certainly add in some fresh ginger. In fact, the ingredients for the filing are quite flexible.
Excellent step-by-step post! I love the instructions and the pictures. (I am definitely going to add you as a link from my webpage.)
Your blog really makes me very hungry! Have alot to learn… Thanks for sharing
Wow ,It is so great! It helps me a lot .Thanks!
Thanks for the recipe. Keep it up.
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Looks vaguely like my mother’s filling. 🙂