Dumplings are part of Chinese culture,a traditional dish of the country, symbolizing wealth, family reunification after a long separation. There are almost 1500 types of this dish, some of them are festive, others are suitable for everyday use. Every family in China celebrates the New Year with this dish, performing certain rituals. Decorating the dish is considered a special art, because dumplings are a kind of decoration for the festive table. Let's look at the two main forms of cooking this Chinese dish: jiao-zi and wontons. The former are flat and have dough that resembles Russian dumplings in taste and density. Wontons (or vantans) look like a knot with green ties, and the dough for them is rolled out much thinner. By the way, it was thanks to jiao-zi that the famous Italian ravioli appeared - Marco Polo brought back from his travels a notebook full of recipes for Chinese dishes. There are an incredible number of fillings for dumplings, but we have specially selected each recipe for you - with the least exotic ingredients. As with any dish, there are nuances in preparation. For example, vegetable fillings should be cut immediately before molding the products, and minced meat can be mixed and frozen in advance.
Jiao Tzu - Chinese steamed dumplings
This is probably the closest recipe for a Chinese dish to what we call "dumplings". Ingredients:
- forcemeat (pork) - 400 grams
- dill (fresh) - 200 grams
- onion bulb (large)
- ginger (root, 5 cm)
- 2 measuring glasses of wheat flour
- salt and pepper (according to your taste)
- starch - the third part of the glass
- water (cold) - 250 grams
Method of preparation:To make the dough for Chinese jiaozi dumplings correctly, use the following recipe: mix flour with starch and sift into a bowl. Gradually pour in cooled water until you have a smooth soft dough, stirring it constantly. You may need a little less or more flour or water, depending on its type and the volume of the glass. Next, prepare the filling. Add finely chopped dill and onions, finely grated ginger root to the minced pork (preferably home-ground). Salt and pepper the minced meat to your taste. Now that the filling is ready, move on to sculpting. Pinch off a small piece of dough and roll it into a flat cake with a rolling pin. Place a spoonful of filling in the center of each flat cake, depending on the size of the piece. Then carefully lift the edges of the flat cake up and fold it into a flower shape, pinching the edges a little. Repeat the process until you run out of dough or mince. Make the last jiaozi in the spirit of Chinese traditions: put a coin, thoroughly washed with soda, into the dumpling together with the mince. Now grease the steamer bowl with butter or vegetable oil and cook the jiaozi for about a quarter of an hour. Of course, you can simply boil them in moderately salted water, like regular dumplings, but steaming them will make them much more tender. Serve the dish with a salad: chop the cucumber and green onion into strips, sprinkle the vegetables with lemon juice and sprinkle lightly with chili or sweet paprika (optional). Enjoy!
Chinese dumplings with shrimp Wonton
Most often, wontons are served with the broth they were cooked in. This is eaten last. Ingredients: For the dough:
- wheat flour in / s - 300 grams
- egg
- salt - half a teaspoon
- mineral water - 125 milliliters
- starch potato - 100 grams, for rolling the dough
For the minced meat:
- pork - 250 grams
- chicken fillet - 150 grams
- shrimps peeled - 100 grams
- ginger root - 1 teaspoon
- feather bow - 3 pieces
- soy sauce - spoon
- parsley and dill - 7 branches each, only leaves
- Sesame oil - half teaspoon
- rice vinegar - dessert spoon
- salt and pepper
For the sauce:
- soy sauce - 50 grams
- Terryaki sauce - 25 milliliters
- water boiled - 25 grams
- sugar - 1 pinch
- lime juice, chili sauce sweet, sesame seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
Method of preparation:Making minced meat to bring the dumplings recipe to life is quite a laborious and painstaking task, so you can call on your household to help — let them do their bit, then it will be easier to prepare a truly family dish. Cut the washed meat, shrimp and vegetables into very small cubes. Use a sharp knife with a thin blade. Perhaps you will have an idea to make the task easier for yourself and just grind all the ingredients through a meat grinder, but we strongly recommend grinding with a knife. This way the filling will taste much tastier and more original. So, you have chopped chicken, pork, shrimp, ginger, and greens. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and beat it against the walls until the minced meat becomes sticky. Leave it for a while and start kneading the dough. To do this, sift the flour into a container, beat the egg with fine salt in a separate bowl and pour in 65 milliliters of mineral water. Now make a "crater" in the flour mound and pour in the liquid 1 tablespoon at a time. If necessary, you can add a little water, but you don't have to use it all. The main criterion for good dough is softness and elasticity. Form a lump and cover it with a damp towel. Once you're done with the cooking, divide the dough into 4 equal parts, take one and leave the rest under the towel so they don't dry out. Sprinkle starch on the work surface and roll out the dough, only very thinly, into a square with a side of 25 centimeters. Now cut it into smaller squares, as you wish, large or small. Sprinkle starch on each piece - now you can stack them without the risk of sticking together. Take a spoonful of minced meat and put it in the middle of the square. The filling should take up about 1/9 of the area. Lift the edges and roll the bag up, pressing the "belt" slightly below the edges of the dough. The molded wontons can be steamed, boiled in water, in broth, or frozen for later meals. If you have shrimp heads and tails left, do not rush to throw them away. Lightly roast the remains in the oven, and then cook broth from them with the addition of parsley and a piece of leek. Strain it - and the aromatic shrimp broth for boiling wontons is ready! It will emphasize the taste of the dish, and you use the products to the maximum, and this is one of the postulates of Chinese cuisine. The recipe for the sauce for these dumplings is extremely simple: grind sesame seeds in a mortar and pour in all the other ingredients listed. That's it. Tender, aromatic Chinese wonton dumplings with incredibly tasty filling and original sauce are ready, bon appetit!
Classic Chinese dumplings
The recipe for these dumplings is similar to the previous one.method of making dough. You can make the dough yourself, or you can use a store-bought frozen dough for wontons. This amount of products is calculated for 4 servings. Ingredients:
- 180 grams of chopped Peking cabbage
- 225 grams of minced pork
- tablespoon dry sherry
- a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce
- a tablespoon of cornmeal
- 3 centimeters of ground ginger root
- one finely chopped green onion feather
- 36 frozen 9x9cm wonton dough sheets
- 1 egg white
For the sauce:
- soy sauce - 60 milliliters
- 5 centimeters finely chopped ginger
- 60 milliliters of rice vinegar
For garnish:
- stewed asparagus and sesame seeds
- Green onion for decoration
Method of preparation:Start making the classic Chinese dumplings recipe with the most labor-intensive task — preparing the filling. Measure out 3-3.5 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil the Chinese cabbage for a minute, drain the water and immediately pour cold water over it. Let it cool. Then squeeze out the excess moisture from the cabbage and chop it very finely. Squeeze it again and mix with the rest of the ingredients from the list. Now it’s time to mold it. Place several sheets of dough on a sheet of oiled baking paper. Brush each piece with egg white around the perimeter with a brush. Place 1 teaspoon of minced meat in the center. Lift the opposite ends of the dough and close the minced meat. Glue the edges of the dough together. Prepare the rest of the dumplings in the same way. Once you’ve finished molding, put a saucepan or wok on the fire. Pour water to a level of 1 centimeter, bring to a boil. Carefully place the dumplings in a saucepan in one layer "bottom down". Stir carefully so that they do not stick to the bottom. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and cover the saucepan with a lid. Let them cook for exactly 5 minutes, and in the meantime, prepare the soy sauce - just mix all the ingredients. Fish out the finished Chinese dumplings with a slotted spoon and arrange on 4 plates. If you can serve stewed asparagus sprinkled with sesame seeds, this will be a truly national dish. It does not matter if you do not have such a side dish, because the dumplings are good on their own. Enjoy your meal!
Chinese lamb dumplings
Below we will give you a recipe from a Chinese chef of the imperial kitchen. This method of making dumplings is 100% authentic and has come to us from the depths of ancient times. Ingredients: For the dough:
- flour - 500 grams
- room temperature water - 150 grams
- salt - a third of a teaspoon
For the filling:
- pulp of lamb - 200 grams
- radish daikon - 200 grams
- bulb
- ginger grated - a teaspoon
- veal (seasoning) - ¼ teaspoon
- soy sauce - 3 tablespoons of tea
- salt - 2 grams
- sesame oil - 1,5 tablespoons
For the sauce:
- soy sauce - 25 grams
- soy vinegar - 25 grams
- garlic (chopped, but not crushed) - a teaspoon
- sesame oil - a third of a teaspoon
- vedan - a third of a teaspoon
Method of preparation:The recipe for a successful dough has a little trick - the water temperature should match the air temperature. Knead the dough as we described earlier ('Chinese dumplings with shrimp Wonton') and leave it for 50 minutes. In the meantime, start cutting the minced meat. Grind the meat with a very sharp knife, add ginger, soy sauce. Peel and grate the daikon, add a little salt. Let it sit for the juice to come out. Squeeze the vegetable slightly and add to the meat mixture. Pinch off small pieces from the dough ball and roll thinly with a rolling pin. Make dumplings of the size and shape you choose. Boil in boiling water for 7 minutes and serve with sauce - just mix the ingredients from the list in a bowl. Enjoy!
Chinese dumplings dim with shrimps
Dim sum is a traditional morning meal. It is served with tea, fried like small pies. Ingredients:
- shrimps tiger peeled - 400 grams
- soy sauce (best light) and rice wine - two tablespoons
- canned bamboo sprouts - 150 grams
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons corn flour
- sesame oil - tea spoon
- Wheat flour sifted - 2.5 cups
- freshly ground pepper
Method of preparation:We suggest making this dumpling recipe in the traditional way — starting with the filling. Finely chop the shrimp and bamboo shoots, add water (4 tablespoons) and soy sauce, ground black pepper, sesame oil and wine, mix, but very thoroughly. Then pour in the corn flour and mix well again. Prepare the work area of the table. Sift the wheat flour into a mound, make a small depression in the center and pour in first half a glass of hot water, then a third of a glass of cold water, then add vegetable oil. Knead the elastic dough with your hands and immediately begin rolling it out and sculpting the dumplings in a way that is convenient for you. This dumpling recipe is best revealed when cooked with steam. Cover the bottom of the steamer with Chinese cabbage leaves and place the dumplings at some distance from each other. Cook them for 5 minutes on the strongest steam. Enjoy your meal!
Pelmeni in Chinese with cucumbers, shrimps and trepanga
Если вы можете достать трепангов, обязательно приготовьте этот рецепт китайских пельменей. Кушанья из морских деликатесов особенно нежны и оригинальны. Ингредиенты: Для теста:
- 600 grams of wheat flour
- 220 milliliters of water
For the filling:
- 300 grams of shrimp
- 150 grams of cucumber
- 50 grams of trepanga
- 25 milliliters of sesame oil
- 3 grams of black freshly ground pepper
- 5 grams of finely grated ginger
- salt - a pinch
Method of preparation First of all, make the doughfrom flour and water as described in the previous recipe. Roll out all the dough into circles, sprinkle each with potato starch and stack them. Then start preparing the filling. Grind the peeled shrimp and trepang to a puree. Wash and peel the cucumbers if necessary. Chop them finely, squeeze and add to the minced meat. Pour in sesame oil, salt and pepper (you can replace it with paprika), add ginger and beat the minced meat well against the sides of the dish. Place the prepared filling in the form of small balls on the dough blanks and mold the dumplings into knots. Boil them in boiling lightly salted water until done. Enjoy!
Chinese dumplings with eggplant and pork
An incredibly tasty combination of meat and eggplant!We are sure that after trying this national dish of the Celestial Empire, you will definitely add it to your family cookbook. The dough recipe is absolutely identical to the previous one, so you can make dumplings with 2 fillings and please your loved ones with a riot of flavors on the dinner table. Ingredients: For the dough:
- 600 grams of wheat flour
- 220 milliliters of water
For the filling:
- 300 grams of aubergines
- 150 grams of finely chopped pork pulp
- 50 grams of onions
- 25 milliliters of sesame oil
- 3 grams of black freshly ground pepper and ginger powder
- salt to taste
Method of preparation Using the abovemethod, make the dough and roll it into flat cakes. Once done, start preparing the filling. Wash ripe eggplants, peel, chop finely. Salt the mixture, let it stand for about a quarter of an hour and squeeze it by hand. Chop the washed pork and onion in the same way. Mix the vegetables and meat, add sesame oil, pepper, ginger and salt. Start making dumplings. Just before serving, boil them in boiling salted water until done. You can serve this dish with a hot sauce. Enjoy your meal! As you can see, such a tricky and complicated-looking dish as Chinese dumplings is quite accessible to our average person. Choose the recipe you like - let's join the ancient culture together and prepare a delicious lunch or dinner for your loved ones! We recommend reading:
