Dad’s Shandong-style Jiaozi, the best dumplings in the world

Dad’s Shandong-style Jiaozi

Makes about 75 dumplings

For dough:
250g plain flour
125ml cold water

For the filling:
500g ground pork (not too lean. Remember, fat is flavour!)
125ml water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
1 egg
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
50g dried shrimps (“hae bee”), soaked till soft, drained and finely chopped
500g grated and chopped courgette (zucchini)
250g finely chopped Chinese chives (“koo chye”)
Salt and pepper to taste

For the dipping sauce:
125ml soy sauce
2 tbsp. Chinese black vinegar or rice vinegar
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 teaspoon of chili paste or oil (optional)

Special equipment:
a 15cm rolling pin or dowel
A large, covered pot in which to cook the dumplings

Make dough:
Put the flour in a large bowl, then add water, stirring with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out dough (including any loose flour) onto a work surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.  If the dough is too sticky, mix in some extra flour. If it seems a bit dry, sprinkle with a bit of water. Form into a ball and cover well in plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature at least 30 minutes.

Make filling while dough stands:
Put the ground pork in a bowl, and start mixing a bit of water in, stirring in one direction only. Chopsticks are ideal stirring implements if mixing by hand. Continue adding water, the soy sauce and the wine and stirring all the while until the filling looks a bit sticky. You may not need all the water so don’t dump it in all at once!

At this point, add in the egg, sesame oil, ginger, dried shrimp, zucchini, chives and salt if needed. Fry off a little patty to check the taste; it should be highly seasoned and almost too salty, as it will be put into skins later on.

ASSEMBLY
After the dough has rested, continue kneading 5 more minutes on a lightly floured surface. The dough should be elastic, smooth and not sticky (it should feel as soft and silky as a baby’s bottom!). Divide the dough into two and cover the piece you aren’t using with some plastic wrap. Roll the other piece of dough into an even rope, about 20cm long. Cut the rope into 1.5cm lengths to form about 30 pieces. Roll each bit into a ball and flatten with your palm. Start rolling out each small disc of dough with a rolling pin that has been lightly dusted with flour into 7.5cm rounds, rolling from the centre to the edges, making the centre slightly thicker and the edges thinner. Remember to keep all unused dough covered when not using.

Line a tray with parchment paper or dust well with flour. Work on one dumpling at a time, keeping the remaining wrappers covered. Place about two teaspoons of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Starting at one end, seal the dumpling together by squeezing to form a crescent shape. Place filled dumpling on the prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining ingredients until all the wrappers are filled.

Bring large pot of water to boil. Add enough jiaozi to cover the base of the pot about one and a half times, stirring to make sure none stick to the base of the pot. Cover.

When it comes to a boil, add 250ml cold water. Cover and repeat two more times. When the water comes to a boil for the third time, the dumplings are ready. Scoop out with a spider onto a plate and serve immediately with sauce on the side.

NOTE: The theory behind adding cups of water is that if you stop it before the third boil, the meat will not be cooked through. Also, if you don’t add cold water each time, the jiaozi will fill up with air and explode. So Dad says—so that’s how we cook ‘em!

Make dipping sauce:
Combine vinegar, soy sauce sesame and chilli, if using.

TO KEEP
You can freeze uncooked dumplings for later use. Freeze dumplings separately on trays until firm, then put them in freezer bags. When cooking from frozen, cook exactly the same way as above.