Jiaozi From Another Mother

This week’s ingredient roulette: peppers, cheese, turkey, and mushroom! Luckily for me, I had bought ground turkey on BOGO (buy one get one) last week…which is the same instance that I bought too much meat, and ended up making this: surf ‘n’ turf pizza. It’s not really too post worthy since I didn’t make the crust, but I did make the sauce and seared my own steak (brownie points, right?) 😀

I wasn’t really craving anything, but I needed to use at least one package of the ground turkey soon – I had already thawed it -_- And since burgers/tacos/spaghetti/other-recipe-that-uses-ground-beef-typically required too many props I did not have (eg. buns, tortillas, pasta), I remembered something really quick and easy to make, which some may find daunting – jiaozi AKA dumplings.

Last summer I studied abroad in China, and one of the staple foods that everyone ate, could be found anywhere, and everyone seemed to know how to make since they were in the womb were jiaozi. Jiaozi are steamed, pan fried, or boiled with a traditional pork and shredded cabbage filling and served with a vinegar-soy dipping sauce on the side. The correct pronunciation by the way does NOT rhyme with title completely, but it does kind of if you say it fast, and read it like, “Gee-yao-zuh From Uh-nuh-thuh Muh-thuh.”

Dumpling Making with Students

Anyway we attended some classes at Jiangnan University in Wuxi, an hour outside of Shanghai, and one day was purely a cultural lecture. And given we were on the trip under a functional food grant, there was food to be had! Hands on learning at its finest: the first time we were given the wrappers and the filling pre-made by other students, and they just taught us how to wrap them – shaped like suns, moons, “wontons”, triangles, coins, and the traditional dumpling shape served at most restaurants. Rumor had it that the more folds you could fold on a jiaozi, the more marketable you are for marriage! (I can do 8 – 10 folds D:) The second time we made the filling ourselves, and from there I wanted to go pro! Okay, not really, but I became a little obsessed with making them when I got back to the States. Also another life-changing decision occurred after returning from China – I wanted to attend graduate school for Food Science.

Back to the present! I had a lot of turkey, no wrappers, and an indecisive mind for the filling, so I made three different fillings and my own wrappers. Note: recently, three-way (fill in food item here) have been trending in our kitchen, so don’t be surprised if Microchip also posts a three way (She prefers the term (fill in food item here) roulette, though).

Wrapper (makes 12-16)

• 1 cup of flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup of water

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Slowly add the cup of water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing with a spoon/hand until a soft, NOT sticky, dough starts to form. You do not need to add all the water. Knead dough into a smooth ball, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. Roll the dough out into a coil about ½ inch thick and cut it into 12-16 pieces. Form each piece into a ball and use a rolling pin to roll it into a round shape about 3 inches in diameter. If not using immediately, use squares of wax or freezer paper to separate the wrappers.

I doubled this wrapper recipe to use all of the filling below by the way.

Filling I (Asian inspired)

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1 cup kale leaves (stems removed, roughly chopped)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• ¼ cup diced onions
• 2 tsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• ½ tsp of sesame oil
• salt&pepper

Filling II (Tex-Mex inspired) #ingredientroulettefulfilled

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp cumin
• 1/3 cup of shredded monterey jack cheese
• ¼ cup diced tomatoes
• salt&pepper

Filling III (Indian inspired)

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1/3 cup boiled potatoes (diced)
• ½ tsp minced garlic
• 1/3 cup diced onions
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp asafoetida
• 1 tsp cumin
• salt&pepper

For all the fillings, just mix the respective ingredients together in a separate bowls per filling. You can make up your own, too! That’s the best part!

Folding:

I don’t know how to explain this well in words, and I didn’t shoot a video. I also don’t think I’m an expert at folding jiaozi. But here’s the idea: In the middle of one wrapper, place about a teaspoon or two teaspoons of filling in the middle. Fold the wrapper over, thus creating a half moon shape, and pinch the dough at the apex (the middle of the semi-circle). From each side you can start folding inwards creating a fan like shape. Start with one or two folds per side.

Other shaped dumplings you can make – place filling in the center of the wrapper. Gather the excess wrapper, creating a knapsack shape (like one you would attach to stick if you were running away from home when you were six) and pinch at the top.

Empanada shape – Fold over half -moon style and use a fork to create the creases along the semi-circle edge.

There are so many ways to folding the dumpling, so have fun!!

Cooking Method: I fried/steamed mine which resulted in the pot sticker effect.

1. Heat a pan to medium heat and add enough oil to just cover the bottom of the pan.
2. Sit the jiaozi in the pan with the skirt and bump side touching the oil (these are made up terms – see photo for details).
3. After the edge starts to brown, grab the lid, add a 1/3 cup of water (depending on the size of the pan – mine is a 9 inch skillet) and close the lid quickly – so not to burn yourself.
4. Keep the lid on, and continue cooking until the noise/steam dies down, about 3-4 minutes, and remove them from the pan. (They might stick to the pan, hence pot stickers, but you can use a spatula to ease them off without breaking the dumpling.)

I’m thinking about Italian inspired next time with a pesto or marinara dipping sauce! Wait, isn’t that called ravioli?!

❤ The Food Scientist