While making dumplings the other day, I decided to take pictures and blog about it. The pictures aren't great. In fact, I've noticed dirty counters, wadded up paper towels and other slightly embarrassing things as I add the pictures onto the blog. Even still, I'm kind of proud of myself for just taking these pictures and for following through on posting them. Way to go April! Way to take initiative and write a blog with those creative juices! Way to praise yourself! (no false humility here) We'll work on quality and true humility in later posts...
Picture 1: The filling - I used ground beef and cilantro. We are cilantro lovers, but you can put anything you want inside the dumplings. I have no idea what the measurements are, because I don't like washing measuring cups (therefore I avoid them).
Picture 2: I bought pre-made jiaozi wrappers. Our local grocery store sells out of them everyday, so I sent Rob over at 8am (as soon as the store opened). I went to buy more today at 8:20am and they were sold out. Filling the dumplings is easy. Plop some of the good stuff in the middle of each wrapper. Then, use your finger to run water around the edges of the wrapper. Finally, fold the dumpling over and seal the wrapper by pushing the wet edges together. Easy, but time consuming for a white-y who didn't grow up making these...
Picture 3: We like our jiaozi fried, but you can also boil them. Some people boil them and then fry them, but this seemed like too many steps for me and that method makes me wash 2 pots. This is what I do: I pour a little oil on the bottom of the pan. I pour a little water on the oil. I place the jiaozi in the pan, taking care to avoid them touching each other. Then, I cover the pan and cook it for a while. I have no idea how long, but they kind of steam themselves. Then, when they look cooked, I take the lid off the pan and I fry them until they look yummy.
Picture 4: This is when they look yummy. If I had this picture to do over, I would take the picture before eating one of the jiaozi and contaminating the soy sauce. Now the soy sauce looks a little greasy. Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20 or so I've heard...
Picture 5: A close up of the yummy. If I took this picture over again, I'd wash the cutting board first.
Picture 6: Another option is to individually freeze the raw jiaozi. I saw my friend Ang do this once. Look how small my fridge and freezer are - oh, how I suffer... ;)
Picture 7: After they freeze on the tray, you can scrape them off and put them in a ziplock bag. If you want, you can even put them in your imported cheese drawer. That's what we do.
Happy Jiaozi Making!!!!
Oh... this REALLY makes me miss Chinese Food.
ReplyDeleteI would be wife of the year if I made these for Adam...
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