How To Make The Best Jiao Zi (Boiled and Pan-Fried)
Course: Appetizer, Chinese New Year
Cuisine: Chinese
Prep Time: 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 15 minutesminutes
Marinade filling: 58 minutesminutes
Total Time: 45 minutesminutes
Servings: 35dumplings
Author: Marvellina
Learn how to make popular Chinese dumplings jiao zi that can be boiled (shui jiao) or pan-fried (guo tie) with juicy fillings. Homemade jiao zi is the best!
Mix the soy sauce and black vinegar in a small dipping cup/bowl and set aside for later use
Filling:
Toss the chopped cabbage with about 1 tsp of salt and let it sit for about 15 minutes. This step is to draw out water from the cabbage so it won't make your filling watery later. Lightly rinse with water to get rid of excess salt. Squeeze out as much water as you can. Set aside
In a bowl, combine the ground pork, egg, aromatics, and seasonings. Stir with a chopstick in one direction until the mixture is sticky and pasty. Add the green onion in and stir to combine. Cover and let it marinade for at least 1 hour or overnight if you have time
When ready to wrap the dumplings, add the cabbage in and stir to combine
Wrapping:
Scoop about 1 Tbsp or more of the filling on the wrapper. If you don't plan to do any pleatings, use your index finger, run a thin layer of water along half of the inner rim and press both sides together to create a tight seal, forming the shape of a half circle. Please refer to my post above for pleating some patterns
For boiled dumplings (Shui Jiao):
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Drop the dumplings in. You may need to do this in batches if you make big batch. Stir the dumplings so they won't stick to the bottom of the pot. The water will start to boil over. Pour 1/4 cup of cold water and let it come to a boil again. The dumplings should float. Remove with slotted spoon and dip them quickly in a bowl of cold water briefly, and then transfer to a serving platter
For pot stickers (guo tie):
Use a non-stick pan with a lid or cast-iron will work too. You need a lid that can cover whichever one you use. Preheat about 2 Tbsp of cooking oil.
Place the dumplings on the pan. You may need to do this in batches
Lower the heat to medium and let them cook until the bottoms are nicely golden brown, about 3 minutes
Pour in 1/4 cup of water and immediately cover with a lid
The steam helps to cook the dumplings. Lower the heat to low-medium and cook for another 2 minutes
Remove the lid and crank up the heat to let the liquid evaporates and the oil appears again. The dumplings are kinda sticky to the pan at this point (pot sticker remember?). Let the oil continue to cook the dumplings until the bottoms are crispy and nicely browned. The bottom shouldn't be sticky anymore and you can easily remove from the pan to serving platter. Serve immediately with dipping sauce