Chinese Egg Dumplings (Dan jiao)

Juicy savory meat filling is wrapped in egg omelet wrappers. They can be served with some gravy or in a hot pot or soup. A Chinese New Year staple.

Chinese Egg Dumplings (Dan jiao)

CHINESE NEW YEAR EGG DUMPLINGS

I first learned about the Chinese egg dumplings or known as dan jiao, from Chinese friends. The egg dumplings are commonly seen during Chinese New Year. I was really intrigued because I’ve only seen or eaten dumplings wrapped in a skin made with flour. Immediately, this was on my list to learn to make. Basically, the meat filling is wrapped in individually made egg omelet wrapper/skin. The egg omelet wrapper is basically the replacement for the traditional wrapper made with flour. Hey…extra protein and less carb 🙂

HOW TO MAKE CHINESE EGG DUMPLINGS

1. Prepare the meat filling and marinade for at least 30 minutes

2. Prepare the omelet batter by mixing the beaten egg, cornstarch, and water

3. Make the omelet wrappers
Spoon about 1 to 2 tablespoon of the omelet batter and use the back of the spoon to smooth into about 4-inch circle. Make sure the heat is low

4. The bottom will start to set but we want the top part of the omelet is still “wet” so your dumplings can seal to close better. Quickly spoon about 2 teaspoons of the meat filling on the middle of the omelet

5. Use rubber spatula to fold the other half over and gently press the edges to seal. At this point, the meat filling is still raw, we are just making the dumplings


6. Continue with the rest of the egg batter and filling until you run out

HOW TO PREPARE GRAVY FOR EGG DUMPLINGS

Once you have the egg dumplings, you can use them for Chinese hot pot or cook them in the soup. Or you can prepare the gravy like I did for this recipe to serve with the dumplings. Here are the steps:
1. Pour chicken broth, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and wine in a large pan (with a lid). Bring to a boil and add the dumplings

2. Cover with the lid and lower the heat to medium low and cook for 5-8 minutes or until the meat filling is cooked

3. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked dumplings. Bring the chicken broth back to a boil and stir in the cornstarch mixture

4. Cook until the gravy is slightly thickened

5. Pour the gravy over the egg dumplings

6. Garnish with chopped green onion and serve immediately

I love making these egg dumplings. It may seems more complicated than it is, but the egg omelet wrappers are actually pretty straight forward to make.

TOP TIPS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO MAKE EGG DUMPLINGS SUCESSFULLY

1. Do not overfill the dumplings
When you make your first few dumplings, start out with probably about 1 teaspoon of meat filling until you get the hang of it. If you stuff too much filling in there, you are risking tearing the omelet
2. Make sure you have everything you need within your reach
Line up the egg batter, meat filling and empty plate all within your reach. The egg cooks pretty fast and so you want to work quickly but not in a panic way 🙂
3. Control the heat
Make sure the heat is low when you cook the omelet. We want the top of the omelet is still wet when you place the filling on top and so when you fold the omelet over to form a half-circle dumplings, it will seal

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Chinese Egg Dumplings (Dan jiao)

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 35 mins

Total Time 45 mins

Servings 20 dumplings

4.7 from 3 reviews

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Ingredients

  

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For filling:

• 200 gr ground pork/ ground chicken
• 1 Tbsp shaoxing wine
• 1 large egg
• 2 stalks green onion finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

For the skin:

• 4 eggs
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tsp water

For the sauce:

• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cornstarch + 2 tsp of water

Instructions

 

Prepare the filling:

• Mix all the ingredients for the filling and let it marinade for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, crack the eggs, add cornstarch and water and beat the eggs until lightly foamy
• Preheat a non-stick skillet with some oil over medium heat. When ready to cook, lower the heat to low. Spoon about 2 Tbsp of the egg mixture and spread it on the skillet with the back of the spoon to form about 4-inch circle (it's okay if it's not a perfect circle) 

Making the egg dumplings:

• When the bottom is cooked but the top is still wet, spoon about 1-2 tsp of the filling in the middle of the egg and then fold the egg over and gently press the edges so it seals, and you have a half circle. The filling is uncooked at this point. Repeat this until you are done with the eggs and filling

Cooking the egg dumplings:

• If you are using the egg dumplings for hot pot or soups, they are ready to be used. Just cook the dumplings in the hot pot broth or soups until cooked through

Prepare the gravy:

• If you want to serve with gravy, put all the ingredients for the sauce (except for cornstarch mixture) in a large pan or wok with a lid. Bring it to a boil. Add the egg dumplings you've made above and lower the heat and cover with a lid and let it gently simmer for about 5-8 minutes or until the pork filling inside is cooked through
• Once the egg dumplings are cooked through, use a slotted spoon to remove them and arrange on a serving platter. Bring the chicken broth back to a boil, at this point, the broth has been reduced by almost half after cooking the dumplings. Give the cornstarch mixture a stir and pour in while the other hand keeps stirring until the gravy is thickened slightly
  

Serving:

• Pour the sauce over the dumplings and garnish with chopped green onions. Serve immediately

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