Dumplings shui jiao
Dumplings shui jiao
Dumplings, or shui jiao, are one of my favourite foods. They are really tasty but also the perfect food for a working couple like Chris and I, for whom both of us work shift patterns.
Living in the UK is so different to living in Taiwan. Taiwan has many 7-11 shops which are open 24 hours, night market which are open until midnight and a lot of 24 hours restaurants such as Swensens, N.Y. Bagel and Citystar 24 hours Dim sum restaurant.
Whenever I make dumplings I always make at least 100 to 150. Compared to dumplings that you can buy in restaurants here, which normally cost about £1 each, we can make 100 hundred at home for approximately £10. This works out at around 10p each.
When I’ve made the dumplings I put them in the freezer in case we run out food or feel hungry in the night or just come back home from work.
This recipe is just one of the methods of making dumplings that I have used for a very long time. It’s a very common but also basic flavour in Taiwan. Of course there are so many different kind of filling that you can put it into your dumplings such as shitake mushroom, scallops, cabbage, cucumber, chinese white chive, carrots, prawns and so on.
Maybe you can try different filling at home and you could easily create your own special kind of dumplings!
By the way, some Chinese provinces have a new year’s tradition which is when the people will eat dumplings for New Year’s Eve and sometime they will put a coin inside the dumpling. The person who has the dumpling with that coin will be the luckiest one in the coming year.
Credit: These photos were taken by Chris at Chris Radley Photography
Dumplings Shui Jiao
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 150 dumpling pastry sheets 1 pack usually has around 50 sheets
- 600 g pork mince you can also use beef mince
- 400 g pork fat or pork belly without skin fat or fatty meat will improve the texture and taste
- 2 spring onions
- 1 handful dried shrimp soak in warm water for 15-20 minutes to soften then chop finely
- 300 g Chinese chive chop finely
- 30 g ginger chop finely
Seasonings
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- Couple pinches white pepper
Instructions
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Mix all the ingredients and seasonings evenly and leave it on aside for 30 minutes.
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Make dumplings as the procedures photo shows. You can use a little bit of water to help the edge of dumpling pastry to stick together.
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Place the dumplings onto a plate with some flour on the plate to prevent dumplings stick on the plate.
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Boil a big pot of water and cook dumplings in the boiling water.
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When the dumplings float on the top of water they are cooked and ready to be served.
Recipe Notes
The amount of time to prepare these depends on how many you make. I'm pretty quick at making dumplings and I'll make anywhere between 80-150 each time. Typically I'll spend 2-3 hours making dumplings.
