Chinese dumplings

Are you cooking?

All about culinary art...

Chinese dumplings – recipes for jiaozi, wontons and goti

Chinese dumplings are a favorite and popular dish of oriental cuisine, not very labor-intensive to prepare. The innards for this dish are mushrooms, meat, vegetables, even fruits. Seafood, lard, and bamboo shoots are added to it.

The calorie content of products depends on the production option and varies from 170 to 260 kcal per 100g. Let's look at making Chinese dumplings in several interpretations step by step and with bright photos.

Chinese jiaozi dumplings

Jiaozi is a common dish in Chinese cuisine, which is prepared from dough with meat inside (mainly minced pork is used) and vegetables (usually with cabbage), but sometimes only from meat. The dish has various shapes and is served with a sauce made from crushed garlic, soy sauce and vinegar. The name of the Chinese dumplings, jiaozi, translates as “tender ear.”

2 cups of flour;
Big onion;
400 g minced pork;
1/3 cup starch;
200 g of fresh dill;
50 g fresh ginger root (about 5 cm);
A glass of cool water;
Pepper and salt - to taste.

Mix flour with starch and sift into a bowl. Add water evenly and knead into a homogeneous dough. The amount of water can be adjusted independently;
During the manufacturing process, for the inside, add finely chopped dill, finely chopped onion and ginger root, grated with a grater, to the minced meat. Add salt, pepper and mix;
Let's pinch off small pieces from the test mass and roll them out into flat cakes. We put the filling in the middle of each product: if the cakes are small - a teaspoon, if larger - a tablespoon;
Next, carefully lift the edges of the dough up and fold it in the shape of a flower, not forgetting to pinch it slightly. So let’s create all the blanks;
Later, we will place our semi-finished products in a double boiler for 15-20 minutes, or boil them in small batches in salted water;

Chinese dumplings are served steamed (or boiled) with a salad containing finely chopped cucumber and green onion, sprinkled with lemon juice. You can also lightly sprinkle the salad with sweet paprika or chili pepper.

Chinese "gothi"

In the Middle Kingdom, Chinese fried dumplings are called “goti”. They are a common New Year's dish, but are prepared all year round. In Russia, this dish is known as “Gedza”, and it is served in Chinese and Japanese restaurants or cafes. Such products are made with the inside of pork and vegetables (Chinese cabbage).

Composition of goods (for 24 pieces):

250 g Chinese cabbage;
A large spoon of snow-white dry (or Shaoxing-rice) wine;
85 ml water (room temperature);
2 huge spoons of light soy sauce;
175 g wheat flour;
Garlic clove;
300 g minced pork;
2 stalks of green onions;
Large spoon of vegetable oil;
1/4 teaspoon each of salt (for the inside) and ground (dark or white) pepper;
6 small spoons of sesame oil (for frying and sauce);
A circle of ginger (from the freshest root);
A small spoon of dark rice vinegar.

Chinese dumplings recipe:

Sift the flour and mix with water - first with the help of wood sticks, later with your hands. Bring the dough to a homogeneous state;
Wrap it in a bag and place it on a work surface for 20 minutes;
Peel the ginger and garlic, pass the last one through a press, grate the ginger on a small grater;
Add to the minced meat along with any pepper, salt, a spoonful of soy sauce, 3 small spoons of sesame oil, and wine. Knead thoroughly, cover, put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes;
We cut young leaves of Chinese cabbage into narrow strips (it is better to use the lower part). Place in boiling water for 2 minutes, remove from the water, drain in a colander, and dry;
Finely chop the cabbage and chop the green onion, add to the marinated minced meat;
To make a dip sauce at home, mix the remaining soy sauce with sesame oil (a teaspoon) and rice vinegar. If desired, add 1/4 small spoon of chili oil;
Again, knead the dough for Chinese dumplings until soft, smooth, and elastic. Roll into a bun, divide into 2 equal parts, which we roll into sausages. We cut each one into 12 similar pieces, making 24 dumplings;
Roll each piece into a ball and roll it out into a thin circle about 8-9 cm in diameter (the rest of the pieces need to be covered so as not to get chapped);
Place a teaspoon of entrails in the middle of all the circles, then lift the edges up from the sides, moisten them with warm water, pinch them in such a way that the seam of the “goti” comes out from the top;
Heat a huge spoon of sunflower oil in a flat frying pan and transfer the semi-finished products there;
Fry over medium heat until golden brown, without turning over. Next, pour in 1/4 cup of water, close the lid, fry for another 5 minutes, then remove the lid and evaporate the water;
Add 2 teaspoons of sesame oil to the dumplings, cover again and fry for about 2 minutes.

Place the tasty and satisfying “goti” in a flat dish, fried side up, and serve with dip sauce (this is a special type of dressing in which you need to dip food, in our case, dumplings).

The preparations can be frozen and kept in the freezer, or fried immediately (frozen semi-finished products do not need to be defrosted before heating).

Wonton dumplings - step-by-step recipe

Wontons are a popular variation of Chinese dumplings with a deliciously savory interior made of bamboo and shrimp. Products can have different shapes: square, triangular, round in the form of a bag (closed and open), an envelope.

The melt-in-your-mouth dish is fried in oil, steamed or boiled in a pan.

Testicular white;
0.5 large spoons of sugar and sesame oil (can be replaced with vegetable oil);
400 g boiled large peeled shrimp;
200 g minced pork;
2 tablespoons starch (or rice flour);
130 g of small champignons in marinade or bamboo sprouts;
2 huge spoons each of snow-white semi-dry (or rice wine) and soy sauce;
1/2 small spoon of ground dark pepper;
About 200 ml of boiled water;
600 g flour (in dough);
A tablespoon of sunflower oil (in the dough);
Salt - to taste.

Grind the shrimp with a fork and mix with the minced meat;
Finely chop beech sprouts (or mushrooms), add to the mass;
Season the filling with sugar, wine, soy, pepper, butter;
Combine with starch (or flour) and protein. Mix everything well. If the minced meat is dry, dilute it with boiled water;
Sift the flour for the dough and make a hole;
Add 100 ml of boiling water to the flour, add some salt, and mix in the butter. Add more cooled boiled water;
Knead the elastic dough mass and leave to “rest” for 10 minutes;
We divide it into three parts. Cover and remove two pieces;
Roll out a piece of dough to 2 mm and cut out circles 5 cm in diameter;
Place a teaspoon of entrails on each piece;
We collect the products: we form a bag with an open top in the shape of a “neck”;
Place wontons with minced meat in a steamer for 15 minutes. We place a circle of carrots under each piece to avoid sticking to the surface.

You can serve dumplings with any sauce: chili, sweet and sour, sesame-garlic, etc.

Video: Chinese Fried Dumplings Recipe

Chinese dumplings

There is a wide variety of Chinese dumplings, among which the most common are:

wontons
baozi
jiaozi
dim sum

Let's see what is the difference between them? How are they prepared and what are they eaten with?

Chinese dumplings are served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

If there is a gala dinner coming up, it is better to serve several varieties of dumplings to the table right away.

It is also considered good form if there are dumplings on the table prepared in various ways: fried, boiled and steamed.

And, of course, Chinese dumplings , just like Russian dumplings, can be prepared for use.

Also, just place them in the freezer, and later take them out as needed and cook them to your own taste.

Pictured: Chinese dumplings

Wontons or Hongtun

Wontons are semi-circular dumplings that are most often added to noodle soup.

Wonton soup is especially popular for New Year's because the noodles in it are believed to symbolize longevity..

Wontons come in round or triangular shapes.

Production methods: steamed, boiled or fried in vegetable oil.

In China, they sell ready-made dough for wontons, which is already cut into squares or circles, but it can also be prepared independently.

Wontons are made using several methods: either tightly joining the edges of a sheet of dough, or leaving them open, giving the wonton the shape of a jug.

Interior for wontons: chicken or pork, also shrimp, Chinese cabbage and mushrooms (shiitaki or xianggu).

In some provinces sweet wontons ; in this case, the inside is fruit, for example, bananas.

Distinctive Personalities of Wontons

In Cantonese cuisine, wontons are most often served with narrow rice or fried soy noodles as a main course, or placed directly in soup.

In Sichuan cuisine, wontons are most often molded in the shape of a triangle, Sichuan pepper is added to the minced meat, and chili pickles or whole pickled peppers are served with the dumplings themselves.

In Shanghai cuisine, they prefer to separate two types of wontons.

Small dumplings stuffed with pork are placed in the soup.

And large ones, almost the size of a palm, are fried and served as a separate dish.

Jiaozi

Interior. The interior for jiaozi is usually made from vegetables, most often from Chinese cabbage; pork is also used as the interior.

Preparation shape: can be round or triangular.

Production method: jiaozi is fried very occasionally - usually they are simply boiled in boiling water.

Zaozi itself is not spicy or salty, so it is most often served with chili pickles mixed with soy sauce.

Pictured: jiaozi dumplings

Baozi

Chinese dumplings are steamed.

They are usually made from yeast dough, which is denser than wontons.

Interior. Vegetables (carrots, peppers, Chinese cabbage), shiitake mushrooms, tofu cheese, meat and chicken can be used as interior for baozi.

Baozi are often made sweet (Doushabaotzi) - then the inside is paste and boiled reddish beans with sugar.

The Chinese prefer to eat baozi for breakfast..

This dish is especially popular in Shahi cuisine.

In Cantonese cuisine, baozi is prepared using smoked pork as the inside (here this dish is called Cha sui baau).

There are dozens of variations of baozi in Northern China

Types of dumplings in Chinese national cuisine

Dumplings are a special and fundamental part of Chinese culinary culture. And specifically in this country, for us, they taste the best. The Chinese are rightfully proud of their skill in preparing dumplings - they truly have no equal in this. You can verify this by visiting at least one restaurant in the Middle Kingdom that specializes in dumplings. On any ceremonial table there will be this dish, symbolizing wealth, prosperity and happiness. In China, dumplings are sold everywhere as street food - freshly prepared, fried. This is one of the more beloved fast foods.

You could write a whole book about the Chinese art of making dumplings. We will tell you about the main types of dumplings and their differences.

JIAOZI (餃子).

These are the most common Chinese dumplings with meat and vegetables inside. Most often, pork is used as meat, and the most popular vegetable filler is Chinese cabbage. They are served at any time of the year and for any meal - breakfast (most often), lunch and dinner. In restaurants, jiaozi are often served 10 pieces directly in the beech steamer in which they were prepared. Typically, jiaozi is served with dipping sauces, among which the first place is a sauce made from the consistency of soy sauce, dark rice vinegar, garlic or ginger. Often, sesame oil, Shaoxing culinary rice wine, and chili pepper are added to it.

Read also: Potato and zucchini stew

Jiaozi can be boiled or steamed in a beech steamer. Often, after steaming, jiaozi is also fried until golden brown. These dumplings are stuffed with a variety of innards. Usually, this is a mixture of meat and vegetable components, one to one. Pork, chicken, lamb, beef, shrimp, fish are usually used as meat fillers, and Chinese cabbage, mushrooms (especially the Chinese dark wood mushroom muer), leeks, celery, spinach, and carrots are used as vegetables.

The most common method of forming jiaozi dumplings is to fold the round wrapper with the inside in half, pinching the edges to form several folds. The dumpling comes out in the shape of a crescent.

WONTONS (餛飩).

They are also called Hongtun. This type of dumplings is made from the thinnest and most delicate wrappers (the dough is rolled out to a thickness of 1 mm). Wontons are usually steamed and often served drenched in a seasoned broth. The most common inside for wontons is minced pork or shrimp with vegetables, garlic, green onions and spices. Mushrooms are also added, most often xianggu (in our country you can often see the Japanese name for these mushrooms - shiitake). Bamboo trunks are often added to the filling for wontons - their elastic texture, reminiscent of pineapple pulp, and gentle pleasant taste greatly enhance the taste of the dish.

One of the most popular New Year's dishes in China is wonton noodle soup. In all countries of Southeast Asia, noodles symbolize longevity. Wontons also have a symbolic meaning of wealth and prosperity - the Chinese associate their shape with gold bars.

This type of dumplings has different methods of forming them, which means different dumpling shapes. The most common and simplest shape is triangular. The square blank with the inside (usually the usual size of the blank is 8*8 cm) is folded in half diagonally and the edges are glued together. There are quite a few options for forming wontons based on this form. For example, in Sichuan cuisine, the corners at the base of a triangular shape are overlapped. In one of our recipes you can see in detail how to form wontons in Szechuan style.

Every region of China has its own preferences for how to serve wontons. Most often they are served drenched in broth or simply steamed. Less often - the so-called “dry” wontons, after steaming, they are deep-fried until crispy with a juicy interior. In Sichuan, wontons are drenched in hot reddish Hong Yu chili oil; in Shanghainese cuisine, wontons are served in chicken broth with cilantro, ginger and sesame oil, or in fish broth, often with the addition of aquatic plants. You can also often find large wontons; one such wonton can fill you up at lunch or dinner. In addition, Shanghai cuisine is famous for its many wonton innards (over a hundred varieties).

SHAOMAI (烧卖).

This is a type of Chinese steamed dumpling. Their highlight is that they are open - in other words, the dough shell does not completely cover the filling. When forming a dumpling, the edges of the round wrapper are lifted up and pinched, creating folds, while part of the inside remains uncovered. Shaomai dumplings resemble the bud of a half-opened flower. When made in a double boiler, steam enters the filling, and it becomes even more juicy. Often, Shaomai dumplings are prepared from translucent dough, through which the filling is visible.

Inner Mongolia is considered the birthplace of this method of rolling dumplings. Shaomai are quite popular as street stir fry food. This type of dumplings will definitely be on the festive table. By the way, these dumplings are also very popular in the Land of the Rising Sun.

There are so many options for internals for Shaomai that it’s impossible to count. Every region of China has its own preferences. The main ingredients (excluding seasonings and spices) are lamb, beef, pork, poultry, chopped Chinese sausages, fish, shrimp, crabs, assorted seafood, tofu, mushrooms, rice, jusai garlic onions, pumpkin, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts , lotus root, ginger, garlic, pepper, carrots, starch, ground sesame, soybean or mung bean sprouts, various soybean pastes and almost all, almost all other ingredients.

Dipping sauces for Shaomai may include, depending on the regional cuisine, sesame oil with soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, soy sauce with rice vinegar and Shaoxing rice wine with ginger, garlic and green onions, Hong Yu hot chili oil, sauces based on sesame paste, sweet and sour sauce, plum sauce, sauce based on dark pepper - the number of sauces is very plentiful. Also, don’t forget about the countless sauces for factory-made dumplings.

XIAOLUNBAO (小笼包).

Another variety of Chinese steamed dumplings, whose homeland is Shanghai. The name of the dumplings contains the words 小笼 (xiao long), which translated means “small steamed braid.” These dumplings are “relatives” of the Chinese steamed baozi pies, only much smaller in size, they are served directly in the beech steamers in which they were prepared. The dough for xiaolongbao can be not only custard (as, for example, for wontons or jiaozi), but also yeast. The dough shell is quite narrow. The fascinating feature of this type of Chinese dumpling is that inside the shell there is an interior in the broth; it is the presence of broth in the dumpling that has made xiaolongbao so popular among dumpling lovers. In China, these juicy mini-pies are quite adored, and there are many restaurants that specialize only in this type of dumpling. They are somewhat more difficult to prepare than other dumplings, due to the peculiarities of the modeling method, as well as the presence in the list of ingredients of jelly cubes from the broth, which are placed in the dumpling at the stage of its formation. Xiaolongbao are shaped like a pouch with a tail at the top. Variants of entrails are usually found based on pork. They are usually served with a dipping sauce made from dark rice vinegar and ginger.

Jiaozi, Chinese dumplings

Chinese cuisine is richly decorated with various delicacies in the form of minced meat in a dough shell. Chinese dumplings, of which there are dozens, if not hundreds of varieties, are a very ancient dish. Jiaozi dumplings are very common - they are simply recognized by the special angular shape of the products, similar to an oblong crescent.

The origin and translation of the name 餃子 is not entirely clear. I read somewhere that the beginning of the word means “angle”, and in combination with the second hieroglyph - angular dumplings, or triangular dumplings, in some places like that. Although the online translator interprets this as “dumpling”. In the classical form, such Chinese dumplings are a shell made of narrow unleavened dough with minced meat - meat, vegetables, etc. Jiaozi differs from other dumplings, for the most part, by a special type of pinching of the dough

After sealing the insides into the dough, Chinese dumplings are boiled, steamed, fried or baked, and used for soup, like wontons. To a greater extent, the dough is prepared in the most common way - unleavened, from wheat flour and water. Buckwheat flour is used less frequently. The dough is kneaded, then cut into pieces, which are rolled out into circles of various diameters, which describes the size of the dumplings. With all this, the thickness of the dough is no more than 1 mm.

The entrails often do not contain meat. For my taste, the most exciting option is mushrooms fried with herbs and eggs. It is easy and accessible to cook at home. In addition to mushroom and vegetable entrails, you can also find fish, seafood, chicken, etc. The easiest way to prepare dumplings is by frying or steaming. By the way, a Chinese wood steamer is just a necessary thing in the household.

The most common sauce for Chinese dumplings is a mixture of soy sauce with rice vinegar, ginger and garlic. With him, jiaozi are simply amazing.

Such dumplings are of fundamental importance in food culture. Firstly, this is a common and widespread type of street food. On city streets you can see a huge number of stalls and cafes where jiaozi is prepared in huge wooden steamers located in several tiers. Secondly, all the ingredients are inexpensive, which means they are available. Well, thirdly, this is a celebratory food on the eve of the Chinese New Year and almost all families, when preparing dumplings, hide a coin in one of them, which will bring fortune to the finder.

Ingredients for Jiaozi

Wheat flour 2 cups (260 g)
Mushrooms (shiitake, oyster mushrooms, champignons) 200 g
Testicles 3 pcs
Green onion (feather) 0.5 bunch
Spinach 1 bunch
Sesame oil, wuxiangmian, cumin, soy sauce additives
Soy sauce, rice vinegar, coriander, garlic, ginger, hot pepper, brown sugar for sauce

How to cook jiaozi

At first glance, it may seem difficult to make dumplings. This is wrong. Everything is as simple as possible there. The dough is simple and is simply rolled out with a rolling pin or pasta machine, and the modeling process itself is no more difficult than making ordinary dumplings or ravioli. The skill is consolidated quite quickly and each product takes half a minute. It is important that all ingredients - dough and interior - are prepared in advance.

Preparing the insides for jiaozi

Ingredients for the inside

Fry mushrooms in sesame oil

Stirring, fry the eggs

Add all the greens, then the mushrooms

The inside must cool down

Preparing the jiaozi dough

Prepare a thick regular dough

Roll out the dough thinly and cut into circles

How to make Chinese dumplings

Place the filling on the dough

Cover the filling with dough

Pinch the edge of the dough in a special way

How to cook jiaozi

Chinese dumplings in a wood steamer

Preparing the sauce for serving

Prepare soy sauce with garlic and ginger