Chicken and Chives Dumplings

Dumplings is one of those simple yet delicious Chinese creations, made out of meat, seafood or sweets covered in thin dough made out of flour cooked by boiling, steaming or frying.  There are different types of dumplings and here are some of the popular ones.

Jiaozi – The most popular dumpling in China, it contains chopped vegetables and minced meat, usually consumed during Chinese New Year’s Eve, the 5th day of Chinese New Year, special family reunions and family farewell parties.
Wontons – nearly similar to Jiaozi in terms of fillings but wrapped differently and usually boiled together with soup.
Zongzi – These are triangle or cone shaped sweets like red bean, dates or even meats where the skin is made out of glutinous rice usually consumed during Dragon Boat Festivals.
Shumai – Yes this are considered as dumplings as well, covered differently as the top part is usually exposes the fillings.
Tangyuan – Another sweet type dumpling which are smaller in size and also made out of glutinous rice flour can be filled with peanuts, red beans, sweet sesame, lotus seeds, and much more.  This is usually consumed during the Lantern Festivals.

This is one of my favourite Chinese dishes and most probably the first on the list specially the Shumai’s we can?t leave a Chinese restaurant without ordering those, there are hundreds of varieties of this lovely dish for me is the Chinese counterpart for the Japanese sushi.  They?re small, they pack a lot of flavours and they are a work of art especially if you see the other intricate varieties.  For this recipe we will be making the simple one which is the Jiaozi and we will be filling it with minced chicken and chives, it can be deep fried, steamed or boiled.

Ingredients

Wonton wrappers

500g minced chicken

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp Chinese rice wine

freshly ground black pepper

1 stalk spring, finely chopped

1 cup chives, finely chopped

1 tsp ginger paste

Method

1. In a mixing bowl mix together all ingredients except for the wrappers.

2. Place 1 tbsp of the meat mixture into the middle of each wrapper then dampen the edges of the wrapper with water. Now the dough over the filling making a half moon shape then seal the edges by pinching it.

3. If you are boiling:  Place water into a large pot and bring it to a boil, once boiling place dumpling slowly one by one while giving it a gentle stir to avoid them sticking together.  Cook each dumpling for around 2-3 minutes.

If you are deep frying: Heat up a oil in deep fryer and deep fry each dumplings for 3 minutes

If you are steaming : Place dumplings in steamer and steam for 25 minutes.

Filed under: Chinese Tagged: Boiled, Chicken