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The Dumpling 100 · make it at home

Pork and chive jiaozi (boiled dumplings)

1 hr 15 min · About 40 dumplings, 4 people

Northern China's everyday dumpling and its New Year table, boiled in a big pot and dipped in vinegar and garlic. Homemade wrappers are soft and chewy; store-bought work too.

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The real one

You need

• For the dough: 400 g (3 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
• 220 ml (scant 1 cup) cold water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• For the filling: 400 g (scant 1 lb) ground pork, 25% fat
• 150 g (2 cups) Chinese chives (or scallions), finely chopped
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 80 ml (1/3 cup) cold water or chicken stock
• To serve: Chinkiang black vinegar, grated garlic, chili oil

How to make it

1. Make the dough (10 min, plus 30 min rest): Mix flour and salt, stir in the water to shaggy crumbs, knead 8 minutes until smooth and firm. Cover and rest 30 minutes.
2. Make the filling (10 min): Stir pork, ginger, soy, wine, sugar, salt and pepper in one direction, adding the cold water a spoonful at a time until absorbed and the mix is sticky. Fold in the chives and sesame oil last (salt draws water out of chives, so add them just before wrapping).
3. Roll (20 min): Roll the dough into two ropes and cut each into 20 pieces. Flatten each with your palm and roll into an 8 cm (3 1/4 in) circle, thinner at the edge, turning as you roll.
4. Fold (20 min): Put a tablespoon of filling in the center, fold the wrapper in half and pinch the middle shut. Make 3 pleats on each side of the front edge, pressing them to the back edge, so it curves into a crescent. Set on a floured tray.
5. Boil (8 min): In a big pot of boiling water, add half the dumplings and stir gently so they don't stick. When it returns to a boil, pour in 250 ml (1 cup) cold water. Repeat twice more (three boils in all). When they've puffed and float, about 7 to 8 minutes, they're done.
6. Serve: Lift out with a slotted spoon. Dip in black vinegar with grated garlic and chili oil.

Tips

• The three cold-water additions cook the filling through without bursting the skins.
• Freeze on a floured tray, then bag; boil from frozen, adding a fourth splash of cold water.

Chef Amazing's own home version of jiaozi, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.