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Jiaozi
饺子 / 水饺jiǎozisay JYOW-dzuh
The crescent that rings in every new year.
ALArchaeological or primary sourceFamily A · East Asian wheat-wrapper
About
Northern China's everyday and festive dumpling, shaped like a crescent or a silver ingot. Physical Tang-era jiaozi survive from the Astana tombs at Turpan, the oldest dumplings ever excavated.
Tastes of
- pork
- napa cabbage
- garlic chive
- ginger
- black vinegar
Texture
- chewy wrapper
- juicy filling
How to eat it
Dip in black vinegar with garlic or chilli oil; eat whole.
When
Lunar New Year's Eve; Winter Solstice in the north.
Did you know Families sometimes hide a coin in one dumpling; whoever finds it is said to be lucky all year.
History
Han 角子; Tang 扁食; Turpan Tang finds; Zhang Zhongjing "jiao'er" legend; ingot shape = wealth
Where
- OriginNorth China Plain · North China Plain · approximate · Han
- Claimed originNanyang (Zhang Zhongjing legend) · Central Plains · city · Han
- Evidence found atAstana cemetery Turpan · Gaochang/Turkestan · exact site
Sources
This entry is drawn from the World Dumpling Atlas, §6.1, the project's source report. Its grade, A archaeological or primary source, says how far that has been checked against a primary source. How grading works.
Related
Pork and napa cabbage jiaozi (boiled)
How to fold: Crescent pleat
1 Filling in the middle of the round
2 Fold in half and pinch the centre shut
3 Make small pleats on the front edge only
4 The pleats curve it into a crescent
Placeholder diagram. The atlas's illustrated fold animations will replace it.
Ingredients for 4
Dough
Filling
To serve
Method
- Stir the salt into the flour, add the cold water little by little and bring it together into a rough dough.
- Rest the dough under a bowl for 10 minutes, then knead until smooth. · timer 10 min
- Cover and rest the dough at least 30 minutes; it can rest up to 2 hours. · timer 30 min
- Chop the cabbage very finely, toss with 1 tsp salt and leave 15 minutes. · timer 15 min
- Squeeze the cabbage hard in a clean cloth until almost no water drips out.
- Put the pork, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, salt and pepper in a bowl and beat in one direction with chopsticks.
- Add the water a spoonful at a time, beating after each addition, until the pork is sticky and has absorbed it all.
- Toss the cabbage with the neutral oil, then fold it and the spring onions and sesame oil into the pork.
- Roll the dough into a long rope and cut it into about 40 pieces of 11–12 g. Keep them covered.
- Flatten each piece and roll it into an 8 cm round, thinner at the edge than in the middle.
- Put a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre, fold the round in half and pinch the top.
- Pleat one side of the edge towards the middle, pressing each pleat against the flat back, to make a crescent. Set on a floured tray.
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add about 20 dumplings, stirring gently so they don't stick.
- When it boils again, pour in 125 ml cold water. Repeat twice more (the "three boils"); the dumplings are done when they float and puff. · timer 8 min
- Lift out with a slotted spoon. Mix the vinegar, garlic and chilli oil and serve as a dip. Cook the second batch.
Notes. Jiaozi are the dumplings of northern Chinese family cooking and above all of Lunar New Year's Eve, when households wrap them together. Pork with napa cabbage is the everyday classic; pork with Chinese chives (jiucai) or fennel fronds, lamb with carrot, and egg with chives are common alternatives. Wrappers made with cold water, as here, stay chewy for boiling; hot-water dough suits steaming and pan-frying. Bought round wrappers work if time is short. Uncooked dumplings freeze well on a tray; boil from frozen, adding a minute or two. Some cooks add the cold water in stages while boiling, others simply hold a gentle boil until the dumplings float; both work.
Written for the atlas from several sources, cross-checked: Dumpling Wrappers (饺子皮), Maggie Zhu (Omnivore's Cookbook); Mom's Best Pork Dumplings, Maggie Zhu (Omnivore's Cookbook); Pork and Chive Dumplings (猪肉韭菜水饺), Maggie Zhu (Omnivore's Cookbook); Chinese Pork Dumplings, CiCi Li. Not yet kitchen-tested.
The tagline and story are editorial; facts trace to the atlas research. History sources are from the atlas and not yet independently checked.
Family A
