Sunday, January 22, 2012

Dumplings

I used to live in China. It was a wonderful experience and I miss so much about it- especially my many dear friends. While I was there, I had the chance to travel, to experience many aspects of the culture, and to indulge in one of my favorite things: Chinese food. I was fortunate, too, to have the opportunity to learn how to make many of my favorite dishes including dumplings (called jiaozi in Chinese).

I have many sweet memories of large dumpling-making parties around New Years! So, in honor of these memories and since it's an important part of many of my Chinese friends' New Years celebrations, I made some pork filled jiaozi today. They were so delicious!

I used what I remembered from the past to make my dumplings, but for anyone interested in attempting these at home there is a good recipe at About.com. What I can share with you are two tips I picked up in China for boiling them.

The first is to keep your dumplings turning around in the pot. When they are almost done, you'll see that they will float to the top of the pot. The dumplings are glossy at this point and you should keep boiling them for 1-2 minutes more.

The second tip I have to share is for knowing when they are done. After they have been floating at the surface they will start to puff up. When your dumplings lose some of their glossiness and puff up, they should be done.

Finally, here are some photos from my very first time making jiaozi in China.  Such good memories!

My first apartment in China
Preparing the meat
Preparing the dumplings
My first attempt at making a dumpling

Happy Eats!

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