MUZIChinese Matrix
Dumplings · FFET10304
A dumpling with a dough wrapper around a meat or vegetable filling, pleated and steamed, made at home and served among Cantonese dim sum.
A small round white porcelain bowl holds pale pleated steamed dumplings filled with brown shiitake mushrooms, pale napa cabbage, ground pork and minced ginger, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl.
Boiled, steamed and pan-fried dumplings, wontons and other filled dough foods.
Zheng jiao are steamed dumplings; jiaozi can be boiled, steamed or pan-fried, with a wheat wrapper and fillings such as pork, shrimp, fish and vegetables. Cantonese dumplings served as dim sum are usually steamed and have thinner wrappers. This method combines 2 recipes: a hot-water dough recipe and a family recipe for pork, shiitake and napa cabbage filling, which uses store-bought wrappers. The steamed form has no established date; dumplings from the Astana cemetery at Turpan date to the Six Dynasties through the Tang, but these dates concern dumplings in general, not specifically steamed ones.
Zheng jiao are thin-wrapped dumplings with a meat or vegetable filling, cooked by steaming. Jiaozi can be boiled, steamed or pan-fried, with a wheat wrapper and fillings such as pork, shrimp, fish and vegetables; steaming is one of 6 cooking methods.1,2
The steaming method has no established date; dumplings from the Astana cemetery at Turpan include some dated to the Six Dynasties (220 to 589) and others to the Tang, but these dates concern dumplings in general, not specifically steamed ones.3
Jiaozi are especially associated with northern China. Cantonese dumplings served as dim sum are usually steamed and have thinner wrappers.1,2
This method combines 2 recipes: make a hot-water dough with 3 cups of flour, 1 cup of boiling water and 1/4 cup of room-temperature water, knead for 10 to 15 minutes and rest for 30 to 60 minutes, then roll into rounds, fill and pleat. Line the steamer with cabbage leaves or parchment, set the dumplings about 2.5 cm apart, and steam over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes.4,5,6
Steamed dumplings are made at home and are also a kind of Cantonese dim sum dumpling.2,4,6
Legend has it that at the end of the Eastern Han the physician Zhang Zhongjing wrapped mutton and warming herbs in dough shaped like ears and gave them with soup to people whose ears were frostbitten; the custom of eating dumplings at the New Year is said to follow from this.
Told in: A folk tale. Chinese and English Wikipedia both present it as folklore with no source from the time, and it concerns jiaozi in general, not steamed ones.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the steamed dumpling I make at home, with the dough and the filling taken from two different recipes. The dough follows a signed hot-water dough recipe, including its amounts and its kneading and resting times. The filling follows a family recipe for pork, shiitake and napa cabbage, published through a cooking blog, which uses store-bought round wrappers and was written for about 72 small dumplings, so I roll my own wrappers from the hot-water dough, and how much filling goes in each follows the dough recipe. The steaming time, 8 to 10 minutes, agrees across the two recipes and a signed guide to cooking dumplings. The conversions from cups and pounds to grams and milliliters are my estimates.
Allergens: wheat, soy, sesame
