Jiaozi (“jow-zuh”), aka Chinese dumplings

Clover Huang and Josh Elman

Filling
1 Head Napa Cabbage (aka Chinese or Asian cabbage)
1 lb Ground Chicken
1 large bunch chopped Chinese chives (aka garlic chives)
¼ cup Sesame oil
salt & pepper (preferably white pepper) to taste
grated or minced ginger (optional)
1 lb ground or coarsely chopped raw prawns (optional)
1-2  eggs (optional)

Wrapping
1 pack potsticker wraps
1-2  eggs (beaten)

Dipping Sauce
Soy sauce
Vinegar
Optional: hot sauce, chopped garlic, sesame oil (use your imagination)

Filling
Wash and chop napa cabbage into bits. You could try using a food processor but I heard that it chops the cabbage too finely and makes the filling mushy. If you use a food processor, be careful not to chop it too finely.

Put in large bowl. (It seems like a lot of cabbage, but just wait).
Sprinkle liberally with salt. (You will drain most of the salt later so don’t worry about sodium overkill.)
Mix and let sit for 1/2 hour or longer.
Squeeze out the cabbage in a colander (use your hands to squeeze) and/or use a salad spinner and get rid of as much water as you can. The cabbage should have shrunk significantly, to 30%-40% of its original size.
Mix drained napa cabbage with the rest of the ingredients.

Wrapping

This is the only slightly difficult part that gets better w/ practice.

Put about 1tsp-1Tbsp of filling in the middle of the wrap.
Dip your finger in egg and spread on edge of wrap.
Fold the wrap in half, and and flatten the bottom of the meat so the dumpling sits up on its own.
Seal the two halves, optionally folding and tucking 2-4 folds on the seal (difficult to explain in words – Worst case, just fold it in half)!

Cooking
You can boil them (traditional way) or pan fry them (most people prefer this).

Boil:
Boil a large pot of water.
Add dumplings and set on medium heat. Gently scrape bottom of pan to make sure dumplings don’t stick to the bottom. (They will float pretty soon so you don’t need to do this again).
When it boils again, add 1 cup of water.
Repeat above step twice (so you add three cups total).
Scoop out and serve.

Fry:
Grease bottom of nonstick frying pan with 1 Tbsp oil.
Set dumplings in pan over medium heat.
Add 1 cup of water and cover. Cook over medium low for about 10 minutes.
When water evaporates, remove lid, turn up heat, and allow the bottoms of the dumplings to brown for a few minutes.

Serve.