Jade Dumplings 翡翠水饺fěi cuì shuǐ jiǎo

Yields about 60 dumplings

Wrappers

• 200g + 200g       all-purpose flour
• ¼ + ¼  teaspoon    salt
• 110g                   water in room temperature
• 110g                   spinach juice (to make spinach juice, place 3 to 4 cups of baby spinach and ½ cup of water in a blender. Pour the ground spinach into a cheese cloth and squeeze the juice into a bowl.)

Filling

• 250g                    ground pork
• 125g                    ginger and spring onion water* (calls for 15g sliced ginger and 15g roughly chopped spring onions and 200g water)
• 1 teaspoon         salt
• 1 teaspoon         sugar
• 1 tablespoon      light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon        sesame oi
• 1 tablespoon        Chinese cooking wine (substitute it with Japanese mirin)
• 1 tablespoon       cooking oil (optional)
• 250g                    vegetables – you have the option of shredded zucchini, minced mushroom (either brown or button mushroom is fine) or minced Napa cabbage

Dipping sauce per person

• 1 tablespoon      Chinkiang vinegar 镇江香醋 (substitute it with Balsamic vinegar)
• ½ tablespoon       light soy sauce 生抽
• 1 teaspoon           any chili oil or minced chili, optional

Method

For wrappers and filling

1. Get a medium size mixing bowl. Place into 200g all-purpose flour and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Gradually add into 11g of water. Use your hand to mix them together. Tip the dough out on a lightly floured surface and, using your fingers and palms, knead for 5-6 minutes till the dough becomes smooth. Cover the dough/mixing bowl with clingy film. Leave to rest for 20-30 minutes.
2. Get another medium size of mixing bowl. Place into 200g all-purpose flour and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Gradually add into 11g of spinach juice. Use your hand to mix them together. Tip the dough out on a lightly floured surface and, using your fingers and palms, knead for 5-6 minutes till the dough becomes smooth. Cover the dough/mixing bowl with clingy film. Leave to rest for 20-30 minutes.
3. While dough is resting. Let’s season the filling. Add sliced ginger, spring onions and water in a bowl. squeeze ginger and spring onions in the water, rub them in the water then drain by discarding spring onions and ginger.
4. Use chopsticks or pork to stir in the water. Stir in one direction for about 1 minute. Add into 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil,1 tablespoon of light soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine. Mix well. Prepare your preferred shredded vegetable. Combine them with seasoned ground pork. Set Aside.
5. Now, let’s make the wrapper and assemble the dumplings. Divide white dough into three equal pieces. Divide the green dough into three equal pieces. Pick one piece of white dough and roll it out into a rectangular shape. Do the same with 1 piece of green dough. Place the green piece on top of the white piece. Use a rolling pin to press the dough down for them to be stick together. Pick up the longer side of the rectangular dough then roll up the into a rod shape. Cut them into 18- 20 equal small pieces.

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6. Simply use your hand to pick up each piece and pound it into the floured surface to make a small circular disc. Then use a rolling pin to smooth out each disc till it’s about 9cm in diameter – edges are thinner than the center as this has to hold the filling. You can constantly dust the rolling pin with flour to keep the wrappers from sticking.

Assemble

1. Place a wrapper in the palm of your hand and spoon 1 to 1.5 tablespoon of filling into the center of the wrapper, form a taco shape and bring the front and back together in the middle.
2. Start pinching one end of the wrapper to seal, heading towards the middle. Then do the same with the other end.

Continue working on the rest of the dough and filling to make 40 more dumplings by repeating the process with the rest of the dough and filling.

How to cook  

1. The whole process takes about 12-15 minutes.
2. Make a big pot of water to a boil.
3. Add the dumplings into the boiling water and cover the pot. Fill into the pot with 1 cup of cold water every 2-3 minutes for three times whenever the water starts boiling. Use the slotted spoon to push around the dumplings in the water to keep them sticking to the bottom from time to time.

Tips

You can always make large quantity of the dumplings and keep them in the freezer. Just allow 2-3 more minutes of cooking time when cooking the frozen dumplings.