First things first. Prepare the filling first so the meat is marinating while you prepare the dough for the wrappers.
My preference is to use ground pork. You can also use beef, or half pork and half beef. Or lamb, chicken or fish. You can also make vegetarian shui jiao with egg and tofu. Add any or a combination of these vegetables—spring onions, Napa cabbage, Chinese chives, Chinese mushroom and fresh or canned water chestnut.
The most traditional xian or filling is pork with Napa cabbage. My (and Russell’s) favorite is ground pork and Chinese chives, jiu cai, so this recipe uses it but if you find chives too pungent, substitute with cabbage.
You can put whatever your like in a dumpling. I went to a nouveau dumpling store recently and they had shui jiao wrapped with kale, squash and basil. Tasted western.
Pork With Chives Shui Jiao Filling
Filling for about 100 shui jiao
Preparation time: 15 minutes
1 pound ground pork
8 ounces Chinese chives, chopped finely
1 teaspoon grated or finely chopped ginger
½ tablespoon chopped garlic
Marinade
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
4 tablespoons sesame oil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
4 tablespoons water
Put meat in a large bowl. Add soy sauce, wine, half the sesame oil, salt, pepper and water. With a pair of chopsticks, mix seasoning with meat. Add ginger and garlic and mix well.
Add half the chives. Stir well to combine. Add the rest of chive and sesame oil and mix well. You may think there’s too much chives but the vegetable will reduce in volume. Cover and let meat marinate in fridge for 30 minutes or up to several hours.
NOTES
–Don’t use meat that is too lean. Pork that has 20 per cent fat is acceptable.
–Water makes the filling juicy when it is cooked.
Variations
The amount of vegetables you put in doesn’t have to be in the proportions I suggested. You can use more, or less, vegetables—up to the same weight as the meat.
Different ingredients:
Vegetables:
–In place of chives, use ½-1 pound Napa cabbage, chopped finely. If you use a bland tasting vegetable like Napa cabbage, throw in small bunch of spring onions, chopped.
–You may also replace chives with Shanghai bai cai, water chestnut, even zucchini, also chopped finely.
Meat:
–Use same amount of beef instead of pork.
–Instead of pork, use chicken and replace chives with Napa cabbage or yellow chives.
