Jiao Zi

We finally went and did it last night.  On our fourth Lunar New Year's Eve with children in the house, we tackled the art of making jiao zi.

 

And while you'll note that I said "tackled" and not "mastered" the art, I do have to say that they were easier than I suspected.  Don't know why I put off trying them so long. 

(Though I will cut myself some slack and say that CNY 2007 started less than 24 hours after we stepped off the plane at home with Kylie and CNY 2010 started 24 hours before we left to bring Darcy home.  I have no excuses for 2008 and 2009 though besides feeling intimidated at the whole idea of making dumplings).

Ian and I mixed up the filling and then handed the wrappers over to our kids.  Not sure if their expressions of disbelief that we were letting them play with raw meat or their voices excitedly chanting "jiao zi, jiao zi!" were cuter. 

While theirs weren't quite restaurant quality yet, they looked a while lot better than mine!

All in all it was a fun evening.  One that I'll say we're likely to turn into a tradition. 

After we put into practice two important things we learned about dumping making that is.  One, the recipe calls for "one pound ground pork, not too lean."  There's a reason for that.  I'll sum it up by asking, "ever make burgers for the grill out of 93% lean beef?"

And two.  Don't skip the step of moistening the edge of the dumpling wrapper with water before trying to seal it.  Otherwise you may end up with a pot full of floating meatballs and sinking wrappers.  Just sayin'...