Northern China Jiaozi

In China, jaozi is one of the many traditional Chinese food which is a must have especially during Chinese New Year eve. It is believed that having jiaozi on Chinese New Year eve will bring good luck & wealth to the family. And pork meat is commonly used in making dumpling's filling. But in Northern part of China, they love using lamb meat with the additional of pickled vegetables (ham choy). It is because lamb meat can keep their body stay warm the whole time and the preserved vegetables were the only vegetables available during the winter. It is normally  pickled in large quantities just before winter for storage. But I still choose to use chicken fillet on this recipe cause my family members don't really like taking red meat.

So, here's the recipe.
Ingredients for ham choy filling :

300gm  chicken fillet, minced

2 tbsp   chopped onion
some spring onion, chopped
2 tspn  ginger juice
100gm   pickled mustard (ham choy)
salt & pepper to taste
1 tbsp  tapioca starch
a dash of shaoxing wine / rice wine
(mix everything together till well combined)

Ingredients for dumpling skin :
( Recipe adapted from here )
300gm  all purpose flour
160gm  mashed pumpkin
(100gm  mashed pumpkin mixed with 60ml hot from steamer)

Method :
(1) stir together flour & mashed pumpkin, mix till a soft dough is formed.
(2) then divide into 50 small portions and roll each flat to fill in the meat, sealed and set aside.
(3) bring a pot of water to boil by adding in 1 tbsp of vinegar and  also 2 tbsp fried onion oil, to prevent sticky skin 
(4) throw in all the dumpling into boiling and let to cook for a couple of minutes or till it has floated to the surface.
(5) remove dumplings to a serving plate once it's done and serve it with dipping sauce.

*Dipping sauce :  1 tbsp light soy sauce + 1 tspn black vinegar + 2 tspn  sweet plum sauce + some chopped bird eye chilies & garlic.

I simply adored the colour of the pumpkin skin looks just like a gold pot and would be a perfect food for our guests on the next Chinese New Year.lol. :o) Yeap, into the list !