Ingredients

• A perfect family gathering dish, yummy, healthy and kid-friendly.
• Dough: 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• about 3/4 cup warm water ( around 150F will do just fine)

Method

Combine flour and salt, mix well. Gradually add in water, stirring constantly, either with a fork, a spatula or your hand until it start to form dough. Turn the dough on floured board and knead until the dough surface is smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover the dough with damp towel ( I find wet paper towel will do just fine). Let the dough rest about 20 minutes. ( Mean time you may move on to prepare the filling.)

Filling: ( in this recipe the filling is made of pork and chives, others can be made of ground beef and celery, shrimp with mushroom, etc. , after you get a hand of it, you can be as creative as you want to be.)

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground pork (pork butt would be ideal)
• 1 cup finely chopped chives
• 5 thin slices ginger root, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon rice wine or dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• pinch salt

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Let it stand for about 20 minutes to blend flavors.

Method

Cut a small portion of the dough and roll into ropes about 3/4 inch in diameter. Cut into ten 3/4-inch pieces and press each piece flat. Then roll out each piece into about 3-inch circle, if it becomes sticky, dust it with flour. The dough can make about 50 wraps.

Place 1 tablespoon filling in the center of the wrap, bring half of the wrap up to form a pocket, pinch the wrap rims to seal. And a Jiao ze is done in your hand.

Cooking: You may boil, steam or pan-fried Jiao ze. While boiling is the easiest, pan-fried Jiao ze ( also called pot stickers) tastes the best.

*Boiling: Bring 3 quarts water to boil, add Jiao ze and bring water back to boil. Jiao ze would be cooked when they float to the boiling water surface. Remove with strainer and serve immediately, with vinegar, soy sauce, minced garlic and chily paste if you like it spicy.

*Pan-fry: Add 2 tablespoon peanut oil or vegetable oil into flat-bottomed skillet, heat it until very hot. Turn down the heat and place Jiao ze in skillet in one layer, heat over low heat until the bottom turning brown. Add 1/4 cup water to the skillet, cover and cook until water is completely evaporated. Serve immediatly with dipping sauce.