Jade Chinese Cabbage and Meat Dumplings

Overview

I like to eat dumplings, so of course I can also make dumplings. I have a long history of learning how to make dumplings. I learned how to make dumplings when I was in primary school. Are you a little surprised that as a person who grew up in the south of Xiamen, I have been able to make dumplings since I was a child? It’s a long story—during the ten-year turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, Xiamen’s universities, middle schools, and primary schools were all closed for two years. As capitalist roaders, my parents went to the bullpen and couldn’t go home for several months. The nanny was driven away by the rebels in my mother's workplace, and there were only four of us, my sister and my brother. My sister was only 14 years old at the time and was in the first grade of junior high school. My sister and I were in elementary school, and my brother was in kindergarten. Before leaving, my mother told my sister to take care of the three of us, especially the little brother who is still in kindergarten. My 14-year-old sister led us to live the life of Home Alone. On the 10th of every month, my sister goes to her mother’s work to collect her salary, and then sends some to her grandparents and grandma in her hometown, and leaves some for our living expenses. The rest is deposited in the savings bank on Longtou Road in Gulangyu Island. If there is not enough, she will withdraw it. My sister divided the work for us; we wash our own clothes, and my brother’s clothes are washed by her. A duty schedule is arranged every day, and sweeping, washing dishes, mopping the floor, feeding chickens, etc. are all assigned. Cooking is my sister's business, so we take care of it. Early in the morning, my elder sister took my younger sister to the market to buy groceries, and I looked after the house at home. If my younger brother did not go to kindergarten, I would also take care of my younger brother. In this way, we all gradually learned to cook rice and vegetables. Although the rice was often burnt, and although the fried vegetables were often either too salty or undercooked, those days finally exercised our living skills. One day my sister saw Auntie Lao Cai making dumplings on the second floor (Auntie Lao Cai is from Tianjin), so she learned how to make dumplings from her. My sister used a wooden stick to sharpen a rolling pin and started to learn how to roll out dumpling wrappers. After several times, we all developed the skill of rolling out dumpling wrappers, and the dumplings became more and more beautiful as they were wrapped. More than half a year later, when she learned that her mother was liberated that day and was coming back from the cowshed, my sister decided to make dumplings to welcome her. Dumplings stuffed with Chinese cabbage and pork were placed in rows on the chopping board. We watched from the third-floor window--when we saw my mother's figure appearing on the street, we quickly asked my sister to order the dumplings---as soon as my mother came in, she saw that the four of us, my sister and my brother, were well and safe at home. She ate the dumplings we made and shed tears-----

Tags

• staple food
• home cooking
• old man
• valentine's day
• dumplings
• winter recipes
• lunch
• chicken essence
• chinese cabbage
• cooking wine
• egg
• flour
• minced pork
• money mushroom
• old soy sauce
• onions
• sesame oil
• spinach
• white sugar
• carrot
• ginger
• pepper
• salt
• vegetable oil

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 Prepare the ingredients

   

2. 2 Soak money mushrooms in clean water, rinse and chop into small pieces,

   

3. 3 Wash and chop the carrots, add to the oil pan and stir-fry until they change color,

   

4. 4 Add the money mushrooms and stir-fry for a few times, then turn off the heat.

   

5. 5 Add minced pork, if the meat is lean, you can add some vegetable oil,

   

6. 6 Crack in the eggs, add salt, sugar, cooking wine, dark soy sauce, pepper, chicken essence, minced ginger, chopped green onion, sesame oil,

   

7. 7 Stir vigorously in one direction,

   

8. 8 Wash the Chinese cabbage, blanch it in boiling water, take it out, chop it into pieces, squeeze out part of the juice,

   

9. 9 Add the pork stuffing and mix well,

   

10. 10 The cabbage meat stuffing is ready. If the weather is hot, you can put it in the refrigerator.

    

11. 11 Now make the dumpling wrappers; wash the spinach and cut it into sections

    

12. 12 Put the spinach into a juicer, add some water, and squeeze the juice,

    

13. 13 Take 500 grams of flour and put it into the bread machine,

    

14. 14 Pour in 250 grams of spinach juice and stir,

    

15. 15 Press the {Stir} function of the bread machine and stir for 2 programs, then take it out, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it sit for 20 minutes,

    

16. 16 Put the other half of 500 grams of flour into the bread machine, add 250 grams of water, press the stir button to mix for 2 programs, and let it sit for 20 minutes.

    

17. 17 Take 2 pieces of dough of the same amount and knead into long strips,

    

18. 18 Roll out the spinach juice dough into a long strip, and put the white dough on top,

    

19. 19 Wrap and cut into equal portions,

    

20. 20 Sprinkle some flour and press it flat,

    

21. 21 Roll out into a medium-thick dumpling wrapper with thin sides,

    

22. 22 Wrap with Chinese cabbage and pork stuffing,

    

23. 23 The Jade Cabbage and Meat Dumplings are ready. Boil the water in the pot, add the dumplings and cook.