Whenever I travel I learn nifty new tricks of the trade. Last week I flew from Beijing to Chengdu in Sichuan province. I'd been keen on Chengdu for years, after having read and cooked from Fuchsia Dunlop's Land of Plenty and meeting uber Sichuan Chef Yu Bo at the 2009 Sydney International Food Festival.
My friends Karen Shinto, Lillian Chou and I met up with writer Robyn Eckhardt and photographer David Hagerman. After a good night's sleep, we headed to Robyn and Dave’s favorite markets. They lived in Sichuan years ago and have posted on Chengdu many times at their site, Eating Asia.
The Chengdu market experiences weren’t like my adventure to Walmart in Beijing. Quite the opposite – we got to interact with the local vendors, who got a kick out of our showing up with cameras and innumerable questions.
I had my Flip video camera and capture the footage in the video below. Note that you can buy freshly made dumplings at these Chengdu markets. Additionally, there is usually a noodle maker at the market who rolls out dough for noodles as well as dumpling skins. The skins that these two dumpling makers used were precut and very soft. Convenient, huh?!
When watching the video, check out the following:
1) The man rolls his out a bit to lend a handmade effect. It’s a short cut to the technique that I use for rolling out basic dumpling wrappers.
2) The woman uses a bamboo spatula to place and neaten up her filling. That’s the tool of choice for the professionals. You can use a fork, spoon or dinner knife.
3) The woman folds a half moon and then pushes in the two sides to scrunch them up. The result is a slightly dimpled dumpling. It’s a cute shape that is fast and simple.
4) The man has a towel filled with flour to efficiently sprinkle on his finished dumplings and prevent sticking.
What I took away: If you have soft, freshly skins (think of thick, fresh pasta sheets), roll them with the dowel rolling pin. Try making the little dimpled dumpling shape! The towel flour trick works well when you're making a large quantity, which is what these Chengdu professional dumplings makers do everyday.
Previous Asian dumpling video how-tos and hints are posted at AsianDumplingTips.com
Chelsea
Thanks for sharing these tips, Andrea.
Evi
I don't quite get how the lady makes those dimpled ones. Do you have a closeup photograph of the finished ones? (Or maybe you would like to post a step-by-step how-to? 😉 I'm intrigued by this fast sealing technique.)
By the way, I love your book Asian Dumplings! It's a shame that there's no German translation available, it would make such a perfect gift for some of my friends. Asian dumplings as well as bento are quickly becoming popular here.
Katy
That bamboo spatula is called 抹子Mo Zi - Mo as in smear. Maybe more commonly called in the North of China, like Beijing or Shandong. Chinese like to place up dumpling filling(Jiaozi or Tangyuan)using chopsticks (for home)for the same reason that you fill in just the amount you need to the size and shape of the skins.
The dumpling chef at the Ding Tai Fong/Taipei we used to go used chopsticks for Xiaolongbao filling - that was years ago though!
sunflower
I have seen this bamboo spatula in catering store in LA and some Chinese grocery stores.
I got a slideshow how to make this simple shape jiaozi on this post
http://sunflower-recipes.blogspot.com/2010/02/chinese-dumplings-jiaozi.html
nina
My late husband family from Chengdu. The way they make their dumpling filling was to use ground pork, napa cabbage, green onion and chopped up dry shrimps in it. It family own recipe like all families in Chengdu having own special recipes.
Nina
Andrea Nguyen
Evi -- the shape here is like a pugdy pea pod. Just don't crimp the edges together into a fold.
Sunflower -- Thanks for the link to your simple jiaozi shape.
Katy - A chopstick is good for placing about a teaspoon of filling on a dumpling wrapper. That's about all that it can wield. Most people I've seen use the chopstick for wontons. It would be fine for small jiaozi too.
Nina -- Thanks for the family dumpling filling recipe. I like the dried shrimp in there. The man above just had pork and Chinese (garlic) chives.
Juria
Ohmygod, I lived in Chengdu for a couple of years and the best thing I took with me from that experience was how to make jiaozi!!!! There is NOTHING quite like the special hua jiao spice in the chili oil to top of the whole orgasmic experience. I LOVE dumplings so much I could CRY! Another place I lived where they claim to have the best dumplings (they WERE good!!) was Harbin, in the north. If u get to go - TRY THEM!!! Sorry, just happened upon this blog/post & had to say I share your passion for these little parcels of joy!!!! (sometimes I simply fill them with cabbage, garlic, soy, rice vinager & fish paste.....YUM!)
Jason Byler
What a marvelous blog! I love dumplings, reading your tips--I have your Vietnamese Kitchen and Asian Dumplings books--and especially the pics along with the notes you included. Fantastic. I'm WASP but my friends ask me to make them some and even stop in unannounced to see if I have any. Keep up the fantastic work. I love it all. My bucket list includes traveling to SE Asia after retiring in 2 years. Thanks so much. Jason
Evi
Thank you, Andrea. I think I got it. 🙂
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marlon
I love your book Asian Dumplings! It's a shame that there's no German translation available, it would make such a perfect gift for some of my friends.