Chinese Dumplings

As a traditional Chinese-Canadian family, we still keep the traditions of cooking certain Chinese food for certain traditional Chinese festivals. Even though my uncle’s family has immigrated to Canada for six years, they still prefer traditional Chinesefood to Western cuisine. For the most of the time, we prefer home-made cooking to please our “homesick stomachs”. Last Saturday, my auntie guided the whole family to make Chinese dumplings at home. We had a clear division of responsibilities: my uncle was responsible for making dough, which was made of flour stirred with cold water; my job was to separate the dough into small round and flat dumpling skins using a rolling pin; my auntie’s work needed a little bit skills: she prepared fillings with Chinese chives, eggs, shrimps and some spices, filled them into the skins, folded the dough over the filling into a beautiful half-moon shape, and pinched the edges to seal; the final work was finished by my little younger cousin, cooking the Jiaozi in boiling water and serving them in dishes.

Dumpling Skins & Rolling Pin

Photo by Jessie Qian

 

Half Way There
Photo by Jessie Qian

Ready to Cook!
Photo by Jessie Qian

Chinese dumplings, also called Jiaozi in Chinese, are very popular during the Spring Festival and other festivals. It tops the list of delicacies of people in North China, where people eat Jiaozi at midnight on New Year’s Eve as a tradition.

 Delicious!
Photo by Jessie Qian