Get your dumpling on

Ingredients:(makes 30 to 40 dumplings):
1 kg all-purpose flour Water 500g lean mince 50g fatty mince
2 tbsp Sichuan pepper infused oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp Chinese wine
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 whole Chinese cabbage

1. Prepare the dough by adding enough water to the flour to get a soft ball. Knead until silky smooth and pliable and keep aside for 30 minutes under a damp cloth.
2. Combine the minced meats in a large bowl and add all the seasoning. Stir in one direction until well mixed.
3. Finely slice the Chinese cabbage and add a generous sprinkling of salt. Leave for 5 minutes to draw out the juices. Then, place the chopped cabbage in a muslin bag and squeeze as much water out as possible. Add the cabbage to the minced meat mixture and combine well.
4. Divide dough into halves and knead until very pliable. Poke a hole in the center of each dough ball, and slowly enlarge it by rolling it around your wrists to get a very skinny doughnut with a huge hole.
6. Break the doughnut to get a long strip. Pinch off regular segments (walnut-sized) and roll into little circles. Flatten with a rolling pin, keeping the center of the wrapper slightly thicker than the edges.
7. Fill the wrappers with the meat mixture.
8. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Add about 20 dumplings to the boiling pot. When the water comes back to a boil, add some water. Again bring it to a boil and repeat the adding of water. After the second boiling, the dumplings should be cooked.
9. Drain and serve with ginger julienne or minced garlic in black vinegar. Or, with pickled flowering chives, if you can get some!

Place a spoonful of filling in the middle of a wrapper.
Fold the wrapper in half and pinch the mid-point of the semi-circle together.
Pleat the jiaozi on one side only, so it gets its traditional concave ingot shape.
Make sure the edges are pinched tightly if you are boiling them, otherwise you may get a pasta soup.
Fillings:
Long beans and pork
Substitute cabbage with long beans (snake beans) or French beans. Top and tail the beans and blanch to soften. Finely slice and add to meat filling.
Celery and pork
Blanch tender celery stalks and finely dice before adding to the meat mixture.
Seafood dumplings
Substitute half the minced pork for an equal amount of minced prawns, or shredded dried scallops.
1. Place raw dumplings neatly in a lightly oiled non-stick pan. Place them slightly apart so there is room to swell as they cook.
2. Heat up the pan and let the bottoms of the dumplings crisp. When you shake the pan, they should sound “hollow”.
3. Add half a cup of stock or water to the pan and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer.
4. When the water dries up, lower the heat and allow the dumplings to crisp up.
5. Carefully turn the cooked dumplings over a plate so the crisp bottoms face up. Serve with the usual dips.