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What's Fer Dinner?

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moon over parma

Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #30 on: July 01, 2007, 09:31:41 PM »
"Gyoza" is the Japanese reading of the kanji/hanzi.
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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #31 on: July 01, 2007, 09:36:31 PM »
Eric, your question came on as I was putting up the last post....

I would NOT attempt to make jiaozi wrappers at home.

For one thing. it's a bit exacting. They're made with extra-fine flour; regular flour is too coarse. The dough has to be mixed with just the right level of moisture in it: too much and it's just a doughy mess, too little and the dumplings will fall apart in the boil. (This is why things like "won ton wrappers" or phyllo dough don't work very well...) The dough has to be extensively kneaded to get rid of even the bubbles too small to see readily. The wrappers have to be rolled out to exactly the correct thickness.
If you don't know what you're doing or have an experienced expert guiding you, chances are they won't turn out well.

For another thing, it's a boatload of work. Making these things is NOT like mixing a pie crust...the dough is quite firm, and must be kneaded hard for an exasperatingly long time to ensure all the bubbles are out. Making a batch of jiaozi wrappers by hand generally entails several hours of very hard labor, even by the experts.

Fortunately, it's easy and cheap to buy perfectly good prepared ones.
Outside China, as indicated above you can usually find good frozen ones in Asian groceries. The frozen ones are dryer and more coated with flour than the fresh ones (only way to keep them from permanently bonding to one another) so it's important to moisten the edges when filling them.

Within China, look for the flour store in your neighborhood, often near your local vegetable market. In addition to flour, these places generally have prepared jiaozi wrappers (and noodles) available for sale.
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"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)
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Lotus Eater

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #32 on: July 02, 2007, 07:54:01 PM »
The smilies are where there were Chinese characters.  Will the characters come back again when we can support them or should I wait until then and re-send?
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ericthered

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #33 on: July 02, 2007, 09:50:54 PM »
I would buy pre-prepared jaozi wrappers but I'm not in England or the States. There aren't that many Chinese/Asian grocery shops here and those I have found all said "mei you" when I asked for pre-fab wrappers. So filo pastry is not a good substitute?
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"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #34 on: July 02, 2007, 11:09:10 PM »
Dear God.
Pinyin llllllllll without llllllllll tones llllllllll is llllllllll utterly llllllllll useless llllllllll. llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll
There is a standard Mandarin that's generally understood nationwide, and these words are all easily markable in that dialect. That Mandarin would do fine. If they're speaking Mandarin, they should be able to follow an order using the national standard. Characters are nice here; usable pinyin is mandatory.

I'm sorry. I hate to seem cranky and irritable, I really do. I'm having a bit of a rough go (again) anyway, and maybe it's got me a bit off.
But I keep asking, again and again and again, PLEASE, pretty please with whipped cream and cherries and chocolate sprinkles on top, do not post dishes in this thread if you don't have the full pinyin with tones. And people keep blithely posting them anyway, again and again and again.
So excuse me if I'm a tad frustrated.

Eric, the phyllo sheets I've seen probably wouldn't work very well with jiaozi. They're too thin and too dry. But, it probably wouldn't hurt to give it a go.
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"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)
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ericthered

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #35 on: July 02, 2007, 11:13:18 PM »
I will give it a go and report on the disaster, with pictures. Need to find them darn wrappers.

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"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.
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Lone Traveller

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #36 on: July 02, 2007, 11:57:13 PM »
Korean Dish:

Xue(3) Yu(2) = Snow Fish.

Fish steaks cooked in and served in a chili (gravy consistancy)sauce.
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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #37 on: July 03, 2007, 12:42:54 AM »
Deliciously posted, LT. Thank you.  bfbfbfbfbf

Meanwhile: to try and help our pink-framed friend deprived of the joys of jiaozi, I found what seems a pretty reasonable recipe for the wrappers:

Jiaozi Skins:

8 cups white flour
about 2 1/2 cups (very) cold water
1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve salt in water. Add 2 cups water to flour and blend THOROUGHLY. Do not add more water until it is absolutely necessary. Add remaining water as slowly as possible in order to get as hard a dough as you can. If the dough is too soft, add more flour. Knead thoroughly. Harder dough is much easier to fill. Chill while you make the filling.
Separate dough into 2 portions. Form into long sausages, about 1 inch diameter. Cut sections every 1cm. Form sections into balls and use rolling pin to form into round, flat skins about 3 inches diameter. If they are too thick, the jiaozi will be very doughy. Modify size of balls as appropriate.

<Take the advice on HARD dough and THOROUGH kneading seriously here! Also, the folks I know here who make the best jiaozi insist on a super-fine grind for the flour; you should do the same. It's sold as "cake flour" in the USA. You're on your own regarding modifying the size of your balls, though...R>

There's also a photo account of at least a few of the steps in making the wrappers to be found here: http://www.noodlesandrice.com/making-jiaozi-part-2-dumpling-wrappers/

One last tip: might want to consider asking around at local Chinese restaurants (or local Chinese people), to see if they know a source for jiaozi wrappers near you!
« Last Edit: July 03, 2007, 12:54:25 AM by Raoul Duke »
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"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)
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Lone Traveller

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #38 on: July 03, 2007, 12:51:27 AM »
My pleasure boss.


Chinese (NorthEastern) dish:

Tu(3) Dou(4) Ni(2) = Potato and gravy (best way to describe it)

A mountain (literally) of mashed potato covered in a gravy sauce that has chili and spring onion(or challot) through it.
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Lotus Eater

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #39 on: July 03, 2007, 01:24:10 AM »
No worries RD, I'll take it out, and when I get some time I'll go back and put the tones in.

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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #40 on: July 03, 2007, 08:23:02 AM »
Thanks, Lotus.
And I'm sorry. I over-reacted. Putting in 10 miles of mostly-Tan dishes with no tones whatsoever may have been kinda goofy, but it happens to us all and it didn't warrant a diatribe.
I'm trying really hard to keep a grip on my temper right now.

PS: I do love you. Ain't always been thrilled with ya on here of late, but the bedrock is still solid.  akakakakak
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"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)
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Acjade

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #41 on: July 03, 2007, 12:49:33 PM »
Ericthered, here's a variation of dumpling you might like to try.

Jidan Jiaozi (Egg dumplings)

Ingredients:

5 eggs
500grams ground meat
1tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. MSG
5grams finely cut scallions
5 rams chopped ginger
25grams cooking oil

Directions:

1. Add the salt. MSG, scallions and ginger to the meat and stir well until the mixture becomes sticky.

2. Whip the eggs in a bowl and mix with the eggs as follows;
Put some of the oil in a large steel soup ladle and heat over low fire, then add into the ladle some of the whipped eggs. Turn the ladle frequently to allow the eggs to coat the sides of the ladle and thus form a small wrapping for the meat. Put in 25grams of the meat and fold the wrapping in the ladle with the help of a pair of chopsticks to make a dumpling. Heat one more minute and then place on a plate. Repeat until all the meat and egg are used. Steam for ten minutes.

Can be served in a soup or with your favourite dipping sauces.
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ericthered

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #42 on: July 04, 2007, 01:06:59 AM »
Thanks. I'll try that.
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"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.
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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #43 on: July 04, 2007, 06:20:44 AM »
These "micro-omelets" are wonderful- a real favorite of mine- but fiendishly hard to make. They're not seen to my knowledge in Chinese restaurants. If you're seriously jammy your ayi can make them, or you often see prepared ones in supermarkets.
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"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)
*

Raoul F. Duke

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Re: What's Fer Dinner?
« Reply #44 on: October 07, 2008, 09:25:40 AM »
I moved the Chicken Parmigiana recipe to the Cook Book...

Meanwhile...been a while since I encountered a new dish worth posting here, but got one tonight. It's even vegetarian, for the health-conscious and/or perverted. uuuuuuuuuu

Hu2 Pi2 Qing1 Jiao1 translates as "Tiger Skin Green Pepper"; apparently sometimes the pepper skin bubbles into stripes. Oh, well.
It's GOOD. Large squares of green Bell or Anaheim pepper are stir-fried with garlic, and served in a flavorful brown sauce with both sweet and tangy notes.
This dish originates in Sichuan but seems to have adapted in many other places as well, so shouldn't be hard to find. bfbfbfbfbf
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"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)
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