How To Fold Every Chinese Dumpling

[upbeat music]

Hi, I'm Chef Dr. Lo, I'm a professional chef,

and I'm gonna show you how to make some

of my favorite dumplings from scratch.

I'm a doctor by day and a chef by night.

I'm ready to get into some dumplings.

Shui jiao, what does shui jiao mean?

Shui means water, jiao is basically dumpling,

so water boiled dumpling.

We need to start with the dough.

This is made with a cold water and flour.

This dough I've made ahead of time,

and I've let it rest for about an hour.

It's nice and smooth and it's soft.

So I'm gonna start portioning this out.

You wanna start with a little bench flour.

This is so it doesn't stick,

and I'm gonna basically roll this out into a log.

You wanna roll with your fingers with a little pressure,

and this will portion out to about 20 small wrappers.

You want this to be nice and uniform, one thickness.

Why? 'Cause it's gonna help you when you portion it out.

Now I'm gonna start cutting.

You want to cut the dough,

and then you want to turn the dough 90 degrees like this.

After you cut it,

this cut edge is gonna be a little bit sticky,

so you want to dust it with low bench flower

and with the palm, you wanna press it down.

And the whole purpose of turning the dough

is so that you can get this nice shape

that's gonna help you roll into a perfect round circle.

The portion of the dumping wrapper is very important

because it affects the thickness of your dough,

and the thickness is gonna dictate how it's gonna taste

and the chew when you bite into that dumpling.

This looks perfect.

I think this is about 11 grams.

Let's take a look

Right on the money.

Let's start rolling.

What's important is for you to use a little cloth.

It could be a little damp,

and you can cover what you're not rolling out

because even within a couple minutes

these wrappers will get a little bit dry.

We're gonna put our dough here and we're gonna roll.

You don't want it to go all the way.

I would say maybe a third to halfway through,

and you're gonna roll back

and turn with your left hand, turn,

and eventually you're gonna get this nice round circle.

If it's not perfectly round, that's okay.

It's still gonna taste great.

The filling is really easy.

Making a dough is not that difficult,

but this motion takes a lot of practice.

I've made maybe 20 to 30,000 dumplings.

What you don't want to do is stack them up like this

because even within a few minutes

these will actually stick together.

So what I like to do is just keep them separate

while I roll this out.

You want to keep these wrappers

under a damp towel so they don't dry out just like this.

Let's start to fill them.

This is a classic pork and chive filling.

This is actually my mom's recipe.

However, you can fill this with anything you want.

You can be creative.

I'm gonna put the filling right in the middle,

and it helps if you have a little knife like this.

If it's on the edges, it has a higher chance

of it breaking when you start to boil them.

We're gonna fold right in the middle and we're gonna pinch,

and then this is the basic crescent

that you would see at most restaurants.

You want to pinch and fold these pleats.

So that's one side and then the other side,

and you get these pleats,

and you want to pinch with enough pressure,

and it's important because you want to seal this dough.

Once you boil them, if the filling comes out

there's no turning back,

but it's okay it still tastes great.

We have our first completed dumpling.

You can start rolling out all your doughs, filling them,

and putting them down on your sheet tray.

Once you have about 10, 15, I would put it in a fridge

until you're ready to cook them.

There are many different techniques of folding

from the most simple and basic to a little more complicated.

Let me show you a few different shapes.

Basic crescent.

Mouse.

Potsticker.

Basic half moon

Beautiful triangle.

Gold ingot.

In ancient times,

the dumpling represented wealth and prosperity

because the dumplings were shaped

into the shape of a gold ingot just like this.

Now that we formed all our dumplings,

we're ready to cook them.

The most basic way is just to boil them in water.

We have a pot of boiling water.

We're gonna just go ahead and drop them in.

You wanna be careful not to overcrowd the dumplings here.

Once I drop these all in, I'm gonna give it a little stir

so they don't stick on the bottom.

Leave it alone, let it come up to another boil.

All right, so our water is up to a boil again.

I'm going to put in one cup of cold water.

I'm adding a little cold water

just to help regulate the temperature

and it's gonna help with assessing the timing.

Our water is up to a boil a second time.

I'm gonna add another cup of cold water.

And then once this comes up to a boil,

we'll be ready to serve.

It's probably been about six to seven minutes.

This is up to a boil now,

and we're just gonna simply scoop these out.

We're going to just place these on a sheet tray

to drain a little bit.

We're gonna serve these right away.

However, if you are going to pan fry these,

I would recommend putting a little bit of canola oil

just to lubricate it so they don't stick together.

There we have it.

We have our beautiful boil dumpling.

In Chinese we call it shui jiao.

Let's go make the dipping sauce now.

This is a sauce that you can use on practically anything.

I'm gonna put a neutral oil.

I'm just gonna put some cilantro little minced garlic,

little chili, red chili here,

we have some scallions diced up, and little white onion.

We're gonna go right directly in here.

It should sizzle.

Smells so good.

Now we're gonna add a little soy sauce.

This is some Chinese black vinegar.

Super simple, super fragrant.

And this is gonna go awesome with our boiled dumplings.

It's so good.

So simple, beautiful sauce, perfectly cooked.

That wrapper has a nice chew to it.

It's not too thick and it's not too thin.

If it was too thin, it would've broken.

If it's too thick,

you're biting into this like big doughy ball of mess.

I feel like a little kid again.

Guotie, these are a pan fried dumpling.

These guotie are really interesting

because they have a few different textures.

On the outside it's nice and crispy.

It still has a little chew

and then you have that meat filling.

The filling's all the same.

The dough's actually the same,

and the pleating texture is the same the way we fold it.

This is one way to cook guotie.

These dumplings have been boiled.

If you are going for the super crispy golden brown,

delicious, this is it.

So we're just gonna sear these up.

I would start with medium to medium high heat.

It looks like one side is nice and golden.

We're gonna get the next side nice and crispy,

and then the final side, the third side.

Let's turn off our heat.

Look at that, guys.

Golden, golden, golden.

This is my favorite method to pan sear these dumplings.

However, if you have a little time

and you want to take it to the next level,

let me show you a little trick.

Now we have our pan hot, we're gonna put a little oil down.

Gonna put our dumpling.

And now this is our, what's gonna be our skirt

which is basically a slurry.

This is water, little vinegar, little salt,

and all-purpose flour, and corn starch.

It's mostly water.

You do need to shake this up a little bit

if you make this ahead of time

because that corn starch and flour

will settle in at the bottom.

And we're gonna pour just enough

and this is where you have to be a little patient.

All the water is gonna evaporate,

and what you're gonna be left with is this corn starch

and flour skirt on the bottom,

which is gonna be nice and lacy and crispy.

At this point, there's no more water left in this area,

but what's happening is it's getting nice

and golden brown.

It's actually important that you don't move around

the dumplings too much because what's happening

is you're stabilizing this crispy, delicate structure.

Look at this beautiful structure here,

nice and golden, crispy, and that's it.

If I were to serve one dumpling with this skirt

at a nice fancy restaurant, I could serve this for $15.

That's $30 right there, guys.

There you have it,

a fried dumpling with a crispy skirt.

If you didn't want to boil the dumplings first,

you can actually cook them directly from the raw state.

We're gonna both sear and steam at the same time.

Little neutral oil here.

We're gonna put our dumplings down.

You're gonna add a little water, cover the pan.

We're gonna steam and also fry at the same time.

But once the water gets absorbed by the dumpling,

you're gonna be left with just the oil

and that oil is gonna sear the bottom

and get that nice golden brown, crispy texture.

So the key here is to keep the lid on tight.

You want that steam to cook the dumplings,

and if you were to open up that lid

all that steam would escape.

Takes about six, seven minutes or so.

If you can take a look,

most of that water has been absorbed.

At this point you can turn up your heat a little bit

to get that bottom nice and crispy.

Look at this nice, golden sear on there.

That's perfect.

We have guotie prepared three different ways.

They all look beautiful.

This first one is where we took the raw dumpling

and we fried and steamed at the same time.

Let me try this.

What's great about this is it's crispy,

but it still has that chew to it

because it's been steamed at the same time.

And you have two edges that are not crispy

and you get that nice bite.

This was our boiled dumplings

and then we pan fried crispy on all three sides.

These actually don't even need any sauce

'cause they're super crispy and I like 'em just as is.

That's fantastic.

You got crispiness on every single bite, so good.

I could have like a hundred of these.

This is our crispy skirt guotie.

Look how beautiful this is.

I'm just gonna use my fingers 'cause this is fantastic.

Look at that.

Mm.

This part is incredible.

It is so thin and crispy.

It's like a ultra thin potato chip.

Dan jiao.

Dan in Chinese means egg.

What it is is a dumpling where the wrapper is egg.

Basically it's a mini omelet.

With dan jiao, you can fill it

with whatever filling you want.

Here I have a classic pork and chive filling.

The first step is we're gonna crack our eggs

and we're gonna whip it up.

What we're gonna do is take a ladle,

heat it over a open flame.

Then we're gonna add a neutral oil to coat that ladle.

Then we're gonna pour a thin layer of egg

and cook it over the open flame.

Next, we'll fill the middle

with a little bit of our filling.

Lastly, we'll fold over that crepe.

We'll cook both edges.

So this dan jiao is typically served in a soup.

It's also been cooked in that broth, so it's extra juicy.

Today we're using a chicken broth.

We have little baby bok choy and some nice egg noodles.

Let's try this dan jiao.

Look at that, nice and golden.

So good.

I love that golden crust.

This dan jiao is a fantastic dumpling.

Doesn't take a lot of time to cook.

For the people who are impatient out there

who don't wanna spend lots of time,

this is the perfect dumpling

Xiao jiao.

We're about to make xiao jiao,

which is a shrimp crystal dumpling.

This crystal dumpling uses a completely different dough,

and once it's steamed, it's completely translucent.

And instead of all-purpose flour

we use a wheat starch along with corn starch.

There's a touch of lard too.

It doesn't have the same elasticity as the regular dough

that's made with with all-purpose flour.

So here I am just getting it nice and even.

I'm gonna cut these into small balls,

and I don't need to turn because I'm gonna roll them up

into a round shape, just like so.

You take this into your hand, give it a nice roll,

a nice little ball just like this.

When working with this dough,

you do need to cover what you're not using with a damp cloth

because this will get dried pretty quickly.

Take a nice clean cloth and you're gonna oil it.

Now we take our cleaver,

and you want a little bit of oil on one of the edges.

Give it a little press and we're gonna press down.

You want the dough to stick

onto the board and not your cleaver.

We get it nice and thin.

It's very delicate.

And now we're gonna fill this.

Here we have our shrimp filling.

We're gonna put a little right in the middle.

You don't want to overfill it.

So here we're gonna do the same technique

as when we pleat our boiled dumplings.

Crystal dumplings can be made

in a variety of different shapes.

This is the classic crescent shape

just like our boiled dumplings.

Much like cutting a piece of cake,

you want to keep a clean knife after each cut.

You can fill this dumpling with whatever you want,

all sorts of meats or seafood.

However, the shrimp is the most classic,

and to me it tastes the best.

This is a dumpling that you can't buy the pre-made wrappers.

This has to be made fresh,

so it gives you a new appreciation every time you go

to a dim sum restaurant when you get this hakaw or xia jiao.

We're gonna now steam our xia jiao.

We have a pan of boiling water

and just maybe about an inch of water that's up to a boil.

And we're gonna cover it,

and we'll steam this for about six to seven minutes

until it's nice and translucent.

It's been about six, seven minutes.

These are perfectly steamed.

Let's take a look.

Smells so good.

Bring it out, guys.

Here's our xia jiao.

Looks beautiful.

I like it to dip it just in a little soy.

Look at that beautiful, translucent skin.

Mm. That shrimp is perfectly cooked, nice and tender.

It's a really interesting, unique texture.

It has this certain bounce to it.

Oh, so good.

Xiao long bao.

This is one of my favorite dumplings.

These are soup dumplings.

They come from Shanghai.

How do we get soup inside the dumpling?

Well, inside our filling,

we have a gelatinized stock, right?

So at room temperature that is solid as jello,

and once we steam it, it turns into a liquid soup.

Our dough is different, but we handle it the same way.

It's different because we use boiling water.

This dough is a lot more tender

because we're gonna be steaming it.

I'm gonna cut it into a smaller portion,

so it's a little easier to handle.

All our doughs dry out very quickly

so you wanna put this back here.

We got our bench flour.

We're gonna portion this out.

First, by spreading this into a nice uniformed log.

Now we're gonna cut it into small portions.

We're using the same rolling and turning technique.

Dust both sides with bench flour,

and same technique pressing down with the palm of your hand.

All right, so let's start rolling.

Back and forth, back and forth.

The key to a really nice xiao long bao

is that ultra thin wrapper.

Let's fill our dumpling.

And our filling is our classic pork.

Same technique.

Here's our filling.

It's got the aspect,

and we're gonna put a little right in the middle.

We're gonna pull and pinch, pull and pinch, pull and pinch.

And we're gonna just work our way around.

Pull and pinch, pull and pinch,

all the way until you have a nice circle.

And there you have our little xiao long bao.

Let's fill some more.

Get that filling right in the middle.

And again, it's a pull and pinch technique.

You want to get as much air out of that dumpling as possible

because once you steam it, it's gonna expand a little bit.

And you do want to leave a small little tiny hole,

which allows the steam to escape.

And generally anywhere from 18 to 20 pleats.

It's a sign of a good xiao long bao.

We're ready to steam these now.

We have our bamboo steamer lined with a little cabbage,

and we'll go right in, cover it up, and steam it.

With xiao long bao,

the only method to cook it is really to steam it.

I think these are ready.

Oh, look at that.

That is a sight of beauty.

You can see the soup dumplings have expanded.

They're filled with hot boiling soup,

so you gotta be careful.

Whatever you do, do not put this whole thing in your mouth.

You're gonna burn yourself.

Remember, this is hot soup.

Let me demonstrate how I like to eat it.

Have little black vinegar here.

I put the soup in this nice spoon here.

I'm gonna be very careful and I'm gonna poke a little hole.

I'm just gonna nibble, and look at all that soup come out.

And then I like to drink.

And then.

That's unbelievable.

The texture of that skin, it's thin, it's delicate.

And then, you have some of that, of that residual soup,

and you have that filling.

It's so satisfying.

So good.

There you have it.

These are just some of the many ways

to fold, pleat, and cook dumplings.

There are so many techniques out there

that I would've loved to have shown today,

from different fillings to try

to different pleats for a gorgeous presentation.

I encourage you to practice

and try some of these methods out at home.

Leave a message in the comments below

on some of your favorite ways to cook,

pleat, and eat dumplings.

If you're new, definitely practice.