One of my favorite foods there was the jiao zi, otherwise known by us Westerners as "potstickers" or "asian dumplings." Most of the time when I ate them in China they were boiled, but I have since learned that my favorite way to eat them is lightly fried, which I guess technically would be called "sautéed." Well, I don't know that they're really even "sautéed." (Did you know that if you spell "sautéed without the little ´, there will be a little red line under the word? It's quite annoying.) You just put a little bit of oil in the pan, put the jiao zi in, let them sauté/fry/stir-fry (without the stir) for 2 minutes, and then add water. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes until all of the water is absorbed. What would that method be called? Panda?
All that to say....the other night I was craving jiao zi. Every time I go to a Chinese restaurant I ask if they have it, but the answer is usually no. When my mom was here we discovered this awesome Asian place called "The Wok" and their jiao zi is really good. BUT it's 4 Euros for 3 dumplings. That's more than a Euro each!! Ridiculous!!
So I thought to myself, "I'll make my own jiao zi." I looked up recipes online and while I considered making my own dough I was advised that you can buy it pre-made. So a friend took me to a Chinese store to buy the dough and tonight I spent a good solid 2 hours-ish making jiao zi. I must say that I was quite impressed with myself for a first try.
This picture is not even half of the amount I made:
This is me eating it (as if that wasn't obvious):
Notice that my tongue is brown. That would be the soy sauce. Except that the soy sauce we currently have is more like soy syrup. I'm going to the store tomorrow to get some Kikoman, because that syrupy junk just won't do.Now you need to go eat some jiao zi, potstickers, dumplings...whatever you want to call them...right now. Even if it's 2 in the morning. Even if the baby is crying. Eat some. They'll make all your cares disappear (okay, that was a lie). They're delicious (that was not a lie). Or come visit me and I'll make them for you (that wasn't a lie either, but be sure to give me fair warning before you book any flights).
To bed!
-LB
2 comments:
I always just call it steam frying. We do that with our frozen potstickers that we get from Costco. JSYK - you don't have to thaw your frozen dumplings before you're ready to cook them. just put the frozen ones in the skillet with some oil and let them sizzle for a couple minutes before hitting them with warm water. They look really good BTW.
What's on the inside of those? If you say cream cheese, I will go get some right this second.
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