Jiaozi, a chinese traditional food...

Jiaozi

Jiaozi? What is Jiaozi, is it an English word ? Okay, Jiaozi is actually Chinese Dumpling if we translate it into English.

Its Shape

See that, this is Jiaozi. Jiaozi is actually meat wrapped in a thin piece of dough. The two sides of the dough is then pressed to gether making it into a shape like a Yuanbao (a chinese ancient silver Chinese currency).

Its Fillings

So what is hidden inside the Jiaozi.

MMM...

Can't guess, the filling can be anything, and the most common ones are pork, mutton, beef, chicken, fish and shrimps, usually with vegetables. The popular vegetables are cabbage, chives, spring onions, leek and celery.
Actually, the fillings also range from the different regions of China.
The north and the west usually uses beef, mutton pork and chicken, while the south's are usually seafood, eg. fish, shrimps. Some of the daring chef even start creating new fillings for Jiaozi,like curry chicken, satay, terriyaki chicken.

types of Jiaozi

Jiaozi also have different types.

Fried ones 锅贴

Steamed ones 蒸饺

Boiled ones 水饺


Jiaozi are one of the major food eaten in Chinese New Year in the Northern Provinces. It looks like the Ancient Chinese Silver Money, so by eating it, it signifies WEALTH and PROSPERITY in the New Year. When someone is leaving home to go out to work, the last meal with the family should also be dumplings. When he or she had eaten the dumpling, he or she will prosper and earn tons and tons of money from work. Not only special occasions, dumplings can also be eaten on normal days. Many Northern Families eat dumplings everyday, for lunch, dinner and even breakfast!!!


JIAOZI, you are really so delicious, oishi!!!