Jiaozi (Dumplings)

Skins:
8 cups white flour
2 ½ cups (very) cold water
1 tsp 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. Chill while you make the filling

Meat:
1 kilo ground pork
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
2 tsp brandy or sherry or other aromatic alcohol
1 tsp sesame oil

Add soy sauce and salt to meat. Stir slowly, always in the same direction. Add remaining ingredients. Let sit while you prepare the vegetables and other additional ingredients. All need to be finely minced. You can use a food processor.

Vegetables:
1 inch ginger
3-4 stalks spring onion
1 small clump fresh coriander (cilantro)
1 very small clump chives
Either 8-10 stalks celery or 1 small head Chinese cabbage
Optional: 3 large carrots, 3-4 chinese black mushrooms (shiitake), 1 fried egg

Stir vegetables slowly into meat mixture. Don’t let the mix get too moist. Form dough into long sausages. Cut sections every 1 cm. Roll into round, flat skins. Take about 1 Tbsp of filling and place in center of skin. Seal thoroughly.

To cook, bring a large pot of water to boil, add some jiaozi, cover. When it boils, add 1 cup cold water. Cover. Repeat. When it comes to a boil for the third time, they are ready to serve. After you boil them, you can fry them (potstickers)

Serve with a sauce of ¼ cup SS, ¼ cup vinegar, 1 tsp sugar. Or plain malt vinegar.

*I normally cut this recipe in half so that it doesn't take all day