Jiaozi (; ) are a type of Chinese dumpling. Jiaozi are folded to resemble Chinese sycee and have great cultural significance attached to them within China. Jiaozi are one of the major dishes eaten during the Chinese New Year throughout northern China and eaten all year round in the northern provinces. Though considered part of Chinese cuisine, jiaozi are popular in other parts of East Asia and in the Western world, where a fried variety is referred to as potstickers. The English-language term "potsticker" was invented by Buwei Yang Chao in her book How to Cook and Eat in Chinese (1945).
Jiaozi typically consist of a ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together. Finished jiaozi can be boiled (shuǐ jiǎo), steamed (zhēng jiǎo), pan fried (jiān jiǎo), or deep fried (zhá jiǎo), and are traditionally served with a black vinegar and sesame oil dip. They can also be served in a soup (tāng jiǎo).
Origin and custom
In China, there are several different folk stories explaining the origin of jiaozi and its name.
Traditionally, jiaozi were thought to be invented during the era of the Eastern Han (AD 25–220) by Zhang Zhongjing who was a great practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. Jiaozi were originally referred to as "tender ears" () because they were used to treat frostbitten ears. Zhang Zhongjing was on his way home during wintertime, when he found many common people had frostbitten ears, because they did not have warm clothes and sufficient food. He treated these poor people by stewing lamb, black pepper, and some warming medicines in a pot, chopped them, and used them to fill small dough wrappers. He boiled these dumplings and gave them with the broth to his patients, until the coming of the Chinese New Year. In order to celebrate the New Year as well as recovering from frostbitten ears, people imitated Zhang's recipe to make tender ears.
Other theories suggest that jiaozi may have derived from dumplings in Western Asia. In the Western Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 9) jiaozi () were called jiaozi (). During the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220–280), the book Guangya by Zhang Yi mentions jiaozi. Yan Zhitui during the Northern Qi dynasty (AD 550–577) wrote: "Today the jiaozi, shaped like a crescent moon, is a common food in the world." Six Dynasties Turfan tombs contained dumplings. Later in the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907), jiaozi become more popular, called Bian Shi (). Chinese archaeologists have found a bowl of jiaozi in the Tang dynasty tombs in Turpan. 7th or 8th century dumplings and wontons were found in Turfan.
Jiaozi may also be named because they are horn-shaped. The Chinese word for "horn" is jiao (), and jiaozi was originally written with the Chinese character for "horn", but later it was replaced by the specific character , which has the food radical on the left and the phonetic component () on the right.
At the same time, jiaozi look like yuan bao silver or gold ingots used as currency during the Ming dynasty, and as the name sounds like the word for the earliest paper money, serving them is believed to bring prosperity. Many families eat these at midnight on Chinese New Year's Eve. Some cooks will even hide a clean coin inside a jiaozi for the lucky to find.
Nowadays, jiaozi are eaten year-round, and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They can be served as an appetizer, a side dish, or as the main course. In China, sometimes jiaozi is served as a last course during restaurant meals. As a breakfast dish, jiaozi are prepared alongside xiaolongbao at inexpensive roadside restaurants. Typically, they are served in small steamers containing ten pieces each. Although mainly serving jiaozi to breakfast customers, these small restaurants keep them hot on steamers and ready to eat all day. Jiaozi are always served with a dipping sauce that may include vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, rice wine, hot sauce, and sesame oil. They can also be served with soup.
Types
Chinese dumplings (jiaozi) may be divided into various types depending on how they are cooked: Boiled dumplings () Steamed dumplings () Pan-fried dumplings (), and () also referred to as "pot-stickers" Deep fried dumplings () Soup dumplings ()
Dumplings that use egg rather than dough to wrap the filling are called "egg dumplings" ().
Pan-fried dumplings can be joined together by a brown, crispy lattice base created by pouring a flour and water mix into the pan at the end of cooking. In Chinese, this is known as "frost" or "ice crystal" (冰花). The dumplings can also be joined together with an egg base which is topped with green onion and sesame seeds.