Jay Wong’s ‘Mom Dish’: Chinese Dumplings
What's your favorite “Mom Dish?”
What we eat growing up shapes our identity. For all of us, food brings us together - and whatever your cultural identity - often connects us to our heritage and preserves traditions across generations. This is why we love asking our guests what their favorite “mom dish” is.
On our podcast, one of our favorite topics is food. In our chat with Jay Wong (a Canadian podcaster of Chinese-Vietnamese descent), we learned about his mom’s dumplings. We also love learning a little bit more about the history (and recipe) of the dish, which you’ll find further below…
Dumplings are ubiquitous throughout many regions - especially across Asia. According to Chinese legend, these stuffed delicacies were created by herbal medicine man Zhang Zhongjian during the Han Dynasty. His village was suffering from frostbite during the winter, especially around the ears. In an effort to heal his village, he combined mutton, chili, and healing herbs - placing them in scraps of dough and folding them into the shape of an ear. He boiled them and handed them out (2). It is said that dumplings were originally called Jiao’er, meaning “tender ears” because of this legend, and over the years they eventually became called Jiaozi. It is also possible that they are called Jiaozi due to their horned shape (1, 2, 4).
Jiaozi can be stuffed with a variety of ingredients including cabbage, onions, pork, mushrooms, chicken, or even fish. They then can be boiled, steamed, or pan fried. Many people eat Jiaozi on the Chinese New Year, placing a coin inside to bring good fortune to the one who finds it (1, 3). Coming together with the whole family to make dumplings during holidays is something that we (like many Asian families) always look forward to. We love making them around the kitchen table - and of course eating far too many.
After trying lots of different recipes, here’s one we really liked (though full disclosure, we didn’t make our own dumpling wrappers, we just bought those from our local Asian market =). We’re guessing they’re still nowhere as good as the ones Jay’s mom makes!
For more inspiration and recipes, check out our
Modern Minorities Pinterest board!