Gyoza! Or jiaozi as we found out when researching this thing. As this popular dish hailed from China, which the Japanese loved and did a variant of.
None of that matters because these things are epic beyond words and we love them. That’s why we’re here now to explore their culinary history.
What are Jiaozi?
They’re Chinese dumplings that have a filling (usually ground meat and vegetables) before being folded and then fried.
They can also be boiled and deep fried. Serve them with a black vinegar or sesame oil dip and you have total perfection right there.
As for the folding of the dumplings, well that’s so they resembles Chinese sycee (“fine silk”), which has tremendous cultural clout in China.
As for the name, you can listen in below to pronounce this properly.
There is an English language term for them, which is potstickers.
Chinese-American physician and writer Buwei Yang Chao (1889-1981) popularised that term in her 1945 cookbook How to Cook and Eat in Chinese.
Ever been to a Japanese restaurant? We’ll get to this further below, but you’ll also be familiar with Japanese gyōza (餃子). It’s similar to the Chinese variety, but with some key differences we’ll cover.
But for now, we’ll take a look where this dumpling craze started.
A Brief History of Jiaozi
Asia and dumplings go together like England and fish & chips with gravy.
They were once referred to as “tender ears” (嬌耳—pinyin: jiao’er) for obvious reasons. Can’t work it out? It’s because the dumpling looks a bit like an ear…
The exact beginning for jiaozi isn’t clear, but plenty of theories abound for an origin story. The most popular belief is the Eastern Han (AD 25-220) dynasty invented the dish.
They’ve even been directly attributed to Zhang Zhongjing (150-219), who was an inventor, pharmacologist, and physician. The old wives’ tale has it that he was walking home one night in the freezing cold and decided to feed freezing common people with food wrapped in dough.
These were boiled up and handed to patients. They were so popular various imitations grew and each Chinese New Year the dish was celebrated by eating tender ears.
Whether that’s true or not, who knows?
Another debate point is the dumplings were adapted from those in Western Asia. This is a possibility as the dumplings are mentioned in contemporary books.
From the Three Kingdoms timeframe (AD 220-280) there was an early dictionary called the Guangya ( 廣雅/广雅—pinyin: Guangya) from the 3rd century. It was referred to as Boya (博雅) from a later period.
This work was pieced together and edited by Zhang Yi (227-232) of Cao Wei.
Another mention was by Yan Zhitui (531-591) from the Northern Qi period (AD 550-577), who was a calligrapher, painter, musician, writer, philosopher, and politician. He was a busy bunny, serving four Chinese states. He wrote:
“Today the jiaozi, shaped like a crescent moon, is a common food in the world.”
We must add we do prefer the crescent moon description to the mildly disturbing tender ears one. And these moons were discovered in Six Dynasties Turfan tombs.
From Archaeologists Discover Ancient Dumplings In China:
“According to Shanghaiist, the ancient dumplings were discovered by archaeologists excavating tombs in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
Dry conditions help preserve things, and the desert conditions around the area were dry enough that the dumplings never got moldy or dissolved. They just dried out into hard, desiccated little rock-like objects that are now perfectly preserved for scientists to study.
Scientists say there are actually multiple generations of dumplings discovered. The three oldest date back to the Six Dynasties period (220-589) and are an estimated 1,700 years old. Two other dumplings discovered in the area date to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and the archaeologists say the dumplings are crescent-shaped bundles stuffed with meat and encased in a wrapper made of wheat flour dough, which look very similar to what a person would find in China today.”
And so with jiaozi from the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) grew in popularity and were also found in the tombs of luminaries. Dumplings and wontons were also unearthed in archaeological digs.
It’s a long history. One that’s seen these mushy little things travel across time (and possibly even space… maybe) as an accompaniment to many a dish. Forever tasty and appetising, endearing themselves to whomever stuffed one into their face.
During all these generations the most popular ways to cook jiaozi were defined as:
- 水饺 (in water dumpling)
- 蒸饺 (steam dumpling)
- 煎饺 (dry fried dumplings)
- 炸饺 (deep fried dumplings)
- 汤饺 (soup dumpling)
Typical meat fillings are chicken, port, beef, shrimp, and fish.
Vegetable fillings are usually nappa cabbage, scallion, celery, leek, spinach, garlic, chives, and black fungus.
Of course, the dish is still mightily popular in China to this day. The dumplings aren’t going anywhere as they remain as popular as chow mein, spring rolls, or mapo tofu.
About Japanese Gyōza (餃子) 🇯🇵
Okay, so many people may think Japan invented these things. Nope. They’re very similar to China’s dumplings, often with fillings of meat or vegetables.
Typical fillings will include nira chives, green onion, cabbage, ginger, garlic, and sesame oil.
They’re hugely popular in Japan and you’ll find them available in 100% of sushi restaurants elsewhere (a bold claim by us there, but probably true).
There are different types of gyōza:
- Yaki: The pan fried variety everyone is most familiar with.
- Sui: Boiled and served in a light broth.
- Age: Deep fried, so the least healthy option.
Japanese soldiers brought the recipe back with them during World War II, so it’s actually quite a new dish on the Nippon menu.
The key difference between China’s variety is Japanese chefs ramp up the garlic flavour and the dough wrapper tends to be super thin.
How to Make Jiaozi (Potsticker Dumplings)
Yes, there’s nothing stopping you from making these things in your home.
You could just buy some from the local supermarket (or head to an Asian restaurant), but why not cook up a storm?
The ingredients (there’s a fair few of them) you’ll need for this are:
2 tbsp cornflour
Gyoza skins (you can make these yourself or buy them ready-made)
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
Right, then, the key thing there is whether you want to make the dough yourself for the wrapper. That’s up to you. For the fillings, though, that’s a bit easier. You’ll need the likes of:
Chopped spring onions
2 large leaves of Savoy or pointed cabbages
1½cm piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp cooking saké
½ tsp sesame oil
The beauty here is you can create a filling with whatever you want (within reason). The world is your oyster with jiaozi.
And we must thank China for its sterling efforts in bringing such a tasty delight to this world.
