In many Chinese homes, dumplings are a traditional, must-have dish to celebrate the Lunar New Year, the most important holiday of the year. Families get together on New Year’s Eve to roll, fill, and wrap a feast’s worth of the plump, ingot-shaped parcels, an auspicious—and delicious—way to ring in the coming year.
Across China, the components of the lucky new year’s feast vary widely; dumplings are rooted in northern China, where wheat was historically the staple crop. From region to region, household to household, and person to person, everyone makes and wraps dumplings a little differently. This family recipe is but one way of many. (And unless you’re a Chinese grandma, or have equivalent skills, each of your individual dumplings might look a little different, too. Embrace their homemade charm!)
