Shiitake Chive Dumplings (Makes 25)
Want to have a go at making your own Chinese dim sum? Jeremy's recipe includes a useful guide to making these wonderfully crispy shiitake and chive dumplings, with tips on how to perfectly wrap and shape them. Most Chinese dumplings can either be deep-fried, pan-fried, steamed or blanched, though there is something incredibly moreish about deep-fried ones with their crunchy exterior and hot, steamy filling. Much like fresh pasta, when made from scratch, dumplings should not be overcooked – whichever way you choose to cook them, the cooking process itself should not take any longer than five minutes. The goal is to cook the pastry and filling through, while keeping that ‘al dente’ bite. Served with noodles for a great alternative to a Sunday lunch.
Photography by Martin Poole
Dumpling wrappers
225g of plain flour
130ml of hot water, plus extra if required
vegetable oil, for frying
Filling
50g of rice noodles
1 handful of coriander
1 spring onion
1 inch piece ginger
1 garlic clove
5 shiitake mushrooms, soaked and drained
200g of chives, Chinese chives preferably or garlic shoots
1 pak choi, 5 leaves only
1 head of Chinese leaf, 1 leaf only
Marinade
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
½ tbsp of cornflour
Dipping sauce
4 tbsp of light soy sauce
4 tbsp of black rice vinegar
1 inch piece ginger, finely slice
Sieve the flour into a bowl.
Gradually add the water, mixing with a fork to form a dough, then knead it on a lightly dusted surface for five minutes until slightly elastic. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 1–2mm, then use a 70mm diameter circular cutter to cut out as many pastries as possible.
Set the pastries aside on a baking sheet or tray and cover with a tea towel until needed.
For the filling, put the noodles in a bowl, cover with hot water and soak for 3 minutes.
Drain and dry the noodles on a clean kitchen towel, then finely chop them along with all the other filling ingredients.
Put the chopped filling ingredients in a bowl along with the marinade ingredients and mix together well.
Combine the dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl or ramekin and wrap the dumplings.
Place one teaspoon of the filling in the centre of each circle of dough.
Fold the bottom centre over the filling to form a semicircle and pinch the top tight.
Pinch the two corners of the semicircle together leaving two symmetrical 'Mickey Mouse ear' shapes between your centre fold and the corner folds.
Now pinch the 'ears' in towards you to make four layered folds.
Tidy up to create a 'half-moon' shape and arrange on a plate.
Half-fill a large pot, wok or deep-fryer with vegetable oil and heat to 180°C, or until the tip of a wooden chopstick or skewer starts to fizz after a second or so in the oil.
Carefully add the dumplings in batches of no more than 10 and deep-fry for three minutes, until golden brown.
Remove the dumplings carefully with a slotted spoon and drain well on a plate covered with kitchen paper.
Serve immediately with the dipping sauce
Recipe from Chinese Unchopped by Jeremy Pang (R376, Loot.co.za)