Episode 7 : Chinese Dumpling

Bob heads to a popular Chinese dumpling restaurant in Vancouver, where he’ll have five days to learn how to make dumplings in a fast-paced kitchen where screaming chefs slam out thousands of dumplings a day. Bob’s task is to learn the most difficult one –xialongbao (soup dumpling) – a dumpling with a complex filling and twenty-four intricate folds. Later Bob goes head-to-head against Dim Sum Pros in a Dumpling Making Competition at the Night Market in Richmond, BC. Here Bob and his competitors have five minutes to roll and fold the dumplings, steam them and serve them to the judging panel. Does Bob have what it takes or will he end up crying in his soup (dumpling)?

Recipes:

Basic hand-made Xiao Long Bao – soup dumplings

Ingredients:

Yield: 24 servings
11 oz Pork loin with some fat, chopped or ground coarse
2 tsp Soy sauce
1 Tbs Sesame oil
2 Tbs Scallion greens, chopped
1 1/2 tsp Ginger root, chopped fine
6 tb Water
1/4 c Stiff aspic – (jellied stock)
1/4 Recipe basic yeast dough

The Chinese for this dish can be transliterated as anything from “Show loong tong bow” to “Hsiao lung t’ang pao” to Xiao long tang bao* which means “Little juicy steamed rolls” or “Juicy steamed buns with pork”.

Filling:

Mix first 8 ingredients. Divide into 24 portions. Cut aspic into 24 portions.

Wrapper:

Knead dough 5 min; roll out into a thin baguette; cut into 24 pieces. Flatten each piece into a 2″ round; then go around with your fingers and squeeze the edges thin – the result should be a medium-thin center and a thin outside.

Forming the dumplings:

Put 1 portion (1/2 oz) filling in the center of each round; top with 1 portion of aspic. Bring up the sides of each round and twist up in a decorative pattern, making sure to seal the top. If holes appear, patch them at once!

Steaming:

Place the dumplings in a bamboo steamer on a square of waxed paper or a piece of bok choy/cabbage leaf. In a large saucepan or wok, bring water to a rolling boil. Sit the Steamer on a rack over the boiling water, close the lid and steam for 7-8 minutes. The dumplings are done when the filling feels firm to the touch. Serve with a small dish of thinly shredded ginger in vinegar.

Note on aspic:

If you don’t have any on hand, use about 1 1/2 c of homemade chicken broth (or good-quality canned low-salt broth): boil 1 c of broth, uncovered, for about 2 min (reducing it quite a bit) while dissolving 1 envelope gelatin in the other 1/2 c. Mix together and stir over low heat until all gelatin is dissolved. Chill. This will make a hard aspic, enough for 3 recipes of this dim sum.