How to "Yum Cha"... at home

I've always been interested in reading. Guess it's the way we've been brought up- my sister and brother loves reading too, and ever since I can remember, my mum would take us to the library and pick out some books, take it home and wipe it all over with alcohol rub (because library books are filthy and you never know whose grubby hands handled them before you) before giving it to us. It was exciting to visit the library, quite unlike a lot of kids these days, who probably enjoy watching youtube and jabbing their fingers at touchscreens much more than reading a good old-fashion paperback.

Of course, some books are more interesting than others. For my brother, it's always been contemporary, philosophical, thought-provoking books, which I have learnt to enjoy as well. My sister was into crime fiction, which we all read. Me? I like fantasy, sci-fi... and cookbooks. Recently, I've been reading a lot on how to make food that you get at yum cha (previous entry started it all). After experimenting with mango pancake, I came across a dumpling recipe from Donna Hay's cookbook.

From cookkk

Having made wanton plenty of times before, I had the translucent kind of dumplings in mind- the type that har gao comes in.

From cookkk

I can't say that it's perfect- this is afterall the first time making such dumplings. Several things could be improved upon for next time, in particularly the skin, but let's start with filling.

2 cloves garlic and some chilli, finely diced, about 1 tablespoon white sesame- fried up in a pan with a splash of sesame oil till fragrant. Careful, it spits. Throw in about 3 cups of well chopped (water) spinach and fry for another minute or so. Leave to cool. Add in about 15 shelled, cleaned and chopped prawns, mix and filling is done. 

Note: There isn't any seasoning which is good for my mum because she has kidney failure, but it's probably a good idea to add some salt and pepper to taste. Also, spinach... shameful to say this, but I don't know my veggies that well and while I knew water spinach is "kang kong", I didn't actually know what it looked like, so at the markets, I bought the bunch of veggies under the label "spinach". Whatever works really.

From cookkk

On to the hard bit. Recipe: 1+1/4 cup potato starch (flour), 1/4 cup tapioca flour and pinch of salt. My mistake here- I was too lazy to sieve, but it is actually vital to sift those damn flours together because otherwise you get lumps of flour in your dough and that just breaks apart, leaving a gaping hole in your dumpling. After sifting, add 1 cup boiling water and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Use a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients together and then while it's still warm, knead with hand till you get a smooth dough, using potato starch to dust if it gets too sticky.

Chop into 24 pieces.

From cookkk

And then it's completely up to you how you want to shape the dumplings. I like pleated dumplings because it's probably the only thing I can do. Flattening out the dough was a pain- to get it round, you first form a round ball, flatten it with your palm slightly, then use a rolling pin to flatten the sides even further, rotating as you go. I see expert chefs using their butcher's knife and flatten a perfect circle of pastry with just two quick swipes, a skill I'd love to acquire, but I don't make nearly enough dumplings to practice.

After that, just steam for around 12-15 minutes and you're done. 

It's not a perfect recipe, but it turned out pretty good anyway. I've seen some recipes that use equal amounts of cornstarch and tapioca flour. Potato starch and corn starch are similar, but it would be interesting to try different ratios of the two types of flour in order to get the perfect glass wrapper. Good thing is, you can always prepare the filling ahead of time and the dough doesn't need any resting. In saying that, it's not actually something you can whip up quickly, but it's definitely worth trying, just for the novelty of seeing a white wrapper turn translucent.