Dumpling Weekend, Part 1

It may only be Friday night, but I'm already starting off the weekend! The project this time is dim sum dumplings. I couldn't resist after getting my hands on a book called Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch by Ellen Leong Blonder. You can find it here. I decided on three dumplings that I would make over the weekend in addition to the potstickers I made a couple of weeks ago and froze. I'll try and include pictures of the results, but I don't really think it would right to include the recipes after all the hard work Ms. Blonder went through to make such a nice book. So the moral of the story is to get the book if you want to replicate what I've made.

The first dumpling for the weekend is Ha Gow, also known as Har Gow or Crystal Shrimp Dumplings. It's a little pocket of shrimp flavored with sesame oil. When steamed, the wheat starch wrapper turns slightly translucent, allowing the pink of the shrimp to show through. Very elegant, and very yummy!! The filling itself was very easy to make, but the dough took a little more effort. I thought everything went pretty well though, and I had some pretty little dumplings to show for my efforts. I only wish I had some better lighting to capture how pretty the pink inside was!

Also, on the subject of dim sum, about a year ago when I was living in Austin, TX, I attempted another favorite, Nor Mai Gai, also known as Nor My Gai or Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaves. There is a recipe in the book I mentioned above, but it's not the one I used. The beauty of this dim sum favorite is that you can add whatever you want! I used equal amounts of glutinous rice and medium-grain rice. I added five-spice powder, soy sauce, a little sugar, salt, and sesame oil for seasoning. Then maybe some lightly fried egg, sliced chinese sausage, and shrimp? I think I even added chopped shitake mushrooms (dried and reconstituted). Steaming these little packets of rice in lotus leaves really adds a wonderful scent and flavor, although it seemed to take forever for the lotus leaves to become pliable after soaking.

Next will be Chive Dumplings and Siu Mai, so wish me luck in my dumpling adventure!