Shrimp Dumpling 虾饺 Har Gow

Well ... I'm not 'Dim Sum Dolly' ... LOL ! Since the last mini homemade dim sum feast for our weekend tea, I've got the "hang of it" ... to make some Har Gow.  So far I've done once ... but that was really "N" years ago ...

Other than our occasional dim sum brunch indulgence at some restaurants,  we like to patronize the dim sum stall in the hawker center too. Serves handmade dim sums with wide steamed varieties ... bao, har gow, siu mai, fan choy, lo mai kai, braised chicken feet, steamed mince pork with mushroom, beancurd rolls, yam cake etc. etc. There are 2 to 3 cooks (or 师父) in the stall making the dim sums and 2 other attending to customers with piping hot dim sums dishing out from the traditional big "multi-decker" steamer. The hawker center is usually very packed on the weekends morning. Sometimes, we could hardly find a table / seat for our breakfast.  Alternative option is to (dabao 打 包) pack the food home.

I suppose the difficulty in making nice Har Gow is in the pleating of the dough and getting the 'right' dough texture.  I followed the steps and had some nice pleats actually... but once steamed,  the Har Gow skin (dough) became translucent (like facial mask) ... all the pleats disappeared :(

Adapted from the cookbook of Judy Lew
Ha Gow 虾饺 (Shrimp Dumpling)
3 - 4 servings

Ingredients
Filling
300g shrimp, deveined and chopped small
25g chopped bamboo shoots
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 egg white (I forgot to add)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Combine filling ingredients and set in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Dough
100g wheat starch
50g tapioca starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
240g Boiling water
2 tablespoon cooking oil

*Note : dough can be made ahead. Wrap with foil or cling wrap.  Dough keeps one day at room temperature.

1) Mix wheat starch, tapioca starch and salt together in a large pot. Make a well in the center and pour in the boiling water.

2) Stir to moisten ingredients (used chopsticks to stir).

3) Cover pot and allow to rest 10 minutes.

4). Knead until a smooth dough forms, adding oil. Set aside. Keep covered until use.

5) Roll portions of dough into a long roll and cut into walnut size pieces.  Roll each piece in hand until smooth.  Then generously oil cleaver and counter top. Press out dough to form a 3" circle.  (Or use a tortilla press).
(When I cut it to walnut size piece, it didn't press out to 3" circle, so I made bigger size about 50 cents coin size)

Pages from the cookbook

6) Pleat half of circle to form a pouch. Put in 2 teaspoons filling, cover and pinch ends together.

7) Gently curve dumpling to form a crescent.

8) Place an oiled steaming plate and steam 15 minutes.

We enjoyed our weekend tea snacks with these dainty hot steamed Har Gow. Tasted good served with some hot tea.

Have a nice weekend ahead ^-^

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