Steamed Dumplings
Chinese Silver Loaves (dough for outside of dumpling)
1 3/4 cups hot water
3 T. sugar
2 T. vegetable shortening or oil
6 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
2 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Add sugar and shortening to hot water, stir til sugar
is dissolved, and allow
to cool until barely warm.
Sift remaining dry ingredients into a large mixing
bowl, and gradually stir in
sugar mixture. Mix well and gradually draw dough together
with your hands. It
should be soft, but not sticky.
On a floured board, knead dough about 5-8 minutes,
or til smooth and elastic.
Return to bowl, cover with damp cloth and let rise
at least 1 hour.
_Roast Pork Filling_
makes 24 buns
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 T. soy sauce
1 T. oyster sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 drop red food colouring (optional)
1 T. vegetable oil
3/4 lb. diced roast pork (recipe: 3 lbs. pork sirloin
cut into 2 inch strips,
marinated in: 2 T. sherry, 2 T. sugar, 1/4 cup soy
sauce, 3 T.
hoisin sauce, 1/4 tsp. red food colouring; marinate
4-5 hrs in
fridge; bake 1 hour at 325, brushing with honey three
times; let cool
20 min. then dice for dumpling recipe)
1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, minced
1 large or 2 small spring onions, chopped
1 T. cornstarch
2 T. water
1 recipe Silver Loaves
Mix together sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken
stock, sesame oil,
black pepper and red food colouring. Set aside.
Stir-fry the pork, ginger, and spring onions in the
vegetable oil for 2 min.
Pour in the seasoning mixture and stir for another
minute. Stir the cornstarch
into the water and pour into wok. Continue to cook,
stirring, until the sauce
is like thick custard. Remove from heat.
Knead the Silver Loaves dough for 3 minutes. Cover
and let sit 10 minutes.
Divide into 24 pieces and cover again with the cloth.
Pat each piece of dough into a 4 inch in diameter
circle. Place a teaspoon
of pork filling in centre and pleat edges of circle
all the way around.
Bring edges up over filling, finally pinching the
pleats together firmly at
the centre top. Set aside for 10 minutes.
Place each bun on a piece of wax (greaseproof) paper,
and steam with 1/2 inch
of space between them, for 12 minutes. Do not open
the steamer while cooking
or else the characteristic splitting of the top of
the bun will not take place.
_Shrimp and Vegetable Filling_
1 T. vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 spring onion, finely chopped
3/4 lb. chinese cabbage, chopped, blanched in boiling
water for 1 min,
drained and squeezed dry in paper towels
1/4 cup cooked baby shrimp, minced
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 T. water
Heat the oil in a wok, fry garlic and spring onion
til garlic is a light
golden colour. Stir in cabbage and shrimp, and cook
one more minute. Add
sugar, soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil, stir; then
add cornstarch mixed
with water. Stir again. The mixture should thicken
immediately. Fill buns as
with above recipe.
_Sweet Red Bean Paste Filling_
(sweet red bean paste can be bought in the store,
and used straight from the
can for filling, but this is how to make it from scratch)
1 1/2 cups red beans, washed well
4 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
Place the beans and water in a saucepan, cover, bring
to boil over medium
high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for
1 1/2 hours, or til beans
are very soft.
Strain the water from the beans, and blend them into
a puree in a blender
or food processor.
Press the puree through a sieve, discarding the skins,
which will be left
in the sieve.
Place the puree in several layers of cheesecloth,
and gently squeeze to
remove excess moisture.
Place the thickened puree back into the saucepan,
together with the sugar and
vegetable shortening, and heat over low heat, stirring
until it becomes a
thick paste. Stir and scrape vigourously so that it
does not stick to
the bottom.
Remove from heat and let cool before filling buns.
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