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Chive Dumplings

Ingredients for wheat starch dough: (32 wrappers)

  • 1 1/4 cups (150 g) wheat starch
  • 1/4 cup (30 g) tapioca flour/starch or wheat starch
  • 1 cup (240 cc) boiling hot chicken broth
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Directions:

  1. In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients for the dough. With wooden chopsticks, stir in the boiling hot chicken broth and the vegetable oil.
  2. Sprinkle wheat starch over a wooden cutting board or other appropriate kneading surface. When the dough is still hot, start kneading the dough until it becomes smooth. If the dough is sticky, you may need to add more wheat starch.
  3. Cut the dough into 4 sections and roll each section into an 8-inch cylinder, using the palms of your hands. For this recipe, cut each cylinder into 8 pieces. Cover with plastic to keep the dough moist while you flatten each piece.
  4. The trick to making the wrapper into a near-perfect circle is to sandwich the piece of dough between two pieces of parchment paper and flatten it using the bottom of a pan. Then you can use a rolling pin to roll them out more. You want your wrappers to be at least 3 1/2" wide.
  5. Cover the wrappers with plastic while you make the chive filling.
 

Ingredients for chive filling:

  • 1 tsp. salt (for blanching the chives)
  • 1/2 tsp. salt (for the filling)
  • 1/2 lb chinese chives, cleaned, trimmed and cut in 1/2-inch lengths
  • 1/2 lb. shrimps, peeled, deveined, and cut in 1/4-inch dice
  • 1/3 cup bamboo shoots or jicama (optional)
  • 1 tsp. soy sauce
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Directions:

  1. Blanch the chives in boiling hot water with 1 tsp. salt for 1 minute, then drain and rinse the chives under cold water. Squeeze the excess water out of the chives.
  2. In a medium bowl, gently mix the chives, shrimp, bamboo shoots, soy sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, sugar, sesame oil and cornstarch.
     
  3. Place some filling onto the center of a wrapper. Fold 8 pleats around the entire edge and then pinch the wrapper closed. Flip the dumpling over so that the pleated side is facing downwards. Gently flatten the dumpling with your palm. Fill the remaining wrappers until you have about 32 dumplings.
  4. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium to medium-high heat. As soon as the skillet start smoking,[1] add the dumplings to the skillet. Make sure that the dumplings do not touch each other, otherwise they will stick together. Cook each side for about 2 1/2 minutes, letting them turn slightly brown. Add 1/3 - 1/2 cup water to the skillet or enough to cover the bottom of the skillet with 1/4" of water. Then cover the skillet with a lid and reduce the heat to a little bit over low. Cook the dumplings until the wrapper becomes translucent on the sides, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the lid and raise the heat back to medium. When the water has evaporated, flip the dumplings over and brown the other side. Serve the dumplings while hot.

Notes:


[1] It is critical to wait for the skillet to start smoking, because this will prevent the dumplings from sticking to the pan. Please visit the cooking tips page for more details.
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