.: evil jungle prince :.

After getting inspired by a television show on preparing dim sum, I took the plunge tonight and tried making har gow (Chinese shrimp dumplings) for the very first time. The show managed to make me insanely hungry for dumplings so the effort put into this task was secondary to my stomach's need for yummy morsels. This was rather labor intensive but well worth the effort.

1. The pastry skin or wrapper is the labor intensive part. To make mine, I placed two cups of flour in a mixer with 3 tsp tapioca flour, 1 tsp salt, and 2 tsp peanut oil, adding hot water until the dough form a ball. I then allowed the dough to be mixed throughly, allowing it to rest while I prepared my har gow stuffing. (Be sure and cover your dough or it will dry out.)

2. Next I thawed some shrimp, cleaned them, and then dried them on a towel. The shrimp, together with one tin of water chestnuts that had been roughly chopped in a food processor and 1 tsp chopped chives, were then mixed 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp tapioca powder, and 1/2 tsp soy sauce and placed into the refrigerator to chill.

3. Finally, the dough was cut and rolled into small palm-sized balls. Each was rolled out, pressed with a fork around the perimeter, and filled with tsp of the shrimp mixture. The sides were then gathered to the top and the top twisted to seal the har gow. These I steamed for 10 mins in bamboo steamers.

Whew! But might tasty served with a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili sauce, and sesame oil -- YUMS.