.: evil jungle prince :.

I can't say how authentic pan fried har gow (Chinese shrimp dumplings) are, but this was today's lunch experiment. Inspired by the crispness of pan-fried gyoza, I first steamed my har gow in bamboo steamers and then fried their bases until crispy before serving. Yum-ay!

1. I began by combing 1 1/3 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and 3/4 cup boiling water in a mixer and combined until a firm, smooth dough. I then added a few drops of peanut oil to the exterior and kneaded by hand briefly. This was set aside in a bowl with a wet cloth over the top.

2. In the meantime I combined chopped shrimp, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 egg white, 1 tsp sherry, 3 tsp ginger juice, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, and a handful of green onions in a bowl. I then added 1 tsp corn starch, mixed again, adding a little more corn starch until the mixture began to firm.

3. I then cut the dough into 12 pieces, rolled into balls, flattened each with my hand, and then rolled out each ball to form a flat wrapper. In the middle of each, I placed a spoonful of the shrimp mixture and then pulled up the side, twisting the top to form a dumpling. These were then steamed in bamboo steamers for 9 mins.

4. After steaming, I then heated a skillet with peanut oil and fried the har gow until their bases were crispy.

For a dipping sauce, I combined soy sauce with a little rice vinegar and chili sauce (Sriracha). I also placed a dab of Chinese mustard on my plate and dipped into that as well.

This was an easy dish to prepare and requires no special flours or ingredients. Only standard wheat flour was used. Feel free to replace the stuffing ingredients with anything you might have on hand, but be aware that greens and mushrooms release a lot of moisture and may require more corn starch than normal. Enjoy!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

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.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I love stumbling across dishes that manage to make the best use of my fresh ingredients, ensuring that little to nothing will go to waste and that the dish makes the best use of what's on hand. So I was very happy to find this recipe for Char Liap Liap (stir-fried bean curd with preserved radish and long beans) last night, the first Hokkien dish I've ever tried preparing.

The recipe notes it should be served with porridge, but I ate with white rice instead. It turned out rather well. I'm not a huge fan of Chinese cooking -- I find it rather boring compared to the bombastic tastes and smells of Southeast Asia and Korea -- but once in a while I crave something on the mild side and this was a good fit.

Pacific Asia Museum Courtyard, Pasadena

Well, I am back from Pasadena. My Pasadena trip marked my third trip to Los Angeles in three weeks, and this week I'll be flying to San Francisco to visit my ang moh momma, who is soon to be a taitai (woman of leisure) -- she'll be retiring in a year.

My favorite Pasadena memory was definitely the Pacific Asia Museum. The collections and exhibits were both outstanding (particularly the current exhibit on modern Korean ceramic artists), but the highlight was the museum's courtyard, seen above. There is a particularly large ginkgo biloba tree growing in the middle with its lovely fan shaped leaves. Not wanting to pluck anything directly from the tree, I was lucky to find some [quite stinky] ginkgo fruits on the ground which I've transplanted into my garden. Let's see if I can successfully grow one.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)