Cabbage & Pork Dumplings

Today, I went to one of my favourite Chinese dumpling haunts for brunch of Cabbage and Pork Dumplings. Whilst there I watched one of the young chefs make the dumplings. A dough of tang flour (rice flour) and water is rolled into a thin snake like shape and then cut into about 1.5cm lengths. Each length is then flattened with the palm of one hand then rolled with a thin dim sum rolling pin. After the dumpling wrapper is formed, the dough is cupped in one hand and a small flat dim sum spatula is used to insert the filling in the middle. The hand holding the wrapper is then cupped to close the dumpling then it is pleated with the thumbs of both hands. The chef making the dumplings was extremely fast and apparently many Chinese are taught this method of making dumplings when they are small children. I also asked if the chef added cold water to the boiling water each time they are cooked but he said that this is an old method which is used when you can't control the cooking temperature. The water in the restaurant was temperature controlled so this method wasn't required.
Copyright © 2008 - 2009 All Rights Reserved

Hong Kong Style Mango Pudding

Note that the measurements below do not contain any typos as they are derived from the Chinese Tael and Catty weight system.

Ingredients:

300g mango, diced

150g mango puree

150g soya bean milk

150g fresh cream

300g ice cubes

Gelatine Syrup

450g water

26g gelatine powder

225g sugar

Method:

In a saucepan over a low heat dissolve all of the ingredients for the gelatine syrup, remove from heat and pour into a large bowl. Add the soya bean milk and fresh cream and mix well. Add the diced mango and the diced mango puree and combine. Lastly, add the ice cubes stirring until the ice cubes have melted. Pour into pudding moulds and chill to set.

You can buy really cool pudding moulds and dim sum equipment from the many kitchenware shops that line Shanghai Street. I normally visit Man Kee Chopping Board, G/F, 341-343 Shanghai Street, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Copyright © 2008 - 2009 All Rights Reserved