Har Gow Dim Sum Food

HOW TO MAKE THE BEST HAR GOW (蝦餃)

Steps:

• Mix the wheat starch, tapioca starch, and salt in a mixing bowl.
• Add the boiling water into the mixing bowl. Stir the mixture vigorously until it looks like snowflakes.
• Add the oil.
• Knead the dough until soft and pliable.
• Cover it and let it relax for 5 minutes.
• Put it on a work surface and roll it into long strips.
• Cut dough into small portions, 15-20g each.
• Roll out the dough, and wrap the shrimp filling with the wrapper.
• Clean and devein the shrimps. Marinate with salt for 5 minutes and wash thoroughly under running water.
• Chop the shrimp coarsely.
• Chop the bamboo shoots into small pieces.
• Mix the shrimps, bamboo shoots, and the seasoning until it becomes sticky.
• Place the dumplings in the bamboo steamer.
• Steam for 6 minutes.
• Serve immediately.

HAR GOW

Steps:

• Chop prawns and mix filling. Mince half the prawns and roughly chop the other half. Combine prawns with water chestnuts, spring onion, grated ginger, 2 tsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tsp soy sauce and tapioca starch. Mix well and set aside. | Having two sizes of prawn will result in a slight bite when eating the har gao, instead of a mush
• Form dough. In a mixing bowl, add wheat starch and tapioca starch and pour in 1 cup boiling water. Mix well with chopsticks until you form a dough.
• Prepare dumpling skin. Knead the dough until springy, then divide in two and roll out into 1 inch sausages. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough. Use a 4 inch circle oiled cookie cutter to cut out circles. | The oil on the cookie cutter ensures a clean cut, without dough sticking to the surface. If you do not have a cookie cutter, you may use a cup with a thin rim (ie paper cup) with a diameter of 4 inches.
• Wrap and steam har gao. Place ½ tbsp filling into the skin and pleat. Repeat for all. Line a steaming basket with parchment paper. Steam the dumplings for 6 to 7 minutes, until the skin is translucent and the prawn filling is cooked.

HAR GOW (SHRIMP DUMPLINGS)

Steps:

• Mix filling ingredients together; stir in one direction, mixing thoroughly; refrigerate this mixture for 1 hour.
• Combine dip ingredients and set aside.
• Sift flour and starch together; gradually add boiling water; add oil and let dough cool.
• Knead dough until smooth; divide dough in half and shape each half into a sausage; divide each sausage into twelve pieces (24 pieces total); when not working with the dough, keep it covered with a damp towel.
• Oil a cleaver and your work surface lightly; press a piece of dough, with the oiled cleaver, into a flat round circle.
• To shape each dumpling- Make 3 deep pleats in the top half of a dough circle to form a little crescent cap; fill with 1 teaspoon of the shrimp mixture; press dough edges together and place dumplings on a lightly oiled plate or an oiled piece of parchment paper over the holes on the first level of the steamer.
• Bring water to boil in the bottom part of the steamer; place steamer section with dumplings over boiling water (if you have multiple'tiers' or sections of the steamer, you can cook them all at once).
• Cover and steam 5 minutes.
• Serve with dip.
• These can be made ahead through the shaping of the dumplings, keeping them covered with a damp cloth or, you can shape the dumplings and freeze them before steaming, defrost before steaming.