D.D's Club

Ingredients

Wrapper

3/4 cup high gluten flour
1/3 cup less 1 tablespoon water
1/3 cup plain flour
1/4 cup boiling water
flour for dusting
2 teaspoons oil

Soup

180 grams skin of pork
225 grams chicken breast
140 grams pork
60 grams chinese ham
1 scallion
2 slices ginger
chinese rice wine
salt

Filling

285 grams ground pork
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ginger and scallion water
pepper
sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons chinese(Shanghai) rice wine
5 crabs (the meat) de shelled

Making the soup

(makes 2 cups. use only one)

Wash and clean pork skin. Parboil in boiling water with the chicken
breast and ham.
Place all the meat in a saucepan with 6 cups of water. Add scallion and
ginger and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer till pork skin is
soft. Continue simmering till only 2 cups of liquid remains. Strain and
reserve the liquid keeping the pork skin. Diced the saved pork skin.
Whizz the pork skin and liquid in a blender till milky. Season with
salt and leave to cool. Use before it gelatinizes.

Preparing the Filling

Place the ground pork into a mixing bowl. Add salt and light soy sauce.
Stir with chopstick or wooden spoon continously and in one direction
only. Add the rest of the ingredients. Continue to stir in the same
direction until the mixture forms a thick paste.

Pour in one cup of the prepared soup, a little at a time, stirring to mix thoroughlly with the pork.

Wrap in cling film and put in the refrigerator to cool.

Preparing the wrapper

(makes 40 wrappers)

In a large mixing bowl, mix the 3/4 cups of high gluten flour and 1/3
cup less one tablespoon less water until it resembles bread crumbs.
Knead into a dough.

Place the plain flour in a mixing bowl. In a small saucepan bring 1/4
cup of water to the boil. Add the 1/3 cup plain flour and move the
saucepan away from the flame, stirring the flour vigorously with a
wooden spoon. Leave it to cool a little before kneading together with
the high gluten flour dough prepared earlier. Cover with clean damp
cloth and leave to rest for 4 hours.

Forming the dumplings

Place 2 teaspoons of oil on the worktop, put the dough on top and knead
for a little while. Cut the dough into 4 quarters. Form one quarter
into a 20mm cylinder. Divide the cylinder into 10 pieces. Roll each
piece into a ball. Flatten each piece with the palm of your hand into a
disk. Use a rolling pin to roll the disk out forming a 60mm disk with
the edges thinner than the center. Make a well with you thumb and first
finger and drape the disk over. Let it sag in the middle to form a
recess for the filling. Use a teaspoon to place 2 teaspoons of filling.
Carefully gather the edge of wrapper making folds and holding on to
them till fully gathered. Traditionally, 18 folds are made. Do not let
your finger touch the filling while doing this or you will make a mess.
Do the same for the rest.

Steaming

Cut out 10 cabbage leave disks or use thin slices of carrot and stick
one piece to the bottom of each dumpling. Place the dumplings in a
200mm bamboo steamer. In a large saucepan or wok, bring water to a
rolling boil. Sit the Steamer on a rack over the boiling water, close
the lid and steam for seven minutes. The dumpling is done when the
filling feels firm to the touch. Serve with a small dish of thinly
shredded ginger in viniger.