SHU MEI

Steamed dumplings (meatballs)

This recipe is an adaptation of the one in The Frugal Gourmet by Jeff Smith. The bigger the batch, the better. There are never leftovers.

Ingredients

(makes 35-40)

Dumplings

1 kg ground turkey
25 ml corn starch (cornflour)
25 ml dry sherry
50 ml light soy sauce
10 g ginger, grated or finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed, minced or pressed
6 green onions, chopped
15 ml brown sugar
15 ml sesame oil
1 pkg wonton wrappers
peanut oil

Dipping

sauce

4 dl fish sauce (You may want to dilute this with water, depending on its strength)
25 cl vinegar
200 g sugar
6 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
10 g ginger, finely minced or grated
15 ml red pepper, crushed

Procedure

Make the dipping sauce by mixing together all of its ingredients. Store in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
Stir together everything but the wrappers and the peanut oil. Mix vigorously by hand until it begins to bind together. (About 1 minute or so.)
Place 25-30 ml of filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper. Fold the sides up around the meat so that you have a little bag or cup. Press the bottom flat so that the bag doesn't fall over.
Oil racks of the steamer with peanut oil. Place dumplings in racks.
Steam for 15 to 20 minutes in covered rack over boiling water.
Serve hot with dipping sauce.

Notes

These little gems would probably go just fine with a favorite hoisin or chili dipping sauce.

The steamer racks I recommend are the Chinese bamboo ones. You can stack them quite nicely (I find that three racks work well) and they sit at just the right height above the boiling water in a wok. The real advantage is that water will not condense on your food if you use a bamboo steamer.

The dipping sauce is an adaption of one served at the Phoenix Vietnamese restaurant in Saint Paul Minnesota; it was originally served with eggrolls, but works splendidly with these dumplings.

The original recipe calls for ground pork, but I find ground turkey preferable. The flavor is lighter and the calories far fewer. Pork is fine, though, and even hamburger could be used in a pinch.

Rating

Difficulty: easy, but tedious.
Time: 45 minutes preparation, 15-20 minutes cooking.
Precision: approximate measurement OK.

Contributor

 
Kathy Marschall 
Submitted for her by David Messer. 
Lynx Data Systems, St. Paul, Minnesota USA 
dave@viper.UUCP {amdahl,ihnp4,rutgers}!{dayton,meccts}!viper!dave

Recipe last modified: 23 Feb 87

Original header

Path: decwrl!recipes
From: dave@viper.uucp (David Messer)
Newsgroups: alt.gourmand
Subject: RECIPE: Steamed Chinese dumplings
Message-ID: <11515@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: 22 Aug 87 08:55:12 GMT
Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
Distribution: alt
Organization: Lynx Data Systems, St. Paul, Minnesota USA
Lines: 93
Approved: reid@decwrl.dec.com

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