Siu Long Bao - Shanghai dumplings

Life has been really hectic lately, loads of bumps in the road from birth to death and lately (this year) it has been problem on top of problem *sigh* This frog deserves as long rest and preferably a paid holiday...

Back to cooking! I made this photo tutorial for Facebook, but I figured I might as well post it here too.

Siu Long Bao orginates from Shanghai and while I have no ties whatsoever to Shanghai I do love a good Chinese style dumpling :) The definition of a good siu long bao: the skin has to be thin and pleated with 49 pleats (for the perfectionists :P). Inside the dumpling there is savory filling and here comes the good part: soup. Hot salty soup that will burst into your mouth the moment you bite into it (burning the inside of your mouth horribly, but so good). The soup is actually incorporated into the filling as a jelly. The jelly melts when you steam the bao. The hardest part is getting the skin to be thin but also strong enough to hold the soup inside. I usually achieve that by buying gyoza skins from the deep-frozen part of Asian supermarkets, but I've included instructions on how to make your own dough.

Ingredients:

Meat Filling:

400 grams of pork belly
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
Sesame oil

You can substitute the pork belly with any kind of minced meat or finely cut vegetables. Salt, pepper and sesame oil is to taste.

Soup Jelly:

500 ml of bouillon stock
Ginger to taste
4 grams of agar-agar

I prefer having a strong ginger taste in my bouillon stock so I boil the ginger with the stock and let it steep afterwards till the soup is cold.

Dough:

400 grams of flour
Pinch of salt
About 600 ml of boiling water
1 tablespoon of sesame oil (or substitute with vegetable oil)

You can also buy gyoza skins, instead of making your own dough.

First prepare the soup jelly:

1. Add the ginger to the bouillon stock and bring to a boil.
2. Add the agar-agar and simmer until dissolved.
3. Strain the soup into a container and refrigerate until set.
4. When set, cut into little cubes.

Now prepare the meat filling:

5. Mince the pork belly and season with salt and pepper. It should look like this:

When you are ready to make the bao, prepare the dough:

6. Put flour and salt in a bowl 

7. Add the half of the boiling water and stir until all the flour is incorporated. If the dough doesn't come together, add small amounts of water until it does.

8. Empty the dough onto your work surface and knead until smooth, adding water or flour if necessary.

9. When the dough is ready, take a small amount of dough (about the size of a pingpong ball) and roll it out into a circle.

10. Place the meat filling and a cube of soup jelly in the middle.

11. Now comes the pleating part. Grab the edge of the circle with your thumb and index finger.

12. Use your other hand to make a mirrored Z and flatten the pleat. Repeat until the dumpling is closed.

13. When you have a batch, prepare a steamer. Put the dumplings on a well oiled plate and steam them for 20 minutes. Or you can freeze them for later use. To freeze the dumplings put them on a floured surface and freeze until hard. Then you can put them in a bag and keep them for about a month. When steaming the frozen dumplings: put them on a oiled plate and steam for 25 minutes.