Xiao Long Tang Bao Recipe

Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.02
 
       Title: XIAO LONG TANG BAO*
  Categories: Chinese, Loo, Breads, Pork
       Yield: 24 servings
 
      11 oz Pork loin with some fat,
            -chopped or ground coarse
       2 ts Soy sauce
       1 tb Sesame oil
       2 tb Scallion greens, chopped
   1 1/2 ts Ginger root, chopped fine
       6 tb Water
     1/4 c  Stiff aspic
            -(jellied stock)
     1/4    Recipe basic yeast dough
 
   The Chinese for this dish can be transliterated as
   anything from “Show loong tong bow” to “Hsiao lung
   t'ang pao” to Xiao long tang bao* Little juicy steamed
   rolls ...Juicy steamed buns with pork
  
   Mix first 8 ingredients. Divide into 24 portions. Cut
   aspic into 24 portions. Knead dough 5 min; roll out
   into a thin baguette; cut into 24 pieces. Flatten each
   piece into a 2″ round; then go around with your
   fingers and squeeze the edges thin - the result should
   be a medium-thin center and a thin outside. Put 1
   portion (1/2 oz) filling in the center of each round;
   top with 1 portion of aspic. Bring up the sides of
   each round and twist up in a decorative pattern,
   making sure to seal the top. If holes appear, patch
   them at once!
  
   Put each dumpling on a square of waxed paper or a
   piece of bok choy leaf and steam, preferably in a
   bamboo steamer, for 8 min. Serve hot.
  
   Note on aspic:
  
   If you don't have any on hand, use about 1 1/2 c of
   homemade chicken broth (or good-quality canned
   low-salt broth): boil 1 c of broth, uncovered, for
   about 2 min (reducing it quite a bit) while dissolving
   1 envelope gelatin in the other 1/2 c. Mix together
   and stir over low heat until all gelatin is dissolved.
   Chill. This will make a hard aspic, enough for 3
   recipes of this dim sum.

Tang Bao

Makana Tradisional Cina~"tang bao"

Shui Jiao

Recipe Shui Jiao

Dumplings, or shui jiao, are one of my favourite foods. They are really tasty but also the perfect food for a working couple like Chris and I, for whom both of us work shift patterns.
Living in the UK is so different to living in Taiwan. Taiwan has many 7-11 shops which are open 24 hours, night market which are open until midnight and a lot of 24 hours restaurants such as Swensens, N.Y. Bagel and Citystar 24 hours Dim sum restaurant.
Whenever I make dumplings I always make at least a couple hundred. Compared to dumplings that you can buy in restaurants here, which normally cost about £1 each, we can make 100 hundred at home for approximately £10. This works out at around 10p each.
When I’ve made the dumplings I put them in the freezer in case we run out food or feel hungry in the night or just come back home from work.
This recipe is just one of the methods of making dumplings that I have used for a very long time. It’s a very common but also basic flavour in Taiwan. Of course there are so many different kind of filling that you can put it into your dumplings such as shitake mushroom, scallops, cabbage, cucumber, chinese white chive, carrots, prawns and so on.
Maybe you can try different filling at home and you could easily create your own special kind of dumplings!
By the way, some Chinese provinces have a new year’s tradition which is when the people will eat dumplings for New Year’s Eve and sometime they will put a coin inside the dumpling. The person who has the dumpling with that coin will be the luckiest one in the coming year.

Ingredients:
Dumpling pastry 150 sheets (normally 1 pack dumpling pastry is 50 sheets)
Pork mince from supermarket 600g (You can also use beef mince)
Pork fat or just replace by pork belly without skin 400g (I have to say thank you for my lovely colleague and head chef who allow me to bring the pork loin side of fat home for making a lot of dumplings. Thank you so much!!)
2 spring onions, chopped finely
1 handful of dried shrimp, soak in the warm water for 15~20 minutes to soften it and chopped finely
Chinese chive 300g, chopped finely
Ginger chopped finely 30g

Seasonings:
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Couple pinches of white pepper

Procedure:

1. Mix all the ingredients and seasonings evenly and leave it on aside for 30 minutes.
2. Make dumplings as the procedures photo shows. You can use a little bit of water to help the edge of dumpling pastry to stick together.
3. Place the dumplings onto a plate with some flour on the plate to prevent dumplings stick on the plate.
4. Boil a big pot of water and cook dumplings in the boiling water.
5. When the dumplings float on the top of water they are cooked and ready to be served.
(This recipe can make around 150 dumplings)
Credit: These photos were taken by Chris at: http://www.chrisradleyphotography.com

Makanan Tradisional Cina~"Shui Jiao"

Chinese like to keep nian gao or Chinese New Year Cake at home during the lunar new year celebrations for auspiciousness. The Chinese word “nian gao” 年糕 sounds like “higher year” so it signifies greater success in the coming year. The stickiness also represents family togetherness and closeness. After the celebrations, my mother will usually pan-fry the nian gao with egg for breakfast. She will dip the nian gao slices in nothing else but beaten egg, but trying her method out myself, I find that the egg do not stick to the nian gao well. So I made a light egg batter with flour and I find that the egg batter works much better this time round. Try out this easy recipe if you have leftover nian gao lying around.

Nian Gao" is eaten during Chinese New Year as it signifies success and togetherness. Serve this snack with Chinese tea to aid digestion as nian gao is sticky and filling.

Ingredients

• 300 grams nian gao 年糕 (tikoy)
• 2 eggs beaten
• 5 tbsp plain flour sifted
• 1 tbsp water
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp cooking oil

Instructions

1. Slice the nian gao to uniform, thin square pieces.
2. In a bowl, whisk eggs, flour, water and salt until the batter is of a semi-thick and smooth consistency.
3. Heat a pan with oil. Dip nian gao slices in egg batter and pan-fry in batches (add more oil if needed), until lightly browned on both sides. Serve with Chinese tea.

YuMMY~

• Makanan Tradisional Cina-"NIAN GAO"