Experienced dim sum chefs in restaurants will spend a long time making fanciful shapes with their dumplings, but there is no need to do that at home. Try making these vegetarian steamed dumplings at the same time as the buns filled with char siu pork here and serve up a whole tableful of different tastes.
Servings 4 people
Equipment
- Steamer
Ingredients
- 40 g dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in warm water for 10 minutes
- 2 tbsp groundnut oil
- 2 cloves of garlic peeled and finely sliced
- 2 spring onions finely sliced into rounds
- 1 fresh red chilli deseeded and finely diced
- 20 g chestnut mushrooms finely chopped
- 30 g oyster mushrooms finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- cornflour for dusting
- 12 wonton wrappers see here
- a little water
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
Instructions
- Drain the shiitake mushrooms through a sieve, being careful to retain the liquid. Roughly chop the mushooms into very small pieces.
- Heat the groundnut oil over a high heat in a wok. Once hot, add the garlic, spring onions and red chilli. Stir-fry for 1 minute before adding the chopped mushrooms, then continue to stir-fry for 2–3 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the Shaoxing rice wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce and 100ml of the reserved shiitake liquid. Continue cooking for 2–3 minutes until the liquid has reduced to almost nothing and the mushrooms have become tender. Turn the heat off under the wok and leave the mixture to cool to room temperature. This can be made the day before and left in the fridge overnight.
- Dust a clean surface with cornflour and lay your wrappers on top. Carefully place 1–2 teaspoons of the mixture into the middle of one of the wrappers. Dip your finger in some water and wet the rim of the wrapper all the way around. Gather up all sides of the wrapper and scrunch them together so the parcel looks like a small ‘money bag’.
- Smear the sesame oil on to a plate that will fit in your steamer and place your finished dumpling on the plate.
- Repeat the process with the remaining mixture and dumpling wrappers, then place the plate inside your steamer and steam over boiling water for 5–8 minutes until the dumpling has cooked through.
Notes
Original recipe found in Gok Cooks Chinese