My husband is a big fan of yum cha. Who isn’t? So I put it on myself to try to make some homemade dumplings. There are actually some very good quality frozen prawn hargow dumplings out there and they are also pretty economical. Nevertheless, there is just that extra something in making your own, especially something like prawn hargow with that iconic semi-transparent crystal dumpling wrapper. Unlike other dumpling or wonton wrappers, I have not been able to find pre-made cystal dumpling wrappers. I would say that the number one thing to master in prawn hargow is not the filling. It’s the crystal dumpling wrapper! It would probably take you a few tries but hopefully, with my tips, you would be able to ace it.
I also want to apologise for the lack of a good picture. I will eventually update it but until now, this is what I have on file while I have been busy perfecting the recipe and I just wanted to post this while my memory is still fresh and before I forget all the details. I like making dumpling recipes in batches of 12 because I find that I can fit about 4 in my 6.5 inch bamboo steamers and I can stack it about 3 levels at a time. So this recipe would make 12 prawn hargow dumplings.
Makes 12 dumplings (approx 75 calories each)
Prep time 40 mins
Cook time 10 mins
Ingredients
Filling
200g small to medium sized prawn, de-shelled (reserve 6 prawns, split in half lengthwise)
45g bamboo shoot strips, chopped
1 cm piece ginger, minced
1 tbsp neutral oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
Wrapper Dough
60g wheat starch (not the same as wheat flour!)
60g tapioca starch (you can also use cornflour but I found better results with tapioca starch)
pinch of salt
170ml just boiled (very hot!) water
1/2 tbsp neutral oil
Firstly, make the filling by mincing everything together all of your filling ingredients except for 6 of your biggest prawns. Split these in half lengthwise. You will be adding half a prawn in each dumpling. I like to weigh my filling and divide them by 12 to make sure I don’t over or underfill each one.
Next, make your dough. You will need to work quickly once you’ve made your dough as I found it loses its elasticity and moisture very quickly as it cools down, which means hard and cracked wrapping or a gummy consistency. I’ve made lots of mistakes by not moving quickly enough on this.
First, place your wheat starch, tapioca starch and salt in a bowl and mix together. Then, gradually add in the just boiled water and mix with a chopstick until lumps start to form. This is the most crucial element of the dough as using lukewarm or cold water will just lead to a wet mess as opposed to a nice, pliable dough. You want to “cook” the dough.
Add in the oil and start kneading with your hands. The dough should be very warm but not too hot to handle by now. Knead it thoroughly until the dough becomes quite elastic. You can test it by pinching a little bit off and rolling it to see if it cracks at the edges. If it does, add another teaspoon of hot water and continue to knead until the right consistency is reached.
Divide the dough into 12 balls and cover with a tea towel to maintain moisture and heat as much as possible. Working quickly and one by one, roll out a dough ball between two sheets of baking paper. Roll it out thinly but not too thin or it could tear. It should roll out to about 8-9 cms wide.
Place a piece of reserved prawn, then add in a spoonful of filling and wrap as quickly as possible before the cold filling hardens your warm dough excessively and causes cracking. There are several wrapping and folding videos that you can find online but I found it didn’t really matter how you fold it, just make sure you fold it before the wrapping gets too cold and cracks. If you’re working in a cold kitchen (such as mine), you may want to zap it in the microwave at 10 second intervals to loosen the dough up again. I’ve also placed the dough in a ziploc bag in the fridge for a few days and warmed them back up this way as well just fine.
Place a liner into a steamer so the bottom of the dumplings don’t stick. Boil water in a pot that is just slightly bigger than your steamers and steam for 10 minutes or until cooked through. Let it cool slightly (it will appear puffed up when freshly steamed) so the dumpling skin starts to tighten and become more translucent. Enjoy with some chilli oil. I will post my homemade chilli oil soon but until then, this chilli oil is not a bad one to start off with.
More Prawn Recipes
- XO Sauce Prawns with Finger Lime
- Thai Prawn Glass Noodles
- Basic Prawn Dumplings
- Seafood Boil with Creole Seasoning
- Creamy Garlic Prawn Pasta
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