小笼包 steamed meat dumplings easy recipe!

My daughters love to eat steamed meat dumplings. Trinity loves the dumpling skin and Tiffany loves the entire dumpling. These little dumplings are usually only available during lunch time or be prepared to queue during peak hours outside Cantonese restaurants who serve these all day long.
So, I boldly thought, what if, just what if, I am able to make these dumplings? If I could, then we can enjoy the dumplings anytime we want in the comfort of our house. So as you could guess by now, I challenged the recipe for the very first time in my life!
I have to admit that the most difficult part of the recipe is to roll the dough thinly and perfecting the wrapping. It was quite a challenge so we got a pack of ready made dumpling skin to stand by as well. This ready made skin made the wrapping much easier but the ready made dough wasn't as soft as the one we made from scratch. In fact, the top of the dumpling hardened after steaming. So perfecting rolling homemade dumpling skin will be better as it taste so much softer and tastier.

Anyway, I figured out that the next time round if i were to make it and if I have a pasta making Machine( or manually)I would be able to roll the entire dough out very thinly and use big circle cutters to cut out the circle shaped thin dough. Wouldn't that be much easier? I would suppose so, for amateurs like me!

I also made a self filmed youtube tutorial even though it's my first attempt to make these dumplings (what a joke right?) because it is simply too difficult to describe the process in words. Just click on the side of my video bar if you view this post in Web version or YouTube search "How to wrap a meat dumpling 小笼包- Mummy PoshPearl".


Sorry, I can't add the direct hyperlink as I blog entirely using the iPhone. It's rather difficult for me to turn on the laptop with my 2 girls around.

All in all, I adapted this recipe from The book "Delightful snacks & Dim Sum" by Agnes Chang and it is good! The steamed dumplings had a little gravy in them even though it doesn't need solidified soup cubes or gelatin soup cubes to be added. The marination is also simple to make and tasty enough. Most importantly, my daughters enjoyed eating it!
They ate the entire dumplings as they both enjoyed the taste of the meat and the soft homemade skin!

Hope your family will enjoy it too!

Ingredients:

Dumpling skin:
200g plain flour, sifted
150ml boiling water
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon cold water (IF NECESSARY)

Filling (to be prepared 1 day in advance)
300g minced meat
1 tablespoon Lee Kum Kee Light soya sauce
1 tablespoon Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced ginger
3 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon corn flour

Filling:
Mix all ingredients in one direction until well combined and chill it in the refrigerator overnight, For emergency cases, minimum marination time is 3 hours.

Skin:
1.Put sifted flour in a mixing bowl and make a hole in the middle.
2. Pour boiling water in the hole and use a wooden spoon to mix QUICKLY till well combined.
3. Cover to rest for 20minutes.
4.Add oil and knead till dough is smooth. Add water if necessary. Rest for 10 minutes.
5. Roll the dough and cut into 20g portions, make into balls then roll each ball thinly in a circular shape.
Alternatively:
Roll out entire dough thinly And use a circle cutter to cut out the skins and fill 1 teaspoon meat filling and wrap, making sure there's no tear or holes. (Refer to my YouTube video on how to wrap.) Place on parchment paper or Cabbage to prevent the dumplings from sticking to the steamer
6. Steam on high heat for 12-15 minutes.
7. Enjoy while it's hot!

Inspiring Yummy mummies
PoshPearl