Asian Dumpling Tips

Sending Dumplings in the Mail

I came home yesterday and found an oddly shaped package stuffed into my mailbox. The postage indicated that it came from Singapore, and on the back the sender revealed himself: Christopher Tan, an Asian food expert, author, and writer whom I luckily call a dear friend. Ha! We are in the Lunar New Year season and I upon tearing open the package, I found exactly what I suspected, a box of pineapple kuih tart, a dumpling/cookie that’s a must-have for Chinese New Year celebrations in Singapore. The tarts are fashioned to look like small tangerines, a traditional good luck symbol. The whole clove stuck on top underscores the tangerine effect.

I first tasted the spiced pineapple jam filled treats in New York City at Saveur magazine headquarters, when I was visiting with Editor-in-Chief James Oseland. We were discussing the Asian Dumplings recipe collection and James said, “Here try these.” He opened up a large tin of kuih tart that Chris has sent him. They were heavenly and I unknowingly ate the whole clove decoration and received an extra spicy high. When I returned to California, I emailed Chris about them and he pointed me in the right direction for developing a recipe (see the Sweets chapter, page 195 for the spiced pineapple-filled dumplings recipe). That was in fall of 2007. The book was released in last August. Getting a box of the dumplings from Chris makes me feel like I’ve come full circle, though there is still more to explore in the world of Asian dumplings.

Tips for Mailing Dumplings
If you’re thinking of mailing dumplings, they should be relatively sturdy cooked ones. These little gems travel well, so long as you pack them tightly like Chris did, each one in a little paper cup. There was a layer of parchment between the layers. This year, Chris changed his dough recipe and made it flakier than mine, so the dumplings crumbled a tad during the arduous trip via air mail. They nevertheless tasted great. Every time I eat one, there’s a huge grin on my face.

Which dumplings mail well? If I were to mail dumplings, I’d go for the kuih tart or one of sticky rice dumplings wrapped in banana or lotus leaf. Individually wrap and then freeze the leaf-wrapped dumplings so that they stay fresh, then mail them in the shortest time possible. In the U.S. the all-you-can-stuff priority mail flat rate boxes ($4.95 or $10.70) are fabulous deals. Whatever dumpling you send, the recipient will feel like he/she is the luckiest person on Earth!

Tips for Cooking Frozen Asian Dumplings

Making dumplings from scratch takes time, so how do you bank your effort for future meals? Freeze it! I have a stand-up freezer in my garage, and if you were to root in the freezer this morning, you’ll find the following dumplings stashed away in zip-top bags and plastic containers: three kinds of bao, lamb momo, lotus leaf packets (lo mai gai), and Indonesian spicy chicken and sticky rice packets (lemper ayam). Dumplings are at their best when made fresh and cooked fresh but hey, it’s always good to have a few frozen ones for instant gratification.

Recipes in Asian Dumplings contain freezing tips but a couple weeks ago, I received this email from Sue Rosen that prompted this post:

I love your new book and am having so much fun with it. The first batch I made (Pork and Napa Cabbage Water dumplings) got my husband to say, "this is the best thing you've ever made".  He happily ate the leftovers for the next couple of days.  When I made then again I decided to freeze half of them as you mention in the book. My question is, do I defrost them before cooking or just put them in the pot frozen?  And if I put them in frozen, how long do they need to cook?

My answer to Sue was this:

Let them partially thaw -- meaning let them sit out for 10 to 15 minutes before dropping them into the boiling pot of water. If they totally defrost, the dumplings can get mushy and be hard to pick up. I basically take the dumplings out of the freezer, put them on a piece of parchment and let them sit there while the water comes to a boil. If there's ice sticking to the dumplings, I wipe it off. If there are cracked dumplings, I try my best to smooth out the wrapper before cooking. This partial defrosting applies to pan-frying and steaming dumplings. [Addendum: Line your steamer tray with parchment and put the dumplings on top to thaw while you ready the water for steaming.]

In her response to my advice on cooking frozen dumplings, Sue revealed her ultimate motive for freezing dumplings:

I'm going away for the weekend and leaving my husband with those frozen dumplings.

She also sent along these photos of her dumpling achievements:

Water Dumplings and Steamed Buns by Sue Rosen
Thanks for the food styling the photos with beer and veggies!

Note that these cooking tips can be applied to store bought dumplings, such as the frozen Trader Joe's dumplings that I reviewed. Despite what the package says, I don't cooking dumplings straight from the freezer.

If you have tips to share on how you cook frozen dumplings, chime in. Or, if you have a question, email me!

How to Roll Out Asian Dumpling Wrappers (video v.2)

If you have made Asian dumplings using purchased wrappers, how about trying out making your wrappers from scratch? Freshly made Asian dumpling wrappers are (1) easier to fold and shape, (2) do not require water to seal as they are super soft and moist, (3) taste a lot better than store bought ones, and (4) do not involve a special trip to an Asian market. The ingredients are at your fingertips: all-purpose flour and water. Once you have rolled your own, you’ll be on your way to making perfect pot stickers, mandu, momos, Shanghai soup dumplings (xiao long bao), baked and steamed bao, and deep-fried curry puffs.

To encourage cooks to try rolling out their own fresh dumpling wrappers, I posted a YouTube video tutorial last May. But I’m my worse critic, and soon after I uploaded the video, I felt like it had room for improvement. I wanted to lead cooks from beginning to the end of how to form the wrappers. A few days ago, my husband and I spent a rainy afternoon making this more detailed how-to video. You’ll see me in my home kitchen and my hands do most of the ‘talking.’

I can’t physically/personally teach you how to do make your own wrappers, but I think you’ll gain lots of pointers between this video and the detailed instructions on page 24 and 25 of Asian Dumplings. See page 22 of Asian Dumplings for the basic dumpling dough recipe.

Related information:

What if you don’t have a tortilla press like I do? Substitute some kind of heavy flat bottomed object, such as a 4-cup glass measuring cup, saucepan, or skillet.

Helpful how-to links:

• Do-it-yourself Asian rolling pin: it is simple and cheap to make a bunch for a dumpling party!
• Basic dumpling shapes: Half Moon, Pea Pod and Big Hug (video)
• Advanced dumpling shapes: Pleated Crescent (video)
• How to Shape a Rope Edge (video)

Countdown to Chinese New Year: Easy Dumpling, Cocktail, and Decorating Ideas

You may be thinking of nachos, guacamole and Super Bowl Sunday, but I’m focusing on the weekend after that: Valentine’s Day – Sunday, February 14 – to be exact, when people all over the world will also be celebrating Lunar New Year. It will be a double whammy – a romantic, luck-laden weekend.

Don’t miss out on doing something for Lunar New Year in 2010. It does not need to be extravagant. What’s important is getting together with family and friends to relax and renew.  Late last year, my friend and colleague Jennifer Spiegel of Fork and Spoon event productions in San Francisco and I talked at length about how we can encourage people to have fun with Chinese New Year. The holiday can be intimidating if you get bogged down in too many details. What if you take a hassle-free approach? What’s involved?

Jennifer and I brainstormed and a couple of weeks ago had the opportunity to put our Chinese New Year ideas on camera. We teamed up to tape a short segment for View from the Bay, a popular San Francisco television show that broadcasts on our local ABC News affiliate. The segment aired this afternoon and is below for you to watch. Recipes are posted at the View from the Bay site.

You may recall that last October, I showed View from the Bay hosts Janelle Wang and Spencer Christian how to make baked char siu bao pork buns. This time around, Jennifer and I had Nick Smith on camera with us. We shot the segment in the Fork and Spoon kitchen, which is where I worked with Pablo to make hundreds of Asian dumplings for 125 people.  

In less than 2 weeks, be prepared to say “Goodbye” to the Year of the Ox and “Hello” to the Year of the Tiger. Maybe our baked spiced lamb and potato curry puff, Shanghai Tiger cocktail, and nifty centerpiece will be part of your festivities?

The Perfect Soup Dumpling – CHOW.com Video

Last year CHOW.com invited me to do a video on what goes into making perfect Shanghai soup dumplings (xiao long bao). As you can imagine, I had much to say about the subject, especially after spending 3 weeks making them every day to get the recipe instructions right. It was hard to pick a spot that consistently produced excellent dumplings, and I deliberated for weeks. But CHOW.com producer Meredith Arthur was super patient, even though she was expecting a baby. Then I settled on Shanghai Dumpling King (3319 Balboa Street, between 34th Ave & 35th Ave) located in the Outer Richmond in San Francisco; I’ve mentioned this restaurant before as being the inspiration for the Chinese sugar egg puffs recipe (bai tang sha weng) .

CHOW videographer Eric Slatkin just finished editing the video and released it over the weekend. "The Perfect" is a series of CHOW.com videos that asks experts to share their insights on culinary excellence. Here is what I had to say about Shanghai soup dumplings:

"The Perfect Soup Dumpling" by Meredith Arthur and Eric Slatkin
Video presented here courtesy of CHOW.com

For the video above, Meredith, Eric, and I convened at ‘the King’ last September. We had a great afternoon of filming and were very well fed too.  The cooks and staff at Shanghai Dumpling King were friendly, gracious, and proud of their xiao long bao. They spoke limited English and I got to practice my Mandarin, which you’ll hear in the video. But we all love food, and their xiao long bao brilliantly communicate the skill, ingenuity, and care that goes into making excellent Asian dumplings.

What do you think makes for a perfect soup dumpling?

If you've got a favorite place to get good xiao long bao, do share your tip in this 1/24/10 post.

Portuguese Egg Tart Recipe (Poh Taht, Pasteis de Belem)

Ask and you shall receive. Thank you to everyone who contributed insights on my question about Portuguese-Chinese egg tarts. They are a Portuguese treat called pasteis de Belem (a.k.a., pastel de nata) that were brought to Macau and adopted quite heartily by the Chinese. The Chinese, particular those in nearby Hong Kong created a riff by making their own Hong Kong-style egg tarts in the 1940s. The resulting Cantonese dahn taht has become ubiquitous with Chinese bakeries and dim sum houses.

Many of you submitted Portuguese egg tarts tips, such as where I can get them in the Bay Area, such as the bakery in Milpitas Square off the 880 freeway, in the 99 Ranch Market shopping center. Amy Sherman of CookingwithAmy.com gave a link to her post on the famous Portuguese egg tarts from the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém pastry shop in Lisbon, Portugal. That bakery was the one that commercialized the tarts in 1837.  Before then, Portuguese egg tarts were made and sold by the Catholic nuns of the Jerónimos Monastery.  (Praise the sisters!) Others pointed to the Macao institution that’s renowned for their Portuguese egg tarts – Lord Stow’s bakery. Stowe's cross between the English and Portuguese versions is the benchmark for Portuguese egg tarts in Asia. Egg tart fever hit Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan in the late 1990s.

I looked up Stow’s and found this YouTube video which was incredibly enlightening. Watch it and in the first minute, catch how the pastry is rolled up into a cylinder and then pressed into the tart shell! For those of you who have the Asian Dumplings cookbook – that cylindrical treatment of dough is the same as what’s used for Chinese flaky pastry on page 120 to make things like Malaysian curry puffs. I now wonder if the Chinese got that from the Portuguese? I’ve not seen that technique applied to puff pastry in other cuisines.

By using a cylinder of rolled up puff pastry-type dough (some describe it as a Swiss roll) for the pastry, the tart shell naturally pushes upwards as it bakes in the oven. All that hot air forces the custard to puff up like a mushroom cap and when things deflate after baking, you get the characteristic undulating top. I know this because I went about five rounds with baking the tarts to develop my own Portuguese egg tart recipe.

What do you know about Portuguese Chinese Egg Tarts?

When I was in Sydney last November, Chris Tan of Foodfella.com was raving about tasting some freshly made Portuguese egg tarts that a local Portuguese baker had made. He showed me a food porn-type of photo he'd taken to whet my appetite, and explained that it was a Macau specialty. That makes the little sweet kinda like a Portuguese Chinese egg tart, seeing how they're very very similar to Cantonese egg tarts that you find at dim sum joints and bakeries.

I let the notion of that tart simmer in the back of my Asian dumpling brain. I even saw a recipe in a new book coicidentally by Chris's dad, Terry Tan, called The Food and Cooking of South China. It's hard for me to make something I've never tasted. How was I going to get my hands on one? Portuguese egg tarts are not a commonly found item in the United States at Chinese restaurants, or so I thought.

Are Gluten Free Chinese Steamed Bao Possible?

Ever since I succeeded in making decent tasting gluten free pot stickers, I’ve been curious about making gluten free bao (Chinese steamed buns). I’d read about a Filipino technique of making their siopao from rice flour, but the recipes posted online were not well received. But if the Filipino rice flour bao did work, the dough would provide an answer for cooks obsessed with conquering super white steamed bao. My inquiring mind wanted to know.

I perused the ingredient labels of gluten free bread at my local health food store and Whole Foods, and noticed that rice flour was often one of the main ingredients. That was a plus. Then I reread the Bob’s Red Mill information on their website and the label for their all-purpose baking flour. The company said that you can use the flour blend of garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, white sorghum flour, and fava bean flour – along with some xantham gum for good slimy measure to replicate the texture of wheat flour gluten. Another plus. The commercial gluten free breads I’d studied also contained xantham gum (a natural carbohydrate derived from bacteria). Seemed like a theme here.