Asian Dumpling Tips

Mochi Covered Dark Chocolate Truffles a la Betelnut

If you love dumplings and chocolate, this recipe is for you. Chefs Alexander Ong and Michael Siegel of Betelnut restaurant invited me for a lesson on how to make Siegel’s tasty creation, a mochi (sticky rice) wrapped dumpling that contains a filling of chocolate ganache. When I arrived at the San Francisco restaurant, Siegel was ready with all of his mis en place. We joked as he whisked, steamed, cut, and wrapped the dumplings. Siegel made it look so easy that for the first time, I felt like I could master Japanese wagashi-style confections and teach others too as well.

I had invited my dear friend Carolyn Jung of Foodgal.com to join us that afternoon, but I hadn’t fully explained what Siegel’s mochi dumpling was about. Carolyn had to squeeze our get together into her schedule, and when she arrived at Betelnut and discovered that the dumplings contained chocolate, she nearly exploded with glee.

“You didn’t tell me that he put CHOCOLATE into them!” she said. Oh. I told her they were truffle dumplings but the dumpling part got more to me and I overlooked the chocolate attraction to her!

When Carolyn tasted Siegel’s trio of mochi dumplings, she could barely contain herself to share them with the rest of us. I turned away for a few moments and when I returned my gaze to the mochi plate, it was empty.

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.

Corn Husks and Banana Leaves Make Perfect Parcels

  

For lunch today, I enjoyed a seemingly unusual combination plate of Mexican chicken tamale and Indonesian lemper ayam (sticky rice and spicy chicken wrapped in banana leaf). I had both in the freezer and without much thought, I thawed and steamed them together. The tamale came from Mr. Cruz, a family friend who has up until the recent past gifted my parents his family’s homemade tamales for Christmas. The lemper ayam were leftover from recipe developing that I did a long time back; I actually can’t recall when I made them (maybe – gulp – a year ago) but can safely report that they refreshed to 85% of their original selves. It was a sensational lunch that delivered me to warmer climes, and I forgot, for a short while, that it was around 40 degrees outside.

If you’re a Saveur magazine reader, you may have read a short story in the December 2009 issue about Mr. Cruz’s tamales. They were what got me making Asian leaf-wrapped parcels for our Christmas gatherings. (Both are leaf-wrapped, have carby insides and spicy fillings, and cooked by steam. They’re members of the global dumpling family.) When Mr. Cruz learned that I was writing about him for Saveur, he was so touched that he made a special batch of tamales on Thanksgiving Day and brought them over to my parents’ house. Tamales are part of the Nochebuena (Chrismas Eve) tradition but since Mr. Cruz plans to spend that holiday in Mexico, he created a new tradition of tamales for El Dia de Gracias. Below is a photo of Mr. Cruz that my Dad snapped for the artist rendering in the magazine piece:

Before I left my folk’s house, I packed half a dozen of Mr. Cruz’s tamales in a plastic bag. Back in Santa Cruz, I tucked them away in the freezer for days like today, when it’s cold outside and I want to savor something steamy and satisfying. Dumplings surely fit the bill. So go crazy this holiday season and throw some Asian dumplings into your gifting routine. The recipients will love your generosity.

For more information:

• Try the sweet  Thai banana and sticky rice packets recipe (kao tom padt) from the article. Note that it’s different from the one in Asian Dumplings as the editors decided to omit the black beans.
• Enter Saveur’s Asian Dumplings Contest to win a FREE copy of my cookbook.
• Tips on how to use banana leaves

Vegetarian Daikon Rice Cakes a la Slanted Door Recipe (Luo Bo Gao)

 

To test drive Wai Chu’s recipe for Chinese daikon radish cakes, I bought a lot of daikon radish. You never know how much you’ll need and I didn’t want to keep running back to the store. Wai’s luóbo gāo (lok bok gow in Cantonese,  蘿蔔糕) from The Dumpling cookbook worked out like a charm on the first run-through so I had several pounds of leftover radish, some of which were used for Vietnamese daikon and radish pickles (do chua) that I’ll be stuffing into banh mi sandwiches.

Watching Charles Phan compete against Cat Cora on Iron Chef America's battle almond got me thinking about Slanted Door’s vegetarian version of the daikon radish cakes. I recalled Phan proudly telling me in an interview how he infused a lot of umami into the cakes so that people wouldn’t miss the traditional dried shrimp and Chinese sausage. The Vietnamese cooks at Slanted Door who are in charge of the radish cakes said that it’s a perennial favorite; they should know as they’ve worked with Phan for many years. In tribute to Phan and his hardworking staff,  I decided to take Wai's recipe and make it vegetarian.

Shanghai Dumpling King’s Sugar Egg Puffs Recipe (Bai Tang Sha Weng)

These deep-fried puffed dumplings are one of the best things I’ve eaten in a long time. I tasted them on Saturday at Shanghai Dumpling King (3319 Balboa Street, between 34th and 35th) in the Outer Richmond  in San Francisco. My friend Linda and I went there for the Shanghai soup dumplings, which were stellar, but we came away with this ‘new’ discovery. Sugar egg puffs are an ethereal cross between a cream puff and doughnut. They are deep fried wonders and not greasy whatsoever.

The young waitress paraded the fried sugar egg puffs (misspelled on the menu as “suger egg puff” in the dessert section) around the small restaurant on a tray and we were instantly taken in. We didn’t want them with the savories, but as soon as we finished all the dumplings, Linda asked the waitress, “Can we get those things fresh and hot?” The waitress obliged and Linda nearly burnt her tongue as she bit into the crisp, steamy hot puff.

Slanted Door's Hue Rice Dumplings Recipe (Banh Xep Chay)

I know you’ll think me crazy, but to mark the release of Asian Dumplings  this week, I made a new dumpling. It’s one that I can’t get out of my mind. Every time I've ordered the Hue rice dumplings at Charles Phan’s Slanted Door restaurant in San Francisco, I’m tickled by their dainty appearance and rich mung bean and caramelized shallot flavor. The garnish of rich scallion oil and spicy soy sauce imparts extra plush and savory qualities. The dumplings are slightly chewy and soft and a bit translucent, a result of the wrapper being made from rice flour and tapioca starch. Slanted Door names these morsels Hue rice dumplings as they are similar to a tapioca-based Hue dumpling called banh bot loc, a classic dumpling from the central region of Vietnam, which many associate with the former imperial city of Hue. (For a banh bot loc recipe, see Asian Dumplings, page 147).

But the restaurant’s dumpling is actually more akin to a rice and tapioca starch dumpling called banh xep ("baan sehp"), which literally means “folded dumpling,” or turnover. Semantics aside, the Slanted Door’s rice dumpling is a delicious Vietnamese and vegan snack. Meat lovers won't feel shorted whatsoever.

Indian Rice and Lentil Dumplings with Coconut Cilantro Chutney Recipe (Kuzhi Paniyaram)

You don’t have to have all the proper, culturally specific equipment to make authentic Asian dumplings. For example, I use a Mexican tortilla press as a shortcut to preparing many dumpling wrappers. One late night while watching TV, an infomercial for a cast iron pancake puff pan (round baseball-like pancakes similar to Danish abelskiver/ebelskiver) caught my eye. “That pan is perfect for Indian kuzhi paniyaram, Japanese takoyaki, and Vietnamese banh khot,” I said to myself. The pan’s semi-spherical wells were bout 2 inches wide at the top, so not too big and not too small, versatile enough for many kinds of Asian dumplings. I bought one from Bed Bath and Beyond (one of the “As Seen on TV” pancake puff pans) but later noticed that they’re available online and at shops such as Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table, etc.

My friend Shiyam Sundar, a chef from South India, introduced me to these kuzhi paniyaram -- light, crisp dumplings made from a rice and lentil batter studded with spices and aromatics. Shiyam was sous chef at Amber India in San Jose, CA, but was unable to renew his visa and thus forced to return to India last month. I was feeling sad as he very much wanted to remain in America and cook Indian food with fresh California ingredients. Thinking of him, I took out the pancake puff pan and made kuzhi paniyaram.

Modern Indian Chile Pea Puffs Recipe

The other day I made a batch of kumquat and mango chutney to go with these chile pea puffs. Both recipes are from Monica Bhide's new cookbook, Modern Indian. Monica’s recipe intrigued me because the filling is a simplified version of matar paneer – peas and cheese, one of my favorite Indian preparations. Remember to season the filling a little stronger than usual because it needs to stand up to the sweet-tart-pungent chutney. Go for a salty, spicy and sweet finish.

Wonton skins are not traditionally used for Indian dumplings, but neither is puff pastry, which I’ve seen people use. If you want to be hard-core, make a simple flaky pastry (the same kind as you’d use for samosas) and fry them as little half moons. But these are a modern take on traditional Indian foodways so go ahead, use wonton skins. Select thin ones (often labeled Hong Kong Style) for the best, most delicate flavor and texture.

You can bake these puffs as Monica prescribed in her recipe, but she also suggested deep frying them. For me, wonton skins shine when poached, steamed or deep-fried. Since neither of the first two cooking options would work here, I pulled out the oil. The result was heavenly.