Delicious dumplings

Tony Tan has some tips for dim sum at home, writes Dan Stock

JUST like puppies, presents and pay rises, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t love dumplings.

And there are few better things to hear someone say on a Sunday than “let’s do yum cha”.

We’ve embraced the Cantonese traditional brunch of dim sum and tea as our own, heading to Chinatown to pick up chopsticks ready to devour those delicious morsels found within steaming bamboo baskets.

“Yes, (dim sum) is my weakness and my obsession,” chef and author Tony Tan says.

An international judge at Hong Kong’s premier Chinese cooking challenge, he’s an expert on the cuisine and has recently released his three-year labour of love, Hong Kong Food

City, a book that explores the recipes and traditions of one of the world’s best places to eat.

Dim sum has a variety of items, including so pei char siu bao (sugar-dusted barbecue pork buns) made famous by Tim Ho Wan, har gao (translucent prawn and bamboo shoot dumplings) and the snowy white stuffed rice flour noodle rolls known as cheong fun. But when it comes to his favourite, Tony says siu mai is simply the best.

Meaning “cook and sell”, siu mai is an open-faced steamed dumpling traditionally made with minced pork wrapped in wonton pastry. They are easy to make at home.

More elaborate, ambitious home cooks can try making their own dumpling pastry. “This dough pastry is a favourite with dim sum masters because it can be shaped and sculpted without too much effort,” Tony says.

The dough uses two different kinds of flour — tapioca flour and wheat starch.

Wheat starch (called tang meen fun in Cantonese) is what remains of wheat flour when the wheat’s proteins, including gluten, are removed.

While even in Hong Kong most people are happy to leave dim sum to the masters and go out for yum cha, Tony says with a bit of practice, making dumplings can be quick to master and is a great — and impressive — skill for the home cook.

Tony’s 10 tips for dumplings at home

1 Don’t worry if your dumplings look slightly misshapen. “Dim sum masters start from a very young age, around 12 to 14 years old, but sometimes as young as nine,” Tony says. “That’s when their fingers are most pliable.” It takes between 10 and 15 years to become a dim sum master, which should be kept in mind if your first attempts are uneven, or a little wonky.

2 Tony says good siu mai has a “bounce” in the mouth feel. “To achieve this bounce, run-of-themill yum cha places tend to use lots of pork fat which, to me, is unhealthy and disgusting,” he says. “The best ratio I find is 80 per cent lean meat to 20 per cent fat.” Adding prawns is another way to achieve this “bounce”.

3 When mixing the filling, you need to bind the proteins until you have a sticky, thick consistency. “Dim sum masters will stir with chopsticks 20 times to get the mixture just right.” Refrigerate this mixture for 20 minutes so it’s firm when placing on to the wonton wrappers.

4 Tony recommends the Tak On Food Products brand of wonton skins for siu mai. While dim sum chefs tend to cut off the square edges of the wrappers for aesthetic reasons, you don’t need to worry about this at home.

5 But a supremely fine dice of carrot added to the top of each siu mai, is not only a pretty addition but helps add to the overall mouthfeel. “You don’t want dim sum that are one dimensional.”

6 While it can take some practice to perfect, it’s worth persevering with the hot water tapioca/wheat starch dough as it creates delicate, translucent dumplings. “This dough is rather soft and strange to make initially,” Tony says. “Once you have made this dough a couple of times, you will find it extremely versatile.”

7 The dough must stay warm otherwise it becomes very hard to work with. Use tapioca flour to dust the rolling pin and work area, rolling out each pastry round to about 10cm. Use a ramekin to cut a perfect circle. “But don’t worry too much, they can be big or small, it’s up to you,” Tony says.

8 For a dipping sauce, seek out “young ginger” from Asian grocers, which has a milder, cooler taste compared with regular ginger. Finely slice this and add to light soy sauce or vinegar. Chop red chilli and add to soy for another, spicier sauce on the side.

9 Always use baking paper in the bamboo baskets so the dumplings don’t stick. Pierce holes in this so the steam surrounds the dumplings, which will take around 8 mins to cook over boiling water in a wok. Never let the water touch the basket.

10 Siu mai can be made in advance and frozen raw. They can then be steamed to order for your own yum cha at home.