The rice pyramid game
Across the causeway, restaurants are coming up with inventive dumpling fillings adapted from popular dishes.
ROLL over, traditional rice dumplings filled with the usual suspects. Restaurants and hotels in Singapore are coming up with new and inventive flavours to top one another in the game.
Last year, multi-grain and brown rice dumplings were all the rage because research had revealed then that white rice consumption is linked to diabetes.
This year, unusual meat fillings are in the spotlight, with restaurants experimenting with ingredients ranging from ginseng chicken to grilled unagi (eel).
Man Fu Yuan in InterContinental Singapore has rolled out a Ginseng Chicken With Red Dates Rice Dumpling this year. It is adapted from Korean samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup).
The dumpling has made up about 15% of orders since sales started on May 1.
The hotel’s executive chef Eric Neo says: “It is important to add the right amount of Korean ginseng and control the time that it is cooked in the chicken stock to achieve a light, lingering ginseng taste in every bite.”
At least four restaurants have introduced roast and smoked duck rice dumplings this year.
Golden Peony restaurant in Conrad Centennial Singapore Hotel has rolled out the London Duck X.O. Sauce Rice Dumpling.
For the past five years, the restaurant’s Chinese executive chef Ku Keung, 52, translated the restaurant’s popular dishes, including chilli crab and Hainanese chicken rice, into rice dumplings.
This year, he was inspired by the restaurant’s Cantonese-style roast London duck, which is seasoned with ingredients such as Chinese rose wine, five-spice powder and star anise. The duck is from Ireland, which is known for producing fat and tender ducks.
Chef Ku says: “But sliced duck breast is generally drier than other meat, so I added braised fatty meat and housemade X.O. sauce to keep the dumpling moist.”
Restaurant chain Crystal Jade is debuting its roast duck salted egg dumpling, which has a piece of bone-in duck nestled in the rice.
A spokesman says duck is “a perennial favourite” at its restaurants. Its duck is seasoned with ingredients such as yellow bean paste, hoisin sauce and sesame oil, giving it a robust smoky flavour.
He says: “Duck is a flavourful dark meat and holds its shape well in a rice dumpling.”
Besides meat, seafood in rice dumplings is also becoming more popular and it is not just the usual abalone and dried scallops.
Japanese restaurant Syun in Resorts World Sentosa has debuted a dumpling that is topped with grilled unagi coated in a sweet soy sauce-based sauce.
The restaurant’s executive sous chef Norihito Saji says he was inspired by popular unagi rice dishes such as unagi donburi (rice bowls) and unagi nigiri sushi.
At Shang Palace in Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, lobster features in one of eight new rice dumplings flavours this year.
The lobster dumpling also contains shredded chicken, green peppers and parmesan cheese.
The Chinese restaurant’s master chef, Steven Ng, looked to another rice dish for inspiration – risotto.
He says: “The saltiness of Parmesan cheese ties up the different textures and aromas of the lobster and chicken filling, while green pepper gives a hint of spice.”
Or, for the best of both worlds, the Surf N Turf dumpling by Peony Jade Restaurant, which has outlets in Keppel Club and Clarke Quay, might just be the one.
Executive chef Rick Liew was inspired by how the Chinese characters for fish and lamb, when combined, form the character “xian”, which means “fresh”.
The dumpling is stuffed with wok-fried shredded lamb, whitebait, crispy salmon floss, shiitake mushroom and shrimp.
Chef Liew spent three weeks experimenting in the kitchen to come up with this “challenging combination of ingredients”.
Robert Han, group general manager of The Quayside Group that runs Peony Jade, says: “Whitebait has a pleasant and not too fishy aroma and its light texture pairs well with the rich and gamey lamb. The salmon floss adds crunch.”
The Bib Gourmand-awarded restaurant has also introduced another new flavour this year – soy sauce chicken and braised peanut dumpling, which is adapted from one of its signature dishes.
And then for something sweet, how about the dumpling by Pan Pacific Singapore’s Hai Tien Lo?
Its multi-grain rice dumpling is loaded with nian gao, a sticky rice cake that usually makes an appearance during the Chinese New Year.
Rice dumplings are eaten to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, which is May 30 this year.
And while eateries try to top one another with fancy flavours each year, diners rejoice.
Project manager Michelle Nah, 39, says: “These new flavours of rice dumplings are novel.”
Product executive Benson Tan, 33, says: “I look out for new rice dumpling flavours every year.” – The Straits Times/Asian News Network