Shanghai Siew Loong Pau Recipe

Ingredients

Wrapper

3/4 cup high gluten flour
1/3 cup less 1 tablespoon water
1/3 cup plain flour
1/4 cup boiling water
flour for dusting
2 teaspoons oil

Soup

180 grams skin of pork
225 grams chicken breast
140 grams pork
60 grams chinese ham
1 scallion
2 slices ginger
chinese rice wine
salt

Filling

285 grams ground pork
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ginger and scallion water
pepper
sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons chinese rice wine

Making the soup

(makes 2 cups. use only one)

Wash and clean pork skin. Parboil in boiling water with the chicken breast and ham. Place all the meat in a saucepan with 6 cups of water. Add scallion and ginger and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer till pork skin is soft. Continue simmering till only 2 cups of liquid remains. Strain and reserve the liquid keeping the pork skin. Diced the saved pork skin. Whizz the pork skin and liquid in a blender till milky. Season with salt and leave to cool. Use before it gelatinizes.

Preparing the Filling

Place the ground pork into a mixing bowl. Add salt and light soy sauce. Stir with chopstick or wooden spoon continously and in one direction only. Add the rest of the ingredients. Continue to stir in the same direction until the mixture forms a thick paste.

Pour in one cup of the prepared soup, a little at a time, stirring to mix thoroughlly with the pork.

Wrap in cling film and put in the refrigerator to cool.

Preparing the wrapper

(makes 40 wrappers)

In a large mixing bowl, mix the 3/4 cups of high gluten flour and 1/3 cup less one tablespoon less water until it resembles bread crumbs. Knead into a dough.

Place the plain flour in a mixing bowl. In a small saucepan bring 1/4 cup of water to the boil. Add the 1/3 cup plain flour and move the saucepan away from the flame, stirring the flour vigorously with a wooden spoon. Leave it to cool a little before kneading together with the high gluten flour dough prepared earlier. Cover with clean damp cloth and leave to rest for 4 hours.

Forming the dumplings

Place 2 teaspoons of oil on the worktop, put the dough on top and knead for a little while. Cut the dough into 4 quarters. Form one quarter into a 20mm cylinder. Divide the cylinder into 10 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Flatten each piece with the palm of your hand into a disk. Use a rolling pin to roll the disk out forming a 60mm disk with the edges thinner than the center. Make a well with you thumb and first finger and drape the disk over. Let it sag in the middle to form a recess for the filling. Use a teaspoon to place 2 teaspoons of filling. Carefully gather the edge of wrapper making folds and holding on to them till fully gathered. Traditionally, 18 folds are made. Do not let your finger touch the filling while doing this or you will make a mess. Do the same for the rest.

Steaming

Cut out 10 cabbage leave disks or use thin slices of carrot and stick one piece to the bottom of each dumpling. Place the dumplings in a 200mm bamboo steamer. In a large saucepan or wok, bring water to a rolling boil. Sit the Steamer on a rack over the boiling water, close the lid and steam for seven minutes. The dumpling is done when the filling feels firm to the touch. Serve with a small dish of thinly shredded ginger in viniger.

Shanghai Siew Loong Pau

Something simple

Stir-fried Veggies with Sole of Fish

50g dried sole of fish (peen yee), rinsed and shredded
150g young kale (kai lan)
30g carrot, sliced
4 young sweet corn, halved
3 slices ginger, finely shredded
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp sesame oil

Sauce ingredients:
1 tbsp Premium oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp chicken stock granules
1 tsp fish sauce
1/8 tsp pepper
A dash of cooking wine (optional)
1/4 tsp sugar or to taste
3 tbsp water or fresh chicken stock
1/4 tsp corn flour

Heat oil and sesame oil in a wok until hot. Fry sole of fish until fragrant and crispy. Remove and leave aside.

Add ginger into the remaining hot oil and lightly drizzle in cooking wine (optional). When it starts to sizzle, add in the vegetables and sauce ingredients. Toss and stir-fry briskly until well combined.

Return the pre-fried sole of fish to the wok and give it a quick stir. Transfer to serving dish and serve hot.

More Thai specialty...

Thai-style Crispy Fish Salad

250g fish fillet (preferably garoupa), sliced
A dash of salt and pepper
2 tbsp plain flour
2 shallots, sliced
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
2 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded
4 bird's eye chillies, chopped

Salad sauce:
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
A few drops sesame oil

Combine salt, pepper and flour in a small plastic bag. Put fish fillet slices into plastic bag and give it a shake to coat with flour mixture. Heat enough oil in a wok until hot, then deep-fry the fish slices untl light golden brown and crispy. Remove onto a serving plate.

Put salad sauce ingredients into a small mixing bowl. Add in shallots, coriander leaves, kaffir lime leaves and bird's eye chillies to mix. Pour the sauce over the fried fish fillet slices. Serve immediately.

Tantalising Thai specialty

Green Curry Prawns

4 large fresh water prawns, trimmed
3 - 4 tbsp oil
300ml coconut milk
1 green chilli, seeds removed and sliced
10 pea eggplants (optional)
70g bamboo shoots, shredded
3 young sweet corn, halved
2 kaffir lime leaves, torn
2 basil leaves
1 stalk lemon grass, bruised

Spices (ground and combined):
4 bird's eye chillies
6 green chillies
6 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 thin slices galangal
2 slices ginger
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder (jintan putih)
1 tbsp curry powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp grated rind from kaffir lime

Seasoning:
Salt to taste
1 tbsp shaved palm sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce

Heat oil in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the ground spices and lemon grass. Fry until fragrant.

Pour in coconut milk and add the kaffir lime leaves and green chilli. Add fish sauce, palm sugar and slat (to taste), and bring to a boil.

Put in the prawns, bamboo shoots, young sweet corn and pea eggplants, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes. Stir and add the basil leaves. Taste for seasoning - the curry should be spicy, salty and slightly sweet. Adjust the seasoning at this point, if necessary.

Delicious Chinese Desert

This is one of my all time favourite desert.



Yam Cake (Wu Tow Ko) is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore especially in morning market for breakfast. The ingredients include dried prawns soaked and chopped coarsely, shallots sliced, stalks spring onions, sprigs Chinese parsley, red chillies and sweet & spicy sauces.


INGREDIENTS:

• 170g rice flour
• 30g tang min flour (wheat starch)
• 350g yam, diced into cubes
• 50g dried shrimps, soaked and chopped coarsely
• 4 nos. shallots, sliced
• 2nos. water (240ml and 320ml)
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 3/4 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• Dash of pepper

Savoury topping:

• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 6 nos. chinese mushrooms, soaked and diced
• 60g preserved radish, soaked
• 2 nos. chinese sausages, diced
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• Dash of pepper
• Dash of five spice powder
• 1 stalk spring onion, finely cut
• 2 nos. deseeded red chilies, chopped

METHOD of Preparation:

1. Grease one 7 inch square tin with cooking oil. Set aside
2. Start cooking water in a steamer. Meanwhile, prepare Step (3) to (5).
3. In a mixing bowl, mix rice flour, tang min flour and 240ml water to batter. Set aside.
4. Heat 2 tbsp cooking oil in a wok/ pan, fry half of the shallots and half of the dried shrimps (reserve the rest for topping) until fragrant. Add yam and 320 ml water and bring mixture to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and add batter prepared in (3). Season with salt, sugar and pepper. Keep stirring. When batter thickens (but not 'solidifies'), dish out to prepared tin.
6. Steam yam cake over rapid boiling water for 1 hour.
7. Meanwhile, prepare the savoury topping. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Fry the reserved shallots till fragrant. Add dried shrimps, mushrooms, radish and chinese sausages and continue to fry.
8. Season topping with sugar, light soy sauce, pepper and five spice powder. Dish out and set aside.
9. When yam cake is cooked, let cool for 30-45 minutes.
10. Spread topping on top of yam cake (as shown in picture). Garnish with spring onion and chopped chilies. Serve.

NOTES:

• Take note in Step (5), mixture thickens quickly as soon as the batter of Step (3) is added. Keep stirring. Turn off fire as soon as the mixture turns 'sludgy'.
• I did not plan before making this yam cake. Hence, I did not prepare spring onion and chopped chilies. You are encouraged to use them as they really give so much better flavour to the yam cake.
• There are two ways to prepare the yam; you either shred it, or dice it. I decided to dice it because firstly, it makes the texture of yam cake firmer; secondly, you can still see and bite the yam cubes after steaming.