Dumpling Snack

Steamed Pork & Mushroom Dumplings ( Sa La Pow Side Kame )

This is similar to a 'Dim Sum' recipe (chinese snack food). Asian countries influence each other and it's typical to find variations of Lao, Chinese, Khmer and Vietnamese food in Thailand and Thai food in the recipes of its neighbours. These ingredients will make approximately 15 dumplings. You can freeze the dumpling once its made and steam them at a future date.

Ingredient for Dough
300 gms Wheat Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons Fresh Yeast
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Oil
240 ml Water
Grease Proof Paper

Ingredient for the Filling
Use corn starch if you can't find cassava starch. Omit the salty egg if you do not have boiled salty egg already prepared.
200 gms Pork Mince
1/2 Green Pepper
1 Onion
5 Garlic Cloves
2 Shitake Mushroom
1 Egg
1 Hard Boiled Salty egg
30 gms Coriander Leaves
1 Tablespoon Cassava Starch
2 Tablespoon Oyster sauce

Preparation for the Dough
1. Put the water, oil, sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
2. Add the yeast to wheat and mix, pour in the liquid from step 1.
3. Knead the mixture into a dough.
4. Cover with moist kitchen roll.
4. Leave for 30 minutes at room temperature to rise.

Preparation for the Filling
1. Pound the garlic and peppercorn together in a mortar.
2. If the shitake mushrooms are dried, soak them in water for 5-10 minutes.
3. Chop the shitaka mushroom, green pepper, onion and coriander, into fine pieces, add the pork mince, the pounded ingredients from stage 1, the oyster sauce, egg, chopped boiled salty egg, and mix.
4. Dissolve the cassava starch with 2 tablespoon of water and add into the mixture.

Assembly
1. Cut the dough into 30 gm pieces.
2. Cut the grease proof paper into squares.
3. Roll each piece of dough flat. You can add a little oil to the rolling pin if the dough sticks.
4. Put a teaspoon of the filling in the middle and fold the dough over to form a parcel.
5. Press the edges together and tuck the seam under the parcel to form a small 'bun' shape.
6. Place each dumpling onto a square of greese proof paper.
7. Steam for 8-10 minutes in a Chinese steamer.

Serving
Serve it hot or cold. For extra flavour you can create a dipping sauce of light soy sauce, chopped chillis and vinegar.

Shrimp Bamboo Dumplings ( Ka Noom Guy Chai Nor Mai )

Plenty of texture in these dumplings, the main flavours are prawns and chopped bamboo.

Ingredients
50 gms Bamboo ( Either Precooked or Tinned )
50 gms Soya Beansprouts
20 gms Dried Shrimp
10 Prawns
2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1/3 Teaspoon White Peper
4 Garlic Cloves
1 Tablespoons Oil

Ingredients for Dough
150 gms Rice Flour
20 gms Sticky Rice Flour
1 Teaspoon Cassava Starch Flour
1 Tablespoon Oil
350 ml Water

Preparation
1. Clean the prawn and chop. Chop the bamboo finely and also chop the garlic.
2. Fry all the ingredients except the beansprouts in a little oil for 2 minutes to cook them. Then leave to cool. Chop the beansprouts and add to the filling once it has cooled.
3. Make the dough: In a saucepan, mix all three flours together, add the water and oil and stir until mixed. Heat on a low heat, stirring all the time until the flour forms a very thick dough. Take off the heat and leave to cool.
4. Dust your hand with cassava starch to stop it sticking, pinch off pieces of dough (about 20gm pieces) and roll them in the palm of your hand to form a ball.
5. Flatten the ball in your hand, spoon the mixture into the middle and fold up the sides to close the ball.
6. Steam for 5 minutes, I like to put a little oiled tinfoil into the steamer, with holes cut in it, to stop them sticking.

Serve With
Dark Soy Sauce and Chopped Chilli

Ingredients for Dark Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teapoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Chopped Chilli

Preparation
1. Mix all ingredients together and heat until the sugar and salt have dissolved, then serve.

Bean and Prawn Dumplings ( Zala Pouw Side Gung Tou )

Today we're making 2 dumpling dishes, this is the savoury one, the sweet one can be found in the desserts section. Inside this dumpling we have haricot beans & chopped prawn filling. For fun you can draw on a mouse face with food colouring. I used precooked haricot beans from a jar, if you use fresh then you should boil them for 10 minutes.

Ingredients for 3 People
200 gms Wheat Flour
3 Tableaspoons Yeast
1 Teaspoons Sugar
150 ml Water
6 Prawns
40 gms Cooked Haricot Beans
3 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoons Maggi Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oil
Grease Proof Paper

Preparation
1. Clean the prawns, cut down the back and remove the black line gut.
2. Cut the prawns, garlic and beans into small pieces.
3. Fry the prawns/garlic/bean filling with oil and Maggi sauce for 30 seconds.
3. Sift the flour to add air to it.
4. In a cup, mix the yeast with the sugar and water, it will begin to froth after a minute or so, this step is to get the yeast started.
5. Mix into the flour and knead the dough for a few minutes.
6. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let it rise for 30 minutes.
7. Cut the grease proof paper into 3cms square pieces.
8. Cut the dough into equal sized pieces approximately 20 gms each. Each of these dumplings is 4-5 cms across, so don't make them too big.
9. Roll each piece of dough in your hands to make it round.
10. Flatten the piece of dough, by pressing it between your fingers.
11. Add a spoonful of filling to the centre and fold up the edges of the dough to enclose the filling into a neat 'bun' shape.
12. Place each parcel seam-side down onto a square of grease-proof paper.
13. Once you've made all the parcels, leave them for 10-20 minutes until they have risen again.
14. Steam the parcels for 5 minutes to cook them.

Serve With
If you want extra spice, you can make a sauce of chopped chillies and Maggi sauce and dip your dumplings into the sauce.

Pork and Spring Onion Dumplings ( Giew Num )

These are boiled dumplings with pork and spring onion, the strongest taste is the fresh onion taste. They can be served as a starter or as a snack and can be frozen if needed. If you freeze them, they should be cooked from frozen, simply cook them a minute or two longer to allow them to defrost.

Ingredients for 2 People
100 gms Wheat Flour
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Oil
150 Pork Mince
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Pepper
3 Garlic Cloves
2 Sprigs Coriander Leaves
2 Spring Onions (approx 20 gms)

Preparation
1. Whip the egg, put into the flour and add the oil.
2. Mix these together and knead them a little to form a dough.
3. Leave the dough for 5 minutes to rest it, this makes it easier to work with.
4. Into a food process, put the pork, add the garlic, the spring onion, the light soy sauce, the salt, pepper, and coriander leaves.
5. Blend until the filling is well mixed.
6. Pinch off small pieces of dough, and roll them on a flat oiled surface into small circles (approx 6cms diameter).
7. Put the meat filling into the middle of the pastry, and fold the pastry over and crimp the edges to form a closed dumpling.
8. Boil a pan of water, drop the dumplings into the boiling water and cook for 4 minutes.