Getting Tuned For Shanghai
07 May 2008
The evening before we left for our long weekend in Shanghai, all excited, I prepared some somewhat experimental Chinese dumplings. As I don't know how to make the original ones anyway, I just invented a rather unusual filling, featuring king prawns and shiitake mushrooms seasoned with curry and basil. After all, there are hardly any limits of what you can wrap in a Chinese dumpling skin...
Curry-Flavoured Prawn Chinese Dumplings
| serves 4 (approx. 8 per person) |
| 240g king prawns |
| 240g shiitake mushrooms |
| 2 egg yolks |
| 2 cloves of garlic |
| 3 teaspoons of fresh basil, finely chopped |
| 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger, grated or very finely chopped |
| 1 teaspoon of relatively mild curry powder |
| approx. 32 round Chinese dumpling skins |
| some olive oil for frying |
for the dip |
| 160ml canned tomatoes, blended |
| 80ml soy sauce |
| 80ml mirin |
| a pinch of shichimi
(Japanese assorted chili pepper) |
Cut the shiitake mushrooms into little cubes of 3-4mm. Mash the garlic and briefly sweat it in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil. Before the garlic gets brown, add the chopped mushrooms, season with salt and sauté them while stirring periodically. After a just few minutes take them off the heat and allow to cool down.
Chop the king prawns into small pieces of a few millimeters. Even if you buy them shelled and cleaned as I do, make sure the central vein in their back has been removed before cutting them further. Now mix with the sautéed mushrooms and stir in the egg yolks as well as the fresh ginger (either grated or very finely chopped). Season with some (not too hot) curry powder and the finely chopped basil leaves. Finally add the ground sesame seeds and stir well until the mixture has a homogeneous texture; if it is still too fluid to use as a filling, add some more sesame seeds.
Place a tablespoon full of the filling in the middle of each dumpling skin (which should be available at Asian supermarkets). Carefully moist the edge of each skin with a little bit of water, then fold in the middle and firmly press the edges together with your fingers, forming half-moon shaped dumplings.
Heat a little bit of oil in a frying pan and very briefly brown the dumplings from both sides, which makes them less sticky and somewhat firmer so they won’t stick together in the steam pot, which is their next step. If you have one, use a pot with a basket-like inlay to steam the dumplings over hot water for about 10 minutes. If you do not have such a device, just boil them in water for about five minutes.
Meanwhile prepare the dip by mixing soy sauce, mirin and some canned tomatoes; process the latter ones in a blender or press them through a fine-meshed sieve before adding them, if they do not already come completely smooth in the can. Season to taste with a pinch of shichimi.
When the dumplings are done, take them out of the water or steam pot, respectively, drain them well and once more briefly fry them from both sides in the pan to make them nice and crispy. Serve while still hot, with the dip aside.