Gow Choi – Chinese chives are stronger in flavor — more garlicy taste than regular chives — than regular chives. The flat-leaf, foot-long green is used as a vegetable rather than used as a herb.

In this classic dim sum dish, the chives are mixed with shrimp and stuffed in a a dumpling. The crystal dumpling skin is made from a combination of wheat starch and tapioca starch which gives the dumplings a translucent look, and a chewy and “elastic” bite.

Chef’s tip: Make sure that you use *boiling* water when making the dough as the starch needs to be cooked to turn it into a gooey mixture that forms the binding for the dough.

Crystal Dough:
2¼ cups wheat starch
3 Tablespoons tapioca starch
1½ cups boiling water
1½ Tablespoons vegetable shortening
Filling:
12 oz raw shrimp, shelled and deveined (size 31/40 shrimp)
4 oz Chinese chives, blanched, minced to make 1 cup
¼ cup / 2 oz canned bamboo shoots, rinsed, pat dry and minced
4 Tablespoons cilantro, minced
Seasoning:
1 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons Chinese rice wine or pale dry sherry
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

Some tapioca starch
Napa or savoy cabbage leaves, whole leaves, blanched
Dipping sauce:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons water
10 slices ginger, thinly julienned

Preparing the dough.
1.    Combine the wheat starch and the tapioca starch. Form a well in the center. Gradually add the boiling water (must be boiling!), stirring until a ball forms.
2.    Cool a little, while still warm, stir in the shortening, a little at a time.  Transfer to a lightly floured board and knead for a few minutes until soft and smooth.
3.    Divide the dough into 4 balls. Cover dough with a damp tea cloth for 15 minutes.
Preparing the filling
4.    Chop/mince the shrimp with a cleaver on a cutting board until it becomes a rough paste.  Place in a large bowl.
5.    Cut the Chinese chives into 4 inch pieces, blanched in a pot of hot water (20 seconds).  Remove, and squeeze dry between two plates.  Chop the blanched chives finely.  Finely chop the bamboo shoots and cilantro.  Add to the shrimp.
6.    Mix all the seasoning ingredients together.  Pour into the shrimp and chives mixture and mix well.
Assembling the dumplings
7.    Take a dough portion, work into a round ball, flatten into a disc and using a rolling pin, roll out dough (switching to a right angle direction to the previous direction every few times) until the dough is uniformly 1/8 inch thick.  Use a round 3½ inch cookie cutter and stamp out round pastry skins.  You should have about 40 skins. Cover dough with a damp tea cloth as you work.
8.    Brush the edges of the pastry with a little water.  Place the pastry skin in your palm. Place 1 teaspoon of filling into dough, being careful to avoid the edges. Fold into half to make a crescent moon.  Using your thumb, form little pleats on the top edge of the crescent, and press the two layers together to seal. Make sure seams are well-sealed and place on a tray dusted with tapioca starch.
9.    Placed onto a steamer that is lined with blanched cabbage leaves or perforated parchment
10.    Steam over simmering water for 6-8 minutes or until the dumplings are translucent. Add water if necessary so that wok is not dried out.
Preparing the dipping sauce:
11.    Julienne ginger, and mix with red wine vinegar and water.  Serve with the dumplings.

Serves: 40 pieces

Tags: Cantonese, Chinese, dim sum, dumplings, finger foods.

Potstickers are real easy to make. Part pan fried, part steamed, the dumplings have a crisp base and a soft top. In this recipe, we have filled the dumplings with crabmeat and chives, but you can also fill the dumplings with pork or chicken, or just a mushroom medley.

The aromatic dipping sauce (adapted from Fuchsia Dunlop’s “Land of Plenty”) is a full flavored sauce that stirs up all your tastebuds – sweet, sour, salty, hot and the numbing, tingling and buzzing feel of Sichuan peppercorns.

Chef’s tip: It is important that the seams are tighly sealed so that the steam is trapped to cook the filling. In addition, when you pour the water into the pan, drizzle in a little at a time and never soak the dumplings. We want steamed dumplings, not boiled!

Aromatic Soy Sauce:
1 inch ginger, crushed
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 whole star anise
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn
Cheese cloth with kitchen twine
1 cinnamon stick
½ cup dark soy sauce
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup water

Dipping Sauce:
6 Tablespoons sweet, aromatic soy sauce
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon chili oil
1 Tablespoon Sichuan peppercorn oil
1 Tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ginger juice
2 Tablespoons cold water

Filling:
1 lb fresh crabmeat (from 1 large  2½ pound cooked Dungeness crab)
1 egg white
4 Tablespoons chives, chopped finely
2 Tablespoons cilantro leaves and stems, minced
2 Tablespoons carrot, grated
2 Tablespoons water chestnut, chopped finely
1 Tablespoon ginger, grated
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Dumpling:
30 wonton wrappers, preferably square
1 Tablespoon cornstarch for dusting
½ cup water for brushing
2 Tablespoons peanut oil
Black sesame seeds, toasted
Chives

Preparing the sauce
1.    To make the aromatic soy sauce, place ginger, fennel, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorn in a cheesecloth and bundle tightly together with kitchen twine. Place spice bag with cinnamon, dark soy sauce, brown sugar and water in a small pot, bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes.  Remove all spices.  The sauce can be kept for 6 months in a glass jar without refrigeration.
2.    To make the dipping sauce, mix all dipping sauce ingredients (aromatic soy, soy, chili oil, peppercorn oil, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger juice and water) together.  Set aside.
Preparing the dumplings
3.    Pick over the crabmeat to remove any bits of shells.  Mix all filling ingredients (crabmeat, egg white, chives, cilantro, carrot, water chestnut, ginger, vinegar, sesame seeds, salt)  together.
4.    On a lightly floured surface, brush edges of the wonton wrapper with a little water (just slightly damp).  Mound about 1 Tablespoon of the filling in the center of each wrapper. If using square wonton skins, gather four corners of each wrapper and seal into a point.  If using round skins, fold into a half moon, and make three small pleats over the top piece of the skin and press to seal. Make sure seams are well-sealed and place on a tray dusted with cornstarch.
Frying the dumplings
5.    In a large nonstick pan, heat 1 Tablespoon oil over medium heat until hot.  Place pot stickers leaving ½ inch space between them.  Fry until undersides are lightly golden, about 1 min.
6.    Slowly drizzle ¼ cup water down the side of pan.  Water should barely cover the pan, and not soak the dumplings.  Cover pan and steam pot stickers over moderately low heat until cooked through, about 2 minutes.  Remove lid and cook pot stickers until water is evaporated, and wonton skin is translucent.  Add more water if skin is not translucent and repeat the process
Serving:
7.    Sprinkle dumplings with black sesame seeds and serve with dipping sauce

Serves: 6

Tags: Cantonese, Chinese, dim sum, dumplings, finger foods, potstickers.