Dim Sum

[CraigC]

What are some of your favorites? Do you make them at home?
I really like pot-stickers with a pork filling. Karen used to make wrappers/skins from scratch, but after discovering the frozen ones at the Chinese market, why bother! The most complicated dumplings she made were soup dumplings. Those dumplings were awesome!

 

[Morning Glory]

I confess I have never made them although it can't be very difficult if you have ready made skins. Its one of those things on my list of things I must cook! Maybe it could be a candidate for the next Cookalong?

How did Karen make the home-made wrappers?

 

[Morning Glory]

The most complicated dumplings she made were soup dumplings. Those dumplings were awesome!

Are you meaning with a liquid soup filling? I saw ravioli made like that on Masterchef - you have to have the soup or other liquid filling in a gelled form which will melt when steamed - is that right?

 

[CraigC]

Are you meaning with a liquid soup filling? I saw ravioli made like that on Masterchef - you have to have the soup or other liquid filling in a gelled form which will melt when steamed - is that right?

Yes it must be cold and in gelled/ aspic form. When the dumplings are made a piece of the aspic goes in with the filling. The aspic turns to liquid when the dumplings are steamed. Thus the "soup" inside. For the aspic, I had to get pig leg bones, pig skin with no fat left on and pig feet.

 

[CraigC]

I confess I have never made them although it can't be very difficult if you have ready made skins. Its one of those things on my list of things I must cook! Maybe it could be a candidate for the next Cookalong?

How did Karen make the home-made wrappers?

I believe it was a simple flour and water dough done in the food processor. The hard part is rolling it out to 3" rounds when you are making 50 or more. The tortilla press helped with the flattening, but they were too thick and still needed to be rolled out.

 

[Morning Glory]

I believe it was a simple flour and water dough done in the food processor. The hard part is rolling it out to 3" rounds when you are making 50 or more. The tortilla press helped with the flattening, but they were too thick and still needed to be rolled out.

Pasta machine would get it thin enough wouldn't it?

 

[CraigC]

Pasta machine would get it thin enough wouldn't it?

You would have to use so much extra flour with the pasta machine. These are supposed to be a pretty soft dough. When we use the tortilla press, the dough is placed between two pieces of plastic wrap, parchment or wax paper to prevent sticking.

 

[Morning Glory]

You would have to use so much extra flour with the pasta machine. These are supposed to be a pretty soft dough. When we use the tortilla press, the dough is placed between two pieces of plastic wrap, parchment or wax paper to prevent sticking.

Oh! OK.

 

[medtran49]

Actually, it's a flour, salt, boiling water dough, and it's traditionally mixed with chopsticks. It's too thick to do in the food processor. You have to slowly add in the water until a nice ball forms, not to sticky, and mix until it's cool enough to handle, then knead, wrap, and rest. Kind of like pasta, except for the boiling water start.

It was pretty cool making the aspic. Craig got the pig's feet, skin, and bones from the Oriental market and I did the cooking. Poured the broth into the jelly roll pans and left it alone until the next morning. I was SO happy to see those sheets of gelled aspic. Only thing though is they will start to melt at anything above 72 degrees or so, so you either keep the house really cold or keep a bowl with small amounts of filling on ice while you make the dumplings.

The recipe I used called for the dough circles for soup dumplings to be a bit bigger than for regular dim sum so I went ahead and made them. Never again, I'll use the preformed and pinch the edges to thin them out and just use less filling. It's just too much to make the dough too and have to roll it out.

 

[Morning Glory]

Actually, it's a flour, salt, boiling water dough, and it's traditionally mixed with chopsticks. It's too thick to do in the food processor. You have to slowly add in the water until a nice ball forms, not to sticky, and mix until it's cool enough to handle, then knead, wrap, and rest. Kind of like pasta, except for the boiling water start.

It was pretty cool making the aspic. Craig got the pig's feet, skin, and bones from the Oriental market and I did the cooking. Poured the broth into the jelly roll pans and left it alone until the next morning. I was SO happy to see those sheets of gelled aspic. Only thing though is they will start to melt at anything above 72 degrees or so, so you either keep the house really cold or keep a bowl with small amounts of filling on ice while you make the dumplings.

The recipe I used called for the dough circles for soup dumplings to be a bit bigger than for regular dim sum so I went ahead and made them. Never again, I'll use the preformed and pinch the edges to thin them out and just use less filling. It's just too much to make the dough too and have to roll it out.

I'm very impressed! So - why wouldn't a pasta machine work to roll them? Surely you need extra flour to roll them on the counter?

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I love dim sum, and I make it every so often. I made these in September using pork, with the red cabbage color clearly showing through the skin:

Maybe I'll take more care next time with the "folds".

To me, you can't talk about dim sum without also talking about a dip. I almost always make one that includes lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and some heat (sriracha or gochujang), and sometimes also sesame seeds. I know, they're good enough by themselves, but they're better with a dip.

 

[CraigC]

I love dim sum, and I make it every so often. I made these in September using pork, with the red cabbage color clearly showing through the skin:

Maybe I'll take more care next time with the "folds".

To me, you can't talk about dim sum without also talking about a dip. I almost always make one that includes lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and some heat (sriracha or gochujang), and sometimes also sesame seeds. I know, they're good enough by themselves, but they're better with a dip.

I just didn't mention the dipping sauces we make. The soup dumplings are best without any dipping sauce.

I'm off to make the sofrito for my Cuban style black beans!

 

[medtran49]

The dough circles are made individually by either pinching off same size pieces of dough, rolling into a ball, or rolling out logs of dough to a certain size, cutting off pieces of a certain length, sitting them on end, squashing, and then rolling out the circles. There is no dough waste or re-use. So, I guess you could give the pasta roller and cookie cutter a try, but you aren't going to be able to re-knead the dough extras back together and re-roll because they'll have too much flour in them.

 

[Morning Glory]

The dough circles are made individually by either pinching off same size pieces of dough, rolling into a ball, or rolling out logs of dough to a certain size, cutting off pieces of a certain length, sitting them on end, squashing, and then rolling out the circles. There is no dough waste or re-use. So, I guess you could give the pasta roller and cookie cutter a try, but you aren't going to be able to re-knead the dough extras back together and re-roll because they'll have too much flour in them.

OK - I understand. Thank you for your patience!

 

[medtran49]

Some of our past dim sum.

The first 2 are the soup dumplings and the aspic inside. Obviously, I need to work on the folds for the soup dumplings. This was my first attempt and the folding felt more complicated than for regular pot stickers, and took a heck of a lot longer. I'm down to 50 regulars in just over half an hour now, using the premade dough circles, but the soup ones, let's not even discuss how long it took me to fill and fold them...