Chinese or Lunar New Year falls on this coming Monday, January 23rd. In honor of this very important holiday, Bee of the beautiful and delicious website Rasa Malaysia brings us a traditional recipe for hot and soothing soup. Welcome, Bee!
Ingredients
20 Siu Kow or wonton wrappers
4 cups (1 liter) water
1 small wood ear mushroom
6 ounces (175 g) ground pork
4 ounces (100 g) shelled and deveined raw shrimp, cut into small pieces
2 peeled fresh or canned water chestnuts, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion (scallion)
1 1/2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing) or sherry
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 dashes white pepper
1 3/4 cups (425 ml) Homemade Chicken Stock or 1 can (14-oz/400-g) store-bought chicken broth
1 cup (250 ml) water
3 dashes white pepper
Salt, to taste
1 green onion (scallion), trimmed and cut into small rounds
Instructions
Soak the wood ear mushroom with warm water for about 15 minutes. Cut it into thin strips.
Make the filling by combining the wood ear mushroom, ground pork, shrimp, water chestnuts, green onion, ginger, and all the Seasonings ingredients together. Chill the filling in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
To assemble the water dumplings, place a piece of the wrapper on your palm and spoon about 1 tablespoon filling onto the wrapper. Do not overfill. Dip your index finger into a small bowl of water and circle around the outer edges of the dumpling wrapper. Fold the dumpling over and finish by pressing the edges with your thumb and index finger to ensure that the dumpling is sealed tightly and there is no leakage. Repeat for the remaining wrappers and filling. Place the dumplings on a floured surface or baking sheet. Cover them with a damp kitchen towel to prevent drying.
Bring the water to a boil in a pot. Gently transfer the wrapped water dumplings into the boiling water and boil until they float to the top, about 2-3 minutes. You may have to boil the dumplings in more than 1 batch, according to the size of your pot.
Remove the water dumplings with a slotted spoon, drain the excess water, and cover them to prevent drying.
Bring to boil the chicken broth and water in another pot. Add the white pepper and salt to taste.
Transfer 3-4 water dumplings into a soup bowl, add some of the soup into the bowl, garnish with some chopped green onion and serve immediately.
