Soup Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao)
From scratch pork and soup filled dumplings with dipping sauce
Ingredients
For the soup component:
- 1 whole chicken
- 3 scallions trimmed
- 6 slices ginger
For the wrappers:
- 1.5 cups AP Flour
- 6 1/2 tbsp water you may need to add a bit more
For the filling:
- 1 lb ground pork
- 3 scallions minced
- 2 tbsp minced ginger
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
For the dipping sauce:
- 1/4 cup dark soy vinegar
- julienned fresh ginger
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
Instructions
Make the soup base (the day before you want to make dumplings):
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place your whole chicken with the innards removed into the pan and surround it with the ginger and scallions. Cover tightly and roast for 1 hour, then add about 1/4 cup water to the bottom of the pan and stir around a little to loosen up the bits that are stuck. Cover and bake another 30 minutes or so until the chicken is fully cooked.
- Remove the chicken and ginger and scallions and cool the chicken and eat the tasty meat. Pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl or jar. You should have about a cup of liquid. If you don't, add a little water to the pan and scrap up the bottom bits and add that to the liquid. You don't want to dilute it too much because you need to it turn into the jelly like consistency you get from the drippings. Refrigerate this overnight until it becomes jelly like.
For the wrappers:
- Mix the flour with the 6 1/2 tbsp hot water. Knead it a bit and if it is super dry and crumbling, add a tbsp of water at a time until it becomes cohesive and you can knead it. You want a stiff dough, but not unworkable. You should be able to knead it fairly easily. Let this sit covered with plastic wrap or a damp towel for 10 minutes, then knead it until smooth. cover well and let rest for 60 minutes before rolling out. Make the filling while you wait.
For the filling:
- Mix the pork with the rest of the ingredients until well combined. Remove the chicken jelly from the fridge and skim off the fat. Using a fork, break the jelly into small pieces and mix it in with the pork mixture until evenly combined. You should see little jelly pieces. Store in the fridge until you are ready to fill.
For the sauce:
- Combine the vinegar, ginger and dark soy and set aside.
To roll and fill the wrappers:
- Set up your steamer with a large pot with an inch or two of water that will hold your steamer on top without any large gaps. Open the steamer basket and place a round circle of parchment on each level to place the dumplings on so they don't stick to the walls or bottom. Poke some holes in the paper so steam can get through.
- Cut the dough into 2 pieces and roll each one into a rope about 2 inches thick. Divide each rope into 10 pieces. Cover the dough pieces at all times with plastic wrap except the piece you are currently working with or it will dry out and not be usuable.
- Using your hand, take 1 piece of dough and flatten it into a disk. Using the roll and turn technique shown in the video, roll the dough out into a circle about 5 inches in diameter. Do these one by one and fill each and place into the steamer before you start another. Place a heaping tbsp or so of filling into the center and begin folding up the edge as showing in the video. Go all the way around to form a little purse. You can seal the top or leave a hole.
- Fill each dumpling, placing into the steamer. When you are finished, bring the water to a boil and reduce to a simmer and place the basket on top. Steam for 10-15 minutes, until the filling is fully cooked (I tested one with an instant read thermometer). Serve directly from the basket with bowls so you can catch any soup that spills out. Be careful lifting the dumplings out so you don't puncture them and lose your delicious soup. Serve with dipping sauce.
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