The pleasure here is a soft, silky rice wrapper against a filling of pork and wood ear mushroom with a bit of bite. Stirring the batter is the hard part: too little and the dumpling is runny, too much and the wrapper turns stiff.
The chicken stock cools to about 40 degrees before it meets the rice flour, and the batter then rests for 30 to 45 minutes. Stir it over the heat only until it stops sticking to the pan.
This batch weighs about 2.2kg, at roughly 96 calories per 100g.
Method
Simmer 0.5kg chicken bones with 1.5 liters water and 1 teaspoon salt for 30 to 45 minutes, then strain out the bone fragments.
Let the stock cool to about 40 degrees C, then stir 650ml of it into 200g fine rice flour, mix gently, pass it through a sieve again and let the batter rest for 30 to 45 minutes.
Soak 100g wood ear mushroom until soft, wash it, trim the stems and chop it finely. Mix 160g ground pork with 1/4 teaspoon seasoning powder, 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce, 1/4 teaspoon kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and black pepper.
Fry 50g onion with 3 shallots in 2 tablespoons oil until fragrant, add 40g jicama and stir for 1 minute, add the ground pork and cook it through, add the wood ear mushroom and stir for 2 more minutes, then turn off the heat and fold in 1 tablespoon fried shallots.
Wash the banana leaves, cut out the ribs, dip them in boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds and wipe them dry, keeping the pot of water for steaming. Fold each large leaf with a small one into a cone.
Set a nonstick pan over high heat and stir the batter. When it starts to look grainy, drop the heat to the lowest setting and keep stirring until it thickens, then add 1 tablespoon cooking oil and stir for about 10 more minutes until the batter no longer sticks to the pan.
Spoon 2 tablespoons batter into a leaf cone and spread it up the sides, add 2 tablespoons filling, cover with another 2 tablespoons batter, smooth it over and fold the leaf closed.
Steam over medium heat for about 30 minutes, then let the dumplings cool slightly before serving.
Tips
A balloon whisk gives a finer, smoother wrapper than a spoon.
Stir the rested batter again before ladling, since flour settled at the bottom leaves the wrapper thick in places and thin in others.
Stock hotter than about 40 degrees C starts cooking the flour early and leaves lumps.
Banana leaves dipped for 10 to 15 seconds turn pliable and fold into cones without tearing.
With no banana leaves on hand, wrap in foil lined with parchment, or spoon the batter into heatproof cups and steam for 25 to 30 minutes.
A dumpling opened while piping hot falls apart, so let it cool a little first.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.