What is Ham Sui Kok?
A Chinese savoury dish that uses glutinous rice flour to make the dumpling dough that wraps around a precooked salty minced pork and mushroom fillings.
When is it commonly consumed?
This dumpling is a common Yumcha (tea time) dish that is normally eaten during breakfast with a cup of Chinese tea.
What does it taste like?
The texture of the dumpling is a crunchy outer layer with a gooey and slightly sweet inner combined with a salty and savour minced pork filling.
Tips and Tricks
Pastry exploding during frying
To prevent the pastry from exploding during frying, make sure that you add the wheat starch dough while it is still warm on to the glutinous rice flour dough. Glutinous rice flour turns sticky when it comes in to contact with heat and this will ensure that the starch in glutinous rice flour do not get shocked when dropped in the oil. Another thing to ensure is that you do not fry the pastry in the oil that is way too hot. 165°C to 170 °C is a good guideline.
RECIPE
Fillings
200 g Ground Pork
3 Shiitake Mushrooms
1/2 Small Carrot
1 sprig Spring onions
1 Tbs Minced Garlic
Sauce
2 Tbs Oyster Sauce
1 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tsp Sesame Oil
1 tbs Corn Flour
75 g / 1/3 cup Water
Qs. White Pepper
Glutinous Rice Dumpling Dough
80 g Wheat Starch (not flour)
70 g Boiling Water
50 g Castor Sugar
180 g Tap Water
200 g Glutinous Rice Flour
Pinch Salt
Methods
For the fillings
1. Lightly oil a non stick frying pan and place over medium heat until it is hot. Place the minced pork and garlic on the pan and fry until they turn golden brown, then break them up with your spatula until they are fine mince again.
2. Sweep the mince pork on one side of the frying pan then place all the rest of the ingredients except the sauce and stir fry until the carrots have soften. Meanwhile, with the help of a fork, whisk all the ingredients together to make the sauce.
3. Once the carrot are tender, mix the mince meat and the rest of the ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed through then stir in the sauce until it thickens. Transfer the filling on to a bowl and set aside to fully cool.
For the glutinous dumpling dough
1. In a bowl, place the glutinous rice flour and sugar together and with the help of a wooden spoon mix combine while gradually adding in the room temperature water. Keep stirring until they are well mixed through.
Note: You do not necessary need all of the room temperature water, but what you want is a dough that you are able to knead in to a smooth ball that will not break apart on you nor too wet for you to handle with your hands.
2. In a separate bowl, place wheat starch into a bowl, while mixing with a wooden spoon, stream in the boiling hot water and keep mixing until it forms in to a smooth dough.
Make a well in the centre of the mix, place the hot wheat starch dough in the centre, then start to knead the dough together with your hands until they form in to a smooth dough. Cover with a cling film until ready to use.
3. Pinch the dough in to portions working with one portion at a time while having the rest of the dough covered to avoid it from drying out. ( I use roughly 30 g dough per dumpling, and this will give you roughly around 20 -24 dumplings)
4. Roll the portioned dumpling in to a smooth pliable dough between your palm. (If the dough starts to stick to your hand, lightly rub your hands in wheat starch)
Note: Do not over dust the dough in wheat starch dough or they can start to crack and break and be really hard to handle.
5. With the help of your thumb, gently press and stretch them outwards ensuring that the centre is slightly thicker than the edges until they are the size of your palm (female palm though :)), spoon a generous spoonful of the cooled pork fillings in to the centre, then press one ends to the other ends creating a half moon shape. Pinch the edges tightly together, dusting wheat flour on your palm if necessary for easy handling.
6. place the smooth side of the dumpling on to one palm, with the other hand, pinch the seamed part of the dough on to each other so to form the dough in to a ball again. Be careful as this stage to avoid the dough from tearing. Gently, with both palms, roll the dumpling in to a smooth ball again then stretch lightly on both edges to create an oval shape leaving the centre slightly thicker than the edges.
Lightly dust a tray with wheat flour, place the dumpling in the tray, cover with tea towel and then proceed to finishing off the rest of the dumpling.
Note: When handling the dough, it is perfectly normal that it may feel slightly soft and wanting to wrinkle and tear apart easily, this is because there is no gluten in the dough to make it stretchable. Therefore, it is crucial that you handle the dough with care and patience. I find pressing and pinching the dough helps bring them together easier.
To fry
1. Place frying oil (I use sunflower oil), in a pot half way or enough for the dumpling to fully submerge in the oil. Place it over medium heat and bring it to 165°C, then turn down the heat to low heat and maintain it at the temperature between 165°C to 170 °C. Not having the oil at a temperature that is too hot is important to avoid the dumpling from exploding during or after frying.
Caution: Do not fill the oil all the way up to the pot to avoid hazardous spillage. Use a bigger pot if you need to but make sure the dumpling is able to fully submerge in the oil for even frying. In case that the oil may be too hot during frying and that the dumpling may explode gently in the oil or after removing from the oil, make sure you keep a distance from the frying pot .
2. Place the dumpling in to the hot frying oil, making sure to not over load the pot and if you can, fry them in batches.
3. Fry the dumpling in the oil, occasionally turning the dumpling in the oil with a thong for roughly between 4 to 5 minutes or until they are light golden in colour all the way through. Pick up the dumpling from the oil and place them on paper towel to soak up any excess oil before serving.
Note: The frying oil can be reused again as long as they have not turned too dark in colour. Just make sure to strain the oil before using it the second time.
It is recommended that you serve the fried dumpling straight away to avoid the skin from going soft over time. The dumpling can be stored in the fridge wrapped tightly with a cling film for frying the next day. You can store them in the fridge for no more than 2 days.
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