Steamed Vegetable Dumplings (Chai Kueh)
Happy Year 2013! Wish everyone will have a blessing year ahead.
Although it is new year, I honestly do not see what is new. Still the same old routine everyday :/
One thing which I am looking forward to is the born of my baby, either this month if she is eager to see the world or next month, as my gynae expected. Wish everything will go smoothly!
Many times when I see someone posting about their newborns, I will go oooohhh, ahhhh.. then I wondered, how come it looks so easy? Little that we know, the mommies actually had to go through morning sickness, heartburn, backache, needles poking, swollen feet etc. etc. (depends on individual). It's definitely not easy to be pregnant, more so going through labour.
Perhaps I shall leave the pregnancy stories for next time.
Made this Steamed Vegetable Dumplings last week because I need something healthy for my diet and also to clear up the fridge a little. I made this a few times before but the results weren't satisfying. I always come up with a very thick and chewy skin. But this recipe from nasilemaklover.blogspot.com works just fine! The skin is very easy to work with, no tearing, just need a little bit of arm exercise to roll the dough into very thin. After steaming, the skin is very very soft. Taste delicious with the fillings plus some chilly sauce.
For fillings:
1 medium size jicama - shredded (The recipe for dumpling skin yields for a large size jicama but I bought mine quite awhile ago. So I just used whatever I have)
1 carrot - shredded
A handful of dried shrimps - soaked in water, chopped
Salt and pepper
*I used a food processor to shred the vegetables. If you are doing it manually, you may squeeze out some of the water before cooking. Otherwise it may be too wet.
Method
1. Heat up enough oil and saute dried shrimps until fragrant.
2. Add in jicama and carrot, cook until soft.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Set aside to cool.
For the dumpling skin (Recipe from nasilemaklover.blogspot.com)
100g Tang Mein four
200g tapioca flour
10g sugar
A pinch of salt
20g cooking oil
450g hot boiling water
Method
1. Mix two flours in a mixing bowl, stir to combine.
2. Add sugar, salt and cooking oil in the hot boiling water.
3. Pour hot water into the mixing bowl and quickly stir to combine to become dough. Set aside to cool. - After adding hot water, it won't become a dough immediately and it becomes too hard to stir. I used my hand to combine it until it forms a dough. Just be careful because the dough is still hot. I didn't knead it, just combine the mixture with my hand a little. It turns out to be a very nice dough, not sticky at all.
To make steamed vegetables dumplings
1. Dust tabletop with a lot of tapioca flour (dough is very sticky), roll dough to form a thin circle.(using a round cutter or a small bowl to cut out thin circle as to standardize the size). - My dough is not very sticky.
2. Wrap 1 tbsp of filling with each skin. Fold into semicircle and seal the opening by pressing the edges together. - I shaped it like char siew pau. Instead of folding it into semicircle, just gather the edges to the centre and seal the top.
3. Place each dumpling on a small sheet of banana leaf, place on a steaming tray, steam for 15mins. - Lazy to cut banana leaf. I greased a plate with little bit of oil and put the dumplings in.
4. Remove the steamed dumplings and brush the surface with some garlic oil. Serve hot. - I brushed the surface with some cooking oil before steaming.
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