Chinese

Har Gow (Crystal Prawn Dumplings)

Name: Har Gow (Crystal Prawn Dumplings)
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 6 min
Total time: 66 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Chinese

Plump, juicy prawn dumplings in a thin, translucent wheat starch wrapper, pleated and steamed for 6 minutes. The yum cha dumpling everyone orders first.

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Ingredients

Pantry bits

300g raw peeled prawns, deveined
40g tinned bamboo shoots, drained and finely diced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp potato starch (for the filling)
1 tbsp pork fat or neutral oil, chilled (for the filling)
120g wheat starch (tang flour)
30g tapioca starch
160ml boiling water
2 tsp neutral oil (for the dough)

Instructions

Pat the prawns very dry with paper towel. Cut half into 1cm pieces and roughly mash the rest with the flat of a cleaver.
Put all the prawns in a bowl with the salt and sugar and stir hard in one direction for 2 minutes until sticky. Add the bamboo shoots, white pepper, sesame oil, oyster sauce, potato starch and fat, mix well and chill for at least 20 minutes.
For the dough, mix the wheat starch and tapioca starch in a heatproof bowl. Pour in the just-boiled water all at once and stir quickly with chopsticks into a shaggy dough. Cover and rest for 5 minutes.
Add the oil and knead on a lightly oiled bench for 2-3 minutes until smooth and soft, like playdough. Keep it covered with plastic wrap at all times so it doesn't dry out.
Roll the dough into a log and cut it into 20 pieces. Flatten each piece with an oiled cleaver blade or roll it into a thin 7-8cm circle.
Place 2 tsp of filling in the centre. Fold the wrapper in half and pleat one side against the flat back side, pressing to seal into a crescent. Don't worry if you only manage 5 or 6 pleats.
Line a bamboo steamer with baking paper punched with holes. Arrange the dumplings 2cm apart and steam over rapidly boiling water for 6 minutes, until the wrappers turn translucent and the prawn shows pink through the skin. Serve straight away with chilli oil.

About this dish

Har gow (蝦餃) are the see-through prawn dumplings that make a yum cha table, alongside siu mai, cheung fun and char siu bao. The filling is almost all prawn, seasoned lightly with sesame oil and white pepper so the sweetness of the seafood comes through, with a little bamboo shoot for crunch.

The wrapper is what makes them special. It is made from wheat starch and tapioca starch mixed with boiling water, which turns glassy and chewy when steamed. It takes a bit of practice, but even rough, under-pleated har gow taste just as good as the restaurant ones.

Tips for the best result

Use boiling water, not just hot water. It has to cook the starch as you stir, or the dough will crack.
Keep the dough and wrappers covered at all times. Starch dough dries out within minutes.
Dry the prawns well. Wet prawns make a loose filling and soggy wrappers.
Steam on high heat and don't overcook. Past 7 minutes the wrappers turn gummy and split.

Substitutions

Wheat starch: look for it at Asian grocers as "tang flour" or "wheat starch". Plain flour won't give a translucent skin.
Bamboo shoots: water chestnut gives the same crunch.
Pork fat: a little chopped pork belly or simply neutral oil keeps the filling juicy.

Storage and freezing

Har gow are best steamed and eaten straight away. You can freeze them uncooked on a lined tray, then bag them for up to 1 month and steam from frozen for 8-9 minutes, though the skins are a little less glassy.