Authentic Asian food (whether it be Thai, Japanese or Chinese) has always been a favourite cuisine of mine. Growing up, I loved our local Chinese and we even found a decent sushi restaurant in Colorado Springs (which, apparently was difficult in the 90s!).
However, I was only introduced to dim sum when I moved to University where Philadelphia’s Chinatown was just a trolley ride away. Like most of my Asian favourites, I never thought I could accurately mimic the flavours, consistencies and finesse at home.
As I have become more confident in my cooking, I decided to challenge myself with dim sum inspired dumplings. These were my first attempt with spinach wrappers and shitake, water chestnut, bok choy and tofu filling. They are now a go-to of mine when entertaining, or when I need my dim sum fix!
bok choy & shiitake dim sum dumplings
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
Dumpling Wrappers
- 125 grams spinach frozen
- 150 grams flour
- 15 mls water
Dumpling Filling
- 120 grams shiitake mushrooms
- 140 grams water chestnuts
- 100 grams cabbage or bok choy
- 30 grams spring onion
- 125 grams tofu cubed
- 8 grams ginger grated
- 4 grams garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon flax seed
Dumpling Filling
- 30 ml soy sauce
- 5 grams ginger
- 4 grams garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Laoganma or chilli oil
Instructions
Dough
- Defrost the frozen spinach by warming up in microwave or in pan on the stove.
- Transfer to the food processor and puree.
- Slowly add flour whilst on low setting and drizzle in water until a dough ball forms. It will be sticky but we will use more flour for rolling it out.
- Rest for at least 30 minutes in the fridge before rolling out
Filling
- Dice by hand or using a food processor the mushrooms, water chestnuts and cabbage/bok choi.
- Add to a small saucepan and cook on low heat for three to four minutes until slightly soft and some water has evaporated.
- Transfer to a clean kitchen cloth and squeeze out excess water in the sink.
- Add to food processor with the rest of the ingredients for the filling and blend until combined and all ingredients make.
Dumplings
- Roll out dough into thin sheet (similar to the consistency of pasta dough but not too thin) and use a mug or cookie cutter to cut out small discs.
- Once in disc, continue to roll each wrapper separately so it becomes slightly thinner an has a smooth edge.
- Spoon one teaspoon in the middle of a wrapper.
- Fold the wrapper and then seel it (however you want – there are loads of different techniques online) but I like the little pouch method where you just join all the edges together and pinch together.
- To cook the dumplings, add a tablespoon of oil to the bottom of a shallow pan for about four minutes so they get slightly brown on the bottom then once they are crispy on the bottom, fill the pan with water so they are about a cm or two deep and cover the pan to steam the dumplings for the next five or so minutes.
- Serve warm with dipping sauce.
Sauce
- In a bowl, mix all ingredients for the sauce and put in a small bowl.
