It’s the end of the year and I am feeling in denial about entering the new year because I’m not sure what to expect. Work will get busier again . The boy is growing bigger by the day and I am growing older by the seconds. I am loving every minute that I spend with my family in this year and I wish to have more of it in the coming year. Would I be able to get my wish? Hopefully – fingers crossed.
I am sometimes running out of ideas about what to cook that tickles my fancy and when that happens, I will fall back on the traditional recipes that I grew up with – traditional Teochew recipes that remind me of home and nice memories. This soon kueh recipe is definitely one that goes back a long time, a great kueh to eat especially when it comes with nice chilli and a soft and silky wrap. The filling is usually made with turnip and shrimp. The good ones are stuffed fat with not just turnip but also some fragrant dried shrimp, with a wrap that’s almost translucent and soft. And oily, yes, but oh well, it has to be oily to be nice!
So here it is, some nicely wrapped Teochew dumplings to wrap up the year. Wishing all my readers a great 2020 ahead!
Ingredients:
- Oil: 4 tbsp + extra for brushing
- Red onion: 1, diced
- Dried mushroom: 5, diced
- Minced pork (or julienned bamboo shoots): 100g
- Dried shrimp: 4 tbsp
- Coriander: 1 stalk, chopped
- Turnip (jicama/bangkuang): 500g, julienned
- Carrot: 1 (100g), julienned
- Oyster sauce: 2 tbsp
- Fish sauce: 1 tbsp
- Sugar: 1 tbsp
- Salt: 1/2 tsp
- Ground white pepper: 1 tsp
- Rice flour: 120g
- Tapioca starch (or wheat starch): 180g
- Boiling water: 300ml
- Cold water: 100ml (or less, depending on dough)
- Sweet or chilli sauce: for serving
- Spring onion: 1 stalk, chopped (for serving)
- Deep-fried shallots: for serving
Method:
- Heat 4 tbsp oil in wok.
- Fry onion and mushrooms till onions are browned.
- Stir in minced pork and fry till cooked.
- Stir in shrimps, coriander, turnip and carrot. Cook till softened.
- Season with oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, salt and white pepper. Leave to cool down.
- Prepare the dough by combining rice flour and tapioca/wheat starch in a mixing bowl.
- Gradually stir in boiling water using a pair of chopsticks.
- Then gradually add in enough cold water till dough forms. Do not add all at once.
- Divide dough into 20 portions. Roll out as thin as possible.
- Scoop 1 tbsp turnip filling onto center of dough skin. Wrap and press gently at the edges to seal. Repeat for the rest of the dough and filling.
- Place soon kuehs on a greased pan. Steam on high heat for 12min.
- Brush oil onto soon kuehs.
- Serve hot with sweet sauce, chilli, spring onion and deep-fried shallots.
Tricks:
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Do not add all the cold water in at once as it might result in a wet dough. Just add in enough to form the dough.
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I used minced pork instead of bamboo shoots as I do not really like bamboo shoots. This was based on Guai Shu Shu’s Jicama Dumpling recipe and it really worked very well with the rest of the ingredients!
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Use the remaining jicama ingredients to fry your leftover rice with. It makes for a really tasty fried rice recipe – the boys at home loved it!
Disclaimers:
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Adding tapioca starch is supposed to make the dumplings slightly more translucent which is what some prefer. I’m personally not sure what the difference would be if I had used wheat starch instead of tapioca starch, but I gather it should also work in the same way to increase the translucence of the dough skin.
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It is really difficult to do a thin and nice dough skin without breaking it. My dumplings turned out with a slightly thicker wrap than I have desired as I didn’t dare to roll them out thinner. A point for improvement next time!
Serving:
Makes about 20 kuehs.
