A few years ago, I was living in LA and taking regular trips to the San Gabriel Valley, home to hundreds of restaurants serving regional Chinese food (among other cuisines). With friends in tow, I’d drive into the parking lot of whatever dumpling house living legend/noted food writer Jonathan Gold had just reviewed. We’d marvel at the plates of dumplings as they were set before us: Neat rows of eight, the tender dough atop each looked pin-tucked in place. They held bursts of garlicky pork or scallion-scented shrimp, fatty broth and rich nuggets of duck.
A few months after I moved to New York in 2014, homesick and missing the California sunshine, the Times published restaurant critic Pete Wells’ review of a dumpling house in Flushing, Queens that promised Northern Chinese-style dumplings of “bracing clarity.” It was Dumpling Galaxy, a place that reminds me of my trips to San Gabriel. Its proprietor, Helen You, happens to have a cult-like following among dumpling-obsessed New Yorkers. Those fans will be pleased to hear that earlier this week You and her co-author Max Falkowitz published The Dumpling Galaxy Cookbook.
With photographs and instructions that have been adapted for the home cook, the book contains 60 recipes that cover a range of sweet, savory, vegetable-focused, and meaty dumplings. You takes her dumplings seriously; in the intro she writes, “Everything I have today I owe to dumplings.” Here’s a sneak peak inside the book: a recipe for You’s signature xiao long bao, or Shanghai-style soup dumplings. I plan on making it the next time the weather in New York City turns cold and damp and all I want to do is bask in a spot of warm California sunshine.
Pork Soup Dumplings
SHANGHAI-STYLE SOUP DUMPLINGS—xiao long bao (pronounced “shao long bow”)—are different from the other dumplings you’ll find in this book. Traditionally, you mix ground pork with a thick pork aspic (made by boiling pork skin, fat, and feet for hours) and wrap it in a thin purse of dough. As the dumplings steam, that aspic melts into a lip-smacking soup that drives dumpling addicts wild. This approach can make a delicious dumpling, but if you’re not careful, it can also turn out heavy and greasy. That’s why I prefer to make my aspic with powdered gelatin, which, after an overnight rest in the refrigerator, will set into a perfect gel without the hours of boiling and straining of the traditional method—and with far less fat. If you’ve had only ultra-fatty soup dumplings before, you may be shocked at how light and clean these are, while still packed with flavor. And yes, that’s the correct amount of ginger: you want it to shout its way out of the dumpling.MAKES 24 DUMPLINGS
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5 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups unflavored
powdered gelatin, about
32 ¼-ounce envelopes
5½ ounces fresh ginger, peeled
and finely chopped (about 1 cup)
4 scallions, cut into ½-inch pieces, white and green parts
1 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons sherry cooking wine
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
8 large cabbage leaves, or perforated sheets of parchment
paper, for lining the steamers
24 Steamed Dumpling Wrappers1. PREPARE THE FILLING the night before: Bring a large pot with 14 cups of water to a boil and stir in 1 teaspoon of the sugar and ½ teaspoon of the salt. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the gelatin until completely dissolved, then simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes until the liquid has thickened like a rich stock. Remove from the heat, transfer the liquid to a bowl, and let cool to room temperature. Cover and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
2. The next day, in a blender, small food processor, or mortar, combine the ginger, scallions, and 2 tablespoons of water and puree (or mash with a pestle) until the mixture becomes a paste.
3. In a medium bowl, use your hands to combine the pork, ginger-scallion paste, wine, remaining 4 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of sugar, oyster sauce, soy sauce, remaining teaspoon of salt, the pepper, and sesame oil, and fold it together for 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is very well blended and all liquid is fully absorbed into the meat. Finely chop the gel and use your hands to gently fold it into the filling until well combined.
4. Fill a large pot with 2 inches of water; a bamboo steamer should fit snugly on top of the pot. Bring the water to a simmer and line 2 steamers with the cabbage leaves. 5. Pick up one dumpling wrapper and lightly tug around the edges to stretch it out slightly; place it in the palm of your non-dominant hand. With your dominant hand, use a fork to add about 1½ to 2 tablespoons of the filling to the center of the wrapper, then lightly pat down the filling with the fork to get rid of any air bubbles.
6. Place the thumb of your non-dominant hand on the filling to secure it in place. Pinch an edge of the wrapper between your other thumb and index finger and start pleating the edge of the wrapper up and around the filling, rotating the dumpling as you pleat the wrapper while pressing the filling into place (see Tip, below). As you connect the two ends of the dumpling together, lightly twist the topknot to get rid of any air bubbles, then pinch it shut. Inspect the dumpling for any holes where the filling could leak out and pinch them shut. Repeat with the rest of the wrappers.
MAKE THE DIPPING SAUCE: In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Divide into small dishes and top with julienned ginger.
COOK THE DUMPLINGS: Gently place 6 dumplings, spaced 1 inch apart, in each steamer so the topknots are facing up. Stack the steamers on top of each other on top of the pot, cover the top steamer, and steam the dumplings for 6 to 7 minutes, or until the wrappers lose their white sheen and turn slightly translucent. Remove from the heat, uncover the steamers, and serve immediately. Repeat with any remaining dumplings.
TO EAT Take a nibble out of the side to slurp up the broth and release the heat, then eat the dumpling. Soup dumplings are typically served with black vinegar and slivered ginger. Nibble an opening in the dumpling and add a few drops of the vinegar right inside.
TIP Tradition says a soup dumpling must have 18 pleats twisted into the top, a sure sign of a dumpling maker’s skill, but as long as you seal the dumpling well and fix any tears to keep the filling from leaking, the dumpling will taste great, which is all that matters in the end. If it’s your first time making soup dumplings, consider doubling the recipe to give yourself some practice dough, which can tear easily.
TIP Eating soup dumplings is a skill all its own. Since they have such thin skins, it’s easy to rupture them en route from the steamer to your mouth, spilling soup everywhere. So to eat them, carefully pick up the dumpling by its topknot with your chopsticks and rest it in a wide spoon.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7796639/DumplingGalaxyCover.jpg "Recipe: How to Make Shanghai-Style Soup Dumplings (1)")
Reprinted from The Dumpling Galaxy Cookbook. Copyright © 2017 by Helen You. Photographs copyright © 2017 by Ed Anderson. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.
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