of my years of baking, i finally kowtow to har gao… ok.. you win… i have to say, this is too difficult for me (∩︵∩) i couldn’t seem to be able to conquer the dough, and getting the skin thin enough for wrapping without tearing it (and neither was i able to achieve 13 pleats) … .·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·. but still, i need to share this because it is a nice recipe (filling is nice, and skin is chewy), plus you will probably be more skilled than i am (｡´∀｀)ﾉ
adapted recipe
Ingredients
Dumpling skin
600g wheat starch (澄面粉）
225g corn starch
450g boiling water
Filling
150g fresh bamboo shoots
225g fatty pork, chopped into tiny dices
1.2kg fresh prawns
Seasoning
40g sesame oil
pepper (as appropriate)
20g corn stach
40g sugar
25g MSG or chicken bouillon powder
15g salt
40g fried pork lard ~ to be added later (生炸大油）
Directions
– wash and slice bamboo shoots into tiny cubes
– clean fatty pork and chop till very fine and smooth (very crucial)
– de-shell prawns and place shelled prawns into a bowl of ice to keep it fresh. after all prawns have been de-shelled, rinse prawns with ice water, and dry them briskly with a clean towel
– add prawns to diced fatty pork and bamboo shoots. add seasoning and stir mixture till it becomes a sticky paste. finally, add in fried pork lard, then cover mixture and chill in fridge
– meantime, pour boiling water into wheat starch (only). stir briskly. you can also do this with a food processor. add in corn starch and knead till you get a soft dough. dough cannot be too hot (as it becomes difficult to stretch for wrapping purposes) or too cold (will harden up) when you are going to wrap. hence the advice is to divide dough, and wrap on the go
– divide dough into 48 portions (see my personal notes on this) ~ dough skin should be 5g, with filling being 25g. fold 13 pleats onto har gao
– place har gao into a pot of boiling water and steam for 1.5 mins on high heat
– allow steamed har gao to cool for a while before serving as this will give the skin a nicer texture
Personal notes:
– the dough skin ingredients seem to yield much more (and i seriously mean more.. mathematically, and practically) than 48 har gaos.. i ended up making many.. many…. lost count.. make, steam, eat, make, steam, eat…
– i omitted sugar, MSG, fatty pork (replaced with lean-fatty meat) and fried pork lard in the recipe. the har gao still turned out very tasty. so do feel free to adjust the seasoning according to personal preference. after i steamed the first batch, i felt something was still amiss and added a bit of shallot oil to the filling to suit personal liking. the dough was a bit on the dry side for me, and i had to add another 30ml of boiling water
– dough skin for har gao is not prepared by rolling it out. the best way is to use a chopper, apply some oil on it, then press it around the dough 180 degrees till it is thinly stretched out. another way is to use the greased chopper, and spread it thinly across your greased table top… this, i was not able to achieve. i hope you have some luck in this. you can refer to this tutorial for tips on wrapping har gao. in the future, i will add some oil to the dough ingredients as it is way too dry to be spreaded out with chopper
… tough challenge…. but worth the effort ♫꒰･‿･๑꒱
Pollution index: 273 (very unhealthy)
妳真的好棒！做妳家人真好，每天都有精致点心。。。如果可以，真希望立刻搬去妳家隔壁呢。。哈哈
I still would like to say, kudos to you for making har gao; because eating dim sum at restaurant is full of msg!! Was the skin too thick? Hmm….I made steamed vegetarian dumpling before and I wonder whether you can used that skin recipe for har gao. Btw, your har gao pleating looks neat and tidy.
yes Mel, the skin was too thick to my liking although it was chewy… thing is it is too dry and the thinner we try to spread, it tears… you know, there are really something that the chef will never disclose >< no wonder when i saw from his picture, his dough was "oily" and shiny but mine was matt… this is a good recipe regardless but if you want to try, add in some oil to the dough… that will be great
我的最爱之一．．．要吃！
Victoria, you def. need oil in the dough. I\’ve done Har Gao with great success. Much prefer har gao to siu mai but will eat both 😀 Best regards, Babe
Babe, ya lah… pek chek…. not in the recipe… should have asked you earlier!!! any good recipes?
I don\’t see anything wrong with your har gao. They look good like those made by Dim Sum sifu. Very nice, my favorite.
Wah very professional looking har gao. The pleats are really beautiful and neat.
Hi Vic,
Har gao is my favorite. Will always order this if going for dim sum.
Yours look like those in the dim sum restaurant . \’Sui\’
I have a video clip show how to make a thin and not easily tear har gao skin. Would you be interested to watch? I can send you the clip through email.
Thanks for sharing to LTU!
mui
Hello mui, always happy to learn… I have actually watched a lot of clips… But I do realize the issue lie with the dough…. But yes, please send the link to me! Like to see any new methods besides the knife spreading way… Hahahaha
I\’ve never tried to make har kow before. Don\’t think I can make as nice as yours 🙂
来，我自己泡茶来了：）
这个虾饺也做得太漂亮了吧
Hi Victoria,
Your har gao looks perfectly done, with very neat pleats and uniform in size! My daughter loves eating har gao and we would order it when eating at dim sum restaurants.
Making your own means you can eat as much as you want! Yum!
好美的虾饺，那个口杯也太雷了！哪淘地，爱死了，哈哈哈。。。
我的早餐有着落了，yeah yeah太美味了，谢谢亲爱的你。
这个很难做的，我只是来等吃就好了。你不仅可以开蛋糕店，茶楼也可以开咯！
Really wish we can have some of your har kow! They look so beautiful and like it too that you didn\’t use MSG. Gosh, they look fantastic!
Hi VB, my kids love eating the \”har gao\” skin more than the filling. I love the kneading.
Very nicely done, so even in size, I did this once a long time ago and don\’t think I want to try again, too much work!
Hi Victoria,
You are not only the queen of cake drawing… You are the queen of food pleating. Your har gao are so neatly and uniformly made. Impressive!!! I have to practice my pleating skills with play dough :p
Zoe