IMG_6457of 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 

IMG_6452Dumpling 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

IMG_6451– 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:

IMG_6453– 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

IMG_6458… tough challenge…. but worth the effort ♫꒰・‿・๑꒱

Pollution index: 273 (very unhealthy)

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