Photography Zaphs Zhang Art Direction & Styling Clare Chan
Poached Dumplings with Sichuan Sauce
Recipe by Nicky Ng, executive head chef of Mitzo Restaurant and Bar​
Makes 40
Ingredients
For the Sichuan sauce:
300ml light soya sauce
100ml chilli oil*
100ml black vinegar
100ml Maggi chilli sauce
100g granulated sugar
2 star anise
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorn*
4 stalks fresh parsley, chopped
25g garlic cloves
25g ginger, thinly sliced
For the dumpling skin:
600g plain flour
5g salt
10g vegetable shortening*
250ml water
For the filling:
600g pork belly, minced
100g prawns, roughly chopped
76ml sesame oil1 tbsp cornstarch
Pepper, to taste
1 tbsp Knorr chicken seasoning powder
2 tbsp granulated sugar
3 tsp salt
*Chilli oil is available at the condiments section of major supermarkets; Sichuan peppercorn is available at food section of Yue Hwa (70 Eu Tong Sen Street, tel: 6538-4222), and vegetable shortening is available from www.redmart.com.
To prepare the Sichuan sauce:
1 Combine the light soya sauce, chili oil, black vinegar and sugar in a saucepan over low heat, stirring it occasionally.
2 Once it simmers and the sugar is melted, add the star anise, peppercorn, parsley, garlic and ginger.
3 Simmer for 20min. Sieve the mixture and discard the ingredients. Cool the sauce at room temperature.
To make the dumpling wrapper:
1 Place the flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add a third of the water. Gradually add more water as you knead the dough by hand.
2 Once all the water has been added, mix in the salt and the vegetable shortening. Knead till smooth.
3 Chill the dough for 30min.
1 Mix the pork belly, prawns, sesame oil, cornstarch, pepper, chicken seasoning powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
2 Freeze for 5-10min.
1 On a countertop lightly dusted with flour, roll the dough into long tubes. Divide them up into pebble-sized pieces.
2 To test that the dough is ready, it should be cut away easily. It should not be too stretchy or bounces back after you pinch it.
3 With a rolling pin, flatten the dough portions into 2mm-thick rounds.
4 Place 1 tbsp of filling on a dumpling wrapper.
5 Fold the dumpling in half to enclose the filling, pinching the edges together to seal it.
6 Place the dumpling on your palm and pinch the two ends together. The flattened edge should fold upwards and flatten against the rounded side of the dumpling.
Cook the dumplings in boiling water for 5min.
Serve hot with the Sichuan sauce on the side.