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Apart from its shrimp fried rice, Din Tai Fung is also highly exalted for its xiao long bao (Chinese soup dumpling). Xiao long bao is a steamed dumpling filled with luscious pork stuffing and some marvellous soup broth. It is usually paired with black vinegar and ginger, and is the epitome of the idiom “good things come in small packages”.
Xiao long bao is so easy to eat, but surprisingly time-consuming and demanding to make. There are three components to a xiao long bao – the pork stock jelly (which will melt to become soup), the pork filling, and the dumpling skin. Funnily, the component (dumpling skin) which has the least ingredients is the hardest one to make.
It comes as no surprise that the chefs at Din Tai Fung take 1-2 years to master the art of pleating the xiao long bao. And their xiao long baos are all amazingly consistent, as they adhere to specific criteria for each xiao long bao – 5g of dumpling wrapper, 16g of pork filling and 18 pleats.
I think I need to work on at least 10,000 pieces before I can fold a perfect one. I’ll be giving some tips and advice on how to make a successful xiao long bao, so keep reading till to end!
Pork Stock Jelly
For the pork stock, first blanch the pork bones to remove impurities. Then discard the water, and add spring onion, ginger, chicken stock concentrate, shaoxing wine and water. Bring the stock to a boil and then simmer for at least 30 minutes for the flavour of the pork bones to infuse into the stock.
Note: I used Maggi brand chicken stock concentrate but you can also use real chicken stock or chicken stock powder/cubes.
After boiling, I ended up with about 750ml of stock. You can use all 750ml of stock if you want more soup in your dumplings, but I used only about 500ml.
Add gelatin to ice cold water and mix well. Allow gelatin to bloom. In this recipe, gelatin is used to transform the pork stock into a jelly-like state so as to incorporate the soup into the dumpling.
Note: The real Din Tai Fung xiao long bao is most likely made with pork skin and/or chicken feet (the collagen helps the stock to gelatinize) but using gelatin is a cheaper and easier method.
Add bloomed gelatin into the hot stock (at least 40°C) and whisk until gelatin fully dissolves.
Pour the stock into a container and chill for at least 6 hours or until fully set. If you are in a rush, you can put the container in the freezer instead. It will take around 2-3 hours instead.
TIPS:
- 1. Gelatin should always be bloomed in ice cold water, and added to a hot liquid thereafter so that it can fully dissolve. Do not bloom gelatin in hot water otherwise it will lose its gelling effect.
- 2. The gelatin to water ratio should be around 1:6. So if you’re using 10g of gelatin, bloom it in 60g of cold water.
- 3. 5g of gelatin will set around 250ml of liquid. So if you’re using 500ml of stock, use 10g of gelatin. If you want the stock to be firmer (and thus easier to work with as it melts more slowly), add slightly more gelatin.
Pork Filling
In a mixing bowl, add minced pork, spring onion, ginger, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, sesame oil, salt, sugar, pepper & cornstarch, and mix well.
Note: Use fatty pork of at least 30% fat so that the filling will be juicy and not dry. Instead of getting minced pork from the supermarket which tends to be quite lean, visit the wet market and ask the butcher to grind some fatty pork for you.
Remove the pork stock jelly from the chiller and cut into small pieces.
Add the pork stock jelly to the pork filling and mix well.
Note: As the pork stock jelly can melt at room temperatures, keep the filling in the chiller when not in use.
Dumpling Wrapper
Combine plain flour & hot water (just boiled) together, and knead to form a dough. Add flour if the dough is too sticky, and add water if the dough is too dry.
Knead for at least 5 minutes, then cling wrap the dough and let it rest for at least 30 minutes so that the gluten can relax. It’s normal if the dough doesn’t look so smooth at this point in time.
After resting, cut the dough into half and roll both halves into a long log.
Cut the log into small pieces weighing 5g each.
Use a rolling pin to roll out the ball into a flat, thin wrapper. It should be around 6.5cm in diameter. The wrapper should be thin enough so that the xiao long bao will be soft and tender, but yet strong enough to hold the soup without tearing.
Fill each wrapper with 16g of filling.
Fold the xiao long bao by pleating & lightly pulling the edges repeatedly. When the xiao long bao is almost completely pleated, pinch the edges together and twist slightly to seal it.
Your xiao long bao should have 18 folds. To be completely honest, I was so focused on trying to pleat my xiao long bao properly that I didn’t even bother to count how many folds I did.
TIPS:
- 1. Some recipes call for hot water, while others call for cold water. Using hot water for the dough results in a more tender dough while cold water will result in a firmer dough. For boiled dumplings, it is imperative for the dumplings to withstand the vigorous bubbles so a firmer dough is ideal, thus recipes will call for cold water. However, for xiao long bao, hot water is more suitable as we want a softer dough so that the skin will not end up thick and chewy.
- 2. For optimal dough, the weight of the water used should be about 50-60% of the weight of the flour. This is the hydration percentage.
- 3. The dumpling wrappers can dry out quite quickly once rolled out, so try not to roll out too many at a go. Keep half the dough in the cling wrap while working on the other half. It is also wise to get a family member or friend to help with wrapping the dumplings.
- 4. The dumpling wrappers should be thinner at the edges and thicker in the centre so that the tip of the dumpling after wrapping will not be too thick, and the wrapper will not tear easily after steaming. (Honestly, it’s challenging to avoid the thick tip though.)
- 5. The pork stock jelly can melt in room temperatures so keep about half of it in the chiller first while wrapping the dumplings.
- 6. If wrapping many dumplings at one go, keep the wrapped ones in the freezer first to prevent the wrapper from drying out.
Steaming
Line a bamboo steamer with a parchment paper (with holes) or a steaming cloth, and place the xiao long baos into the steamer.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, then steam the xiao long baos for about 4.5 to 5 minutes.
As the xiao long baos are steaming hot, don’t bite into them immediately!
Make a small bite in the xiao long bao and pour the soup out onto a spoon, then savour the soup.
Dip the xiao long bao into a saucer of black vinegar and julienned ginger, then devour the xiao long bao!
I have to say, the taste was really close to that of Din Tai Fung! The piping hot soup that oozed out was fragrant and tasty in its own right, and the pork filling was juicy and tender owing to its fats. The skin was thin and semi-translucent, yet held on to its fillings well without tearing.
They tasted so good that I myself had 20 xiao long baos in the past 2 days. But I admit that the appearance and presentation pale in comparison to the original xiao long baos. Looks like I’ll have to consume a lot more xiao long baos in order to master the pleating of this wonderful morsel!
Xiao Long Bao (“Easy” Din Tai Fung Style)
Ingredients
PORK STOCK JELLY
- 500 g pork bones $7
- 2 stalks spring onion 10g ($0.20)
- 4 slices ginger 20g ($0.33)
- 1.50 tbsp chicken stock concentrate $0.418
- 2 tbsp cooking wine $0.834
- 1.50 litres water
- 10 g gelatin $0.425
- 60 ml ice cold water
PORK FILLING
- 500 g fatty minced pork $4.36
- 3 stalks spring onion chopped ($0.30)
- 20 g ginger minced ($0.33)
- ½ tbsp light soy sauce $0.042
- ½ tbsp dark soy sauce $0.042
- 2 tbsp sesame oil $0.264
- ½ tsp salt $0.014
- ½ tsp white sugar $0.003
- ½ tsp white pepper $0.044
- 2 tbsp corn starch $0.021
- pork stock jelly
DUMPLING WRAPPER
- 180 g plain flour $0.396
- 100 g hot water just boiled
Instructions
PORK STOCK JELLY
- Blanch pork bones in boiling water to remove impurities. Discard water, then add spring onion, ginger, chicken stock concentrate, shaoxing wine and water. Bring the stock to a boil and then simmer for at least 30 minutes for the flavour of the pork bones to infuse into the stock. After boiling, I ended up with about 750ml of stock. You can use all 750ml of stock if you want more soup in your dumplings, but I used only about 500ml.
- Note: I used Maggi brand chicken stock concentrate but you can also use real chicken stock or chicken stock powder/cubes.
- Add gelatin to ice cold water and mix well. Allow gelatin to bloom. Add bloomed gelatin into the hot stock (at least 40°C) and whisk until gelatin fully dissolves.
- Pour the stock into a container and chill for at least 6 hours or until fully set. If you are in a rush, you can put the container in the freezer instead. It will take around 2-3 hours instead.
PORK FILLING
- In a mixing bowl, add minced pork, spring onion, ginger, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, sesame oil, salt, sugar, pepper & cornstarch, and mix well.
- Remove the pork stock jelly from the chiller and cut into small pieces. Add the pork stock jelly to the pork filling and mix well.
- Note: As the pork stock jelly can melt at room temperatures, keep the filling in the chiller when not in use.
DUMPLING WRAPPER
- In a mixing bowl, combine plain flour & hot water (just boiled) together, and knead to form a dough.
- Knead for at least 5 minutes, then cling wrap the dough and let it rest for at least 30 minutes so that the gluten can relax.
- After resting, cut the dough into half and roll both halves into a long log. Cut the log into small pieces weighing 5g each. Use a rolling pin to roll out the ball into a flat, thin wrapper. It should be around 6.5cm in diameter.
- Fill each wrapper with 16g of filling.
- Fold the xiao long bao by pleating & lightly pulling the edges repeatedly. When the xiao long bao is almost completely pleated, pinch the edges together and twist slightly to seal it. Your xiao long bao should have about 18 folds.
STEAMING
- Line a bamboo steamer with a parchment paper (with holes) or a steaming cloth, and place the xiao long baos into the steamer.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil, then steam the xiao long baos for about 4.5 to 5 minutes.
- Remove bamboo steamer from the pot, and make a small bite in the xiao long bao to release the soup onto a spoon. Dip the xiao long bao in a saucer of black vinegar & julienned ginger, and enjoy!
