Not too long ago, we redeemed a hot pot set with our credit card's points and told ourselves in stead of paying crazy price for steamboat outside, we can do it at home. Boy oh boy, judge all you want but both of us are total steamboat freaks that we had steamboat for a few weekends in a row after having the hot pot set! :p
Anyway, while we bought a lot of frozen meatballs, cuttlefish balls, etc, I thought it would be healthier if we make our own Sui Gao (dumpling), which I assumed and later confirmed it to be super easy to make! I googgled up recipes and found most of them having quite the same methods and ingredients. One thing I took out was black vinegar cos I didn't want to buy a black vinegar just for the sake of making Sui Gao and don't know what to do with the rest of it.
Anyway, here are what you need:
Stack of Sui Gao skins, minced pork (preferably meat that are with some fat), chopped Shitake/Chinese mushrooms, chopped carrot, chop water chestnut (I had to replace with sengkuang/turnip since I couldn't find water chestnut the other day), chopped spring onion, soya sauce, white pepper (I always use Ajishio), sesame oil, black vinegar, Chinese rice wine and corn flour.
What to do:
1) Put the minced pork in a big bowl.
2) Dump all you chopped ingredients into it.
3) Mix them well.
4) Now, add in soya sauce, pepper, sesame oil, black vinegar and rice wine to taste.
5) Add in corn flour to make mixture a bit more starchy and to soften the meat a bit.
6) Stir the mixture well. Keep the marinated ingredients in the fridge for at least three hours.
7) Now that you are ready to make the Sui Gao, on a tabletop/chopping board/plate, lay a piece of the Sui Gao skin.
8) With a spoon or chopsticks put a decent amount of the mixture in the middle of the skin.
9) Now with your finger, tap some water around the tip of the skin.
10) Now fold the skin into half, squeezing out air carefully (to avoid bubble or the Sui Gao to open when cooking), then carefully seal the Sui Gao by pressing both sides of the skin together.
11) That's all, next thing is just either boil or steam the Sui Gao for maybe about a minute and serve!
My plate of Sui Gao looks really beautiful, don't they? |
As you can see, I had some leftover filling which I eventually stuffed them into some Tofu Pok to make like a Yong Tofu Pok (Stuffed Tofu Pok) and just like the Sui Gao, they look beautiful too!
Lovely and yummy! :) |
Taste wise, of course my Sui Gao doesn't taste like the typical Sui Gao that has vinegar in it but fortunately they still tasted awesome! The sesame oil and rice wine gave the Sui Gao a very nice fragrant while the carrot, turnip and mushrooms added some crunchiness and chewy texture to the Sui Gao! Not only that, the ingredients make the dumpling look amazing with a ray of colours!
Our steamboat dinners with our homemade Sui Gao yo! |
Both Deardo and I are totally in love with these homemade Sui Gao and best of all we can just keep them in the freezer and have them whenever we want! Definitely making more of these lovely Sui Gao in the future! :)