We love Yum Cha.
Except that in our house we call it Yummy Cha actually.
But it can be so hard to find some lovely little dumplings that suit gluten free eating. I'm very lucky to have a great little place nearby that caters for me so very well. We go every couple of weeks and any problems I've had I put down to lack-of-vigilance on my part, not to any slackness from our favourite restaurant. The staff know our dishes and in case of problems I have little cards with 'No Wheat' written in Chinese that I keep in my wallet.
Eating out is always a tricky issue with food InTolerances, and I understand how many of my friends prefer not to roll the dice with nasty symptoms, but I say Buyer Beware and as always, you eat at your own risk. I choose in this case to risk it!
For those of you, Dear Readers, who are more sensitive or more sensible than I am, I recently found a great recipe for gluten free dumpling wrappers in a magazine page ad for Kikkoman Soy Sauce.
Did you know that Kikkoman now make a really nice gluten free soy sauce too? Made with soybeans, rice, salt and water, it tastes just like the 'real' thing too!
The dumpling recipe is actually for gyozas, but I turned mine into little dumplings and rice rolls instead. I found the best results with steaming, boiling the little lovelies mushed them up too much. The result of steaming is a lovely slippery texture, just like the stuffed rice rolls at yum cha, yummy!
Gluten free Dumplings
300gr cooked peeled Taro
1 Tb Salt
3 tsp gluten free Baking Powder
1kg pkt Glutinous Rice Flour
2 tb oil
500ml Water
I steamed my Taro to avoid it becoming soggy and gluggy. Then let it cool.
Process taro with the salt and baking powder
With the motor running, add the oil, a little water and a little flour. Continue like this until it's all used and the mixture forms a dough.
Turn out and knead for a few minutes until nice and smooth. Rest for about half an hour.
While it's resting, make a yummy filling for your dumplings:
300gr Pork Mince
300gr Chicken Mince
1/2 cup finelychopped Water Chestnuts
1/2 cup finely chopped Silverbeet from my garden
1/4 cup finely chopped chives
Big Tablespoon minced Garlic
Big tablespoon minced Ginger
1 Tbsp gluten free Soy Sauce
1 tsp Sesame Oil
2 tsp Chinese Cooking Wine
1 finely chopped Hot Chilli
Combine all the ingredients for the filling, and mix around thoroughly. The best way is with your hands, it keeps the texture much better this way. Squish, squish, squish!
Ready To Roll:
Roll out the dumpling dough nice and thin, about 2mm thick, on some baking paper. Dust with a bit more rice flour if needed. Then cut to the desired size with a scone or cookie cutter.
Place a small spoonful of meat filling on one half of the round, leaving a bit of a clear border, then wet the inside edge slightly with a wet finger and fold in half. Pinch the edges firmly.
Place on some more baking paper while you make enough little dumplings to fill your steamer.
Place your dumplings in a lined steamer basket over vigorously boiling water, and steam until just cooked through. My steamer took about 10 minutes, but it was a bit bigger than the pot so wasn't as efficient. The outside should be opaque and nice and firm, but with a bit of spring to it.
Serve your little lovelies with Kikkoman Dipping Sauce for a bit more yumminess
Dipping Sauce
1/3 cup Kikkoman gluten free soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1 finely chopped small chilli
Splash of water to dilute saltiness to taste
Mix all ingredients together and allow to sit while cooking the dumplings so flavour develops
As you can see Dear Readers, my arms gave out about halfway through making dumplings, so I turned them into lovely steamed rice rolls. I loved them just as much this way, and actually thought they looked prettier with the filling showing just a little at the ends. It's up to you, present them as you will, just be happy in the yummiest of gluten free yum cha around!
So Dear Readers, which way do you think looks the nicest, and do you enjoy Yum Cha too?
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