Ingredients
Method
1.Place mushrooms in a small heatproof bowl with the boiling water, soak 15 minutes or until softened. Drain, reserve soaking liquid. Squeeze excess liquid from mushrooms. Remove stems and discard, finely chop mushrooms.
2.Place the cold water in a small cup, sprinkle over gelatine and set aside.
3.Place mushroom soaking liquid in a small saucepan with stock, green onions and half the ginger. Bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cook 10 minutes, for flavours to infuse. Strain into a small bowl. Stir in gelatine mixture until dissolved. Refrigerate 2 hours or until set.
4.Combine pork, chicken, remaining ginger, soy sauce, wine, sugar, peppercorns, water chestnuts and chopped mushrooms in a small bowl. Using a fork, crush the gelatine mixture into small pieces. Add to mince mixture, mix well to combine.
5.Place 2 teaspoons of filling in the centre of each wrapper. Moisten the edge of the wrapper with water. Pleat edges of the wrapper repeatedly, pinching the edge closed after each pleat until the whole dumpling is sealed.
6.Line a large bamboo steamer with baking paper, place over a saucepan of boiling water. Place dumplings in steamer, cook 8 minutes or until cooked through.
7.Serve immediately with chilli sauce and black vinegar for dipping.
Dumplings can be assembled, then frozen in an airtight container up to a week ahead. Steam dumplings for 12 minutes from frozen. Soup dumplings or xialongbao, as they are called Yum Cha restaurants, are a shanghainese speciality. They are commonly filled with minced pork and a firm, gelatine-rich stock, which turns to a soup when the dumplings are steamed.
Note
