Har Gow (shrimp dumpling)

5 from 2 votes

Bouncy shrimp filling is wrapped in a crystal chewy wrapper and steamed until soft and chewy.

Prep Time45

Cook Time10

Total Time55

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Chinese

Servings: people

Calories: 275kcal

Author: Dana

(optional) Heat up pork fat to make pork lard. Cook the pork fat in a pot for 10 minutes until fat renders and becomes pork lard.
½ tablespoon pork fat
Mix ½ cup cornstarch and 1 cup wheat starch together. Add boiling water to the dough while continuously stirring. Finally, add 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon pork lard to the mix. Mix the dough until everything is well incorporated and the dough turns crumbly. Then, cover the bowl for 5 minutes for the dough to develop.
½ cup corn starch, 1¼ boiling water, 1 tablespoon pork lard or oil, 1 teaspoon salt
Then, knead the dough for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and soft.
Split the dough into quarters and then cut 8 pieces in each quarter. The dough should make roughly ~32 pieces of dough. Oil your surface and flatten the dough with a knife or a rolling pin so the skin is round and flat.

Mince and chop the shrimp until it becomes a fine paste. Save some shrimp and cut into larger pieces if you like a variety in texture.
½ pound shrimp
Open a can of bamboo shoots and drain the water. Boil the bamboo shoots in water for a minute to get rid of any unwanted smells. Then, drain the bamboo and dice in very small pieces.
2 tablespoon minced bamboo
Cut pork fat in small pieces. It is helpful to make sure they are all uniform in size to the bamboo. This ensures that the filling has equal amounts of bamboo and pork and avoids large chunks of something while eating the dumpling.
½ tablespoon pork fat
In a bowl, mix shrimp paste, bamboo shoots, pork fat, ¼ teaspoon sesame oil, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon white pepper, and ½ teaspoon sugar. Mix for 100 times until the paste is smooth and bouncy!
½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ pound shrimp, 2 tablespoon minced bamboo, ¼ teaspoon sesame oil, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon white pepper, ½ tablespoon pork fat, ½ teaspoon sugar

For every dumpling skin, add 1 tablespoon of shrimp filling. Make small folds until half of the circle. Then, pinch the dumpling shut. Make a slight curve on the dumpling.

Steam dumplings by adding parchment paper to the bottom of the plate or bamboo basket Carefully placing each dumpling on the paper.
In a large pot, add the pan or bamboo basket on a wire rack when the water is boiling on high heat. Steam for 8-10 minutes until you see the dough is clear and you see the shrimp is orange inside.
Eat all dumplings immediately! You cannot freeze or eat them later as the skin will get harder. Enjoy them while they are hot.