The easiest homemade Xiao Long Bao (Soup dumplings) [Video included]

I remember one day in 2016, my friend took me to a place called Shanghai Dumpling Street in Melbourne CBD. I was amazed at the lines and also the price on the menu sticked on their window. That was the first time I've ever tried Xiao Long Bao (Mini Soup Dumplings). And that was the day I knew what heaven was like. From that moment, Xiao Long Bao has climbed to top 3 of my most favorite food in the world. At first I thought this was an extremely sophisticated dish and couldn't even imagine how they manage to put the soup inside the dumplings. But later on a friend of mine said he would invite us over for homemade Xiao Long Bao. I learned how to make it from him (Shout out to Mr. Nam) and from then onwards, I can have xiao long bao whenever I want. And from now on, after reading this blog, you can as well.

Recipe: (for 40 soup dumplings)

INGREDIENTS

- Pork soup (you can boil any part of the pork to get the soup, and the boiled pork can be saved for other recipes)

- 2 stalks of Green onions

- 1 Onion

- 1/2 Ginger -

- Salt n pepper -

- 1 tbsp Chinese black vinegar (if you don't have it or don't think you will use it much, don't bother buying it, you can just use normal vinegar)

- 1.5 tbsp Dark soy sauce

- 1 tbsp Sesame oil

- 5 tsp Gelatin powder

- 500g minced pork

- One pack of dumpling pastry (you can find it at any Asian grocery store)

Photo credit: http://reviewclue.com.au/gow-gees-pastry/13730/

Making

The Soup

- Add 1 onion, a few of spring onion white roots and ginger slices into the stock. Season with salt to your taste.

- Add 5 tsp of gelatin powder to the stock, let it simmer and turn off the heat. Stir until fully dissolved.

- Pour the stock into a tray, let it cool then freeze it for 1 hour.

The fillings

- Mix minced pork with chopped ginger, chopped green onion, 1.5tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbs vinegar. Mix well.

- Take the frozen stock out of the freezer, cut into small cubes.

- Stuff each piece of pastry with pork mixture and stock cubes. Gently close the top and twist the pastry so that we get a QT mini dumplings. This might be the most difficult part of the whole process. It takes a few practice before you can master it. I still cannot make it perfect but what's the matter? It's homemade! Take it easy, as long as you close the top fully. Or else the soup will leak while steaming.

- Put the dumplings in the steamer trays or any steamer tools that you normally use. Be mindful about the space between the dumplings. You don't want to squeeze a lot in one tray because we need to make space for the dumplings to expand.

- Steam for about 8 mins or until you see the dumpling skin turns translucent.

The dipping sauce

To make the dipping sauce, just mix the dark soy sauce with a bit of vinegar and top up with a spoonful of ginger slices. The sauce should be made to personal taste so feel free to add more spice if you like.

For your convenience I will link the tutorial video here, and if you would like to see more videos like this, please Like the video and Subscribe to my channel ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdZ1sgCG3IQ

That's it. Let serve the steaming food. The most common way of eating soup dumplings is to take a small bite first on the skin, then let the soup leak to the spoon. Slurp the soup in, then dip the dumpling into the sauce.

I hope you find making Xiao Long Bao as fun as I do. It is one of my most favorite food in this world. Ever since I've known how to make it, I never go out to have it anymore. And to be honest, not everywhere has a place for Xiao Long Bao. So I'd rather make it at home.

Happy Easter Break and see you guys soon in my next recipe ;)

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