These Crystal Scallop Dumplings 水晶帶子餃 (shǔi jīng dài zi jiǎo) are my own creation. Most scallop dumplings at restaurants combine scallops and spinach and are wrapped in a crystal skin. I find it a bit bland but I like the idea of using scallops to change it up a bit. Since everything seems to have shrimp at Dim Sum.
A scallop dish that is very popular is the steamed scallop, on the shell, with garlic and mung bean vermicelli. It’s one of my favorite seafood dishes. So I decided to make a filling with those ingredients and wrap it in a crystal skin. The taste was amazing! Wrapping it in a crystal skin made it easy to eat and the skin gave it additional texture. It’s a great alternative to the usual shrimp dumplings.
As mentioned in my Crystal Shrimp Dumplings post, my crystal skin recipe was the result of a dozen failed attempts. Now, the skin is easy to make and easy to use. Consequently, you can use it to wrap fried sticky rice, red bean paste or anything that is relatively dry. You can also have fun with it…add some food color to the dough and make different objects and animals with the whole family. And, if you like eating the skin, you’ll love making it into a noodle called 銀針粉 (yín zhēn fěn). It literally translates to Silver Needle Noodles (try saying that real fast).
I wrapped these dumplings like a Xiaolongbao (steamed pork dumplings with soup) to differentiate it from the shrimp dumplings. In addition, these dumplings freeze well in the raw state. Just steam for 12 minutes from frozen.
I love making impressive dishes that don’t take a lot of skill for family and friends. These Crystal Scallop Dumplings 水晶帶子餃 are sure to get a WOW from everyone!
Crystal Scallop Dumplings 水晶帶子餃
Ingredients
Ingredients for filling:
- 350 g Scallops , chopped
- 30 g Dry mung bean vermicelli
- 40 g Garlic
- ¾ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp White pepper powder
- 2 tsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tsp Light soy sauce
- 2 tsp Corn starch
- 1 tbsp Oil (for frying garlic) *Save 1 tsp of this oil after frying garlic to add to the filling
Ingredients for wrapper:
- 65 g Wheat starch (澄粉/澄面/小麦澄粉)
- 65 g Tapioca starch , specifically cassava starch also known as sweet potato starch (番薯粉)
- 200 ml Boiling hot water
- 2 g Salt
- 1 tsp Oil
- 30 g Corn starch
- 10 g Corn starch for sprinkling on rolling pin and flat surface to prevent dough from sticking
Instructions
- Soak mung bean vermicelli for 1 hour and then cut into 1 cm pieces
- Cut scallops into 1 cm cubed pieces
- Finely mince garlic
Garlic press is not recommended as it would create too much juice - Fry garlic in oil until light yellow color and then strain garlic from oil
- Combine mung bean vermicelli, scallops and garlic together in mixing bowl
- Add 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp white pepper, 2 tsp Shaoxing wine and 1 tsp soy sauce to the filling and mix well
- Add 2 tsp corn starch to filling and mix well. Add 1 tsp of the garlic oil and mix well again
The garlic oil will help to lock in the flavors and corn starch - Cover with plastic film and place in refrigerator until ready to use
- Combine 65g wheat starch, 65g tapioca starch, and 2g salt in a mixing bowl and mix well
- Pour 200ml of water into a kettle and bring it to a boil
- As soon as the water boils, pour into starch mixture and stir quickly
it helps if someone can help you pour the water while you stir. If there is no one to help you, you can do 2 pours within 10 seconds apart so that the water stays very hot Your mixture should look lumpy and a bit translucent. If it’s runny, your water wasn’t hot enough and you’ll need to redo it…yikes! - Pour in 1 tsp oil and mix with a spoon or chopsticks
*Don’t use your hand to mix! - Cover with a lid or plate for 5 minutes
After 5 minutes, touch the dough. If it’s still too hot for your hands to work with, then cover for another few minutes. But you shouldn’t wait for it to get too cool, it’ll be difficult to smooth out after it cools. - During your wait time, line a steamer with parchment paper with some small holes cut into it to let the steam through and set aside
You can also use steamer paper that you can purchase at some Asian grocery stores - When the 5 minutes is up, add the 30g cornstarch onto the mixture. Use your hands to incorporate the cornstarch into the dough. When the cornstarch has been incorporated, transfer the dough onto a flat surface
- Knead the dough until it’s smooth. It should take approx. 2 minutes
Dough should still be warm, soft, malleable and non-sticky - Form into a ball and cut into 4 portions. Put the other 3 portions back in the covered bowl.
Your dough should be approx. 320g and each portion should weigh 80g - Roll the portion into a log shape, approx. 3cm diameter and 10 cm long
- Cut into 5 equal pieces of 16g . If your log is 10cm long, then you can cut 2 cm pieces.
You should be able to get 20 pieces from the dough - Place cut pieces, except one piece, back into mixing bowl and cover
This dough dries easily and will crack when dry - Form the piece of dough into round circle shape and press down with your palm. Keep the remaining pieces of dough under a piece of plastic wrap until ready to use
- Roll the piece of dough to approx. 10-11 cm in diameter with the edges thinner than the centre.
The skin is traditionally pressed flat using the side of a cleaver, but I was not able to do it with my limited skills! - Place 18-20g of filling onto the wrapper
I chose to wrap this dumpling like a xiao long bao (steamed pork with soup dumplings) to differentiate it with the traditional shrimp dumplings but you can wrap it any way you like! - Hold the bottom of the wrapper with your left hand if you’re right-handed and fold pleats with your right hand while pressing the pleats together. Keep folding pleats until the opening size is acceptable to you. You can also choose to completely close the opening.
I usually try folding 18 pleats - Put the finished dumpling into the steamer and continue with the next dumpling
Do not crowd the dumplings, the will expand slightly and should not touch one another - Steam at high temperature for 6 minutes
Sauce is not necessary but some finely shredded ginger with spiced vinegar should be a good pairing or just some traditional Cantonese-style chili sauce would be nice for those who like it HOT!
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