Directions

1. First, let’s make the filling. 10 ounces of peeled shrimp - use half of it first. Press it down to make it into sort of paste. Then roughly mince it. You can use a food processor to grind it. But in this way, the texture of the filling will come out better.

2. Put the shrimp paste in a mixing bowl. Add 8 ounce of ground pork. Crack in 1 egg. The egg will help to keep the filling moist. Next is the seasoning - 1 tsp of grated ginger, 1 tsp of grated garlic, 2 tsp of sesame oil, 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of soy sauce, 1/4 cup of water, 1/2 tsp of salt.
3. I am using a stander mixer to help me mix the filling. Let it run for about 5 minutes at medium-high speed. This is very helpful. As the machine spins, the meat starts pulling away from the side of the bowl. That means the protein in the meat are being developed which will make your filling turn out with a better texture. Personally, I think this is an important step to create a juicy filling. If you don’t have a stander mixer, you can also do this by your hand. You just mix your filling within 1 direction for 8-10 minutes until you get a sticky gooey consistency.
4. Continue adding the rest of the ingredients - 1/2 cup of minced baby bamboo shoot, 1/2 cup of minced carrot, and the other half of the shrimp.
5. Mix everything until well combined. Put this in the fridge and you can move on to the dumpling skin. For this recipe, it is important to make the filling first because the dumpling wrapper needs to be super fresh.
6. You need 6 ounces of wheat starch, not wheat flour. They have a totally different texture. Wheat starch is the key to make the beautiful transparent wrapper. Continue adding 1.5 ounces of cornstarch and 1/4 tsp of salt.
7. Give that a mix then slowly add in 6.5 ounces of hot water in batches; as hot as possible. At the same time, use chopsticks to stir it. Try to mix it evenly. Then cover it with a plastic film immediately. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
8. 5 minutes later, you can start kneading it. It will take about few minutes to make it into a smooth dough. Add 1 tsp of vegetable oil and keep kneading it until the oil is evenly mixed.
9. Cut it into 4 pieces; cover the rest with plastic film while you are work 1 piece of dough first.
10. Shape one piece into a long even strip. Divide it into small doughs. Make it into a ball shape and flatten it. Roll it into a thin wrapper. Because it is a starch dough so it is not stretchy at all and not easy to make it perfectly round. It will be helpful to use an around mode. The size I am using is about 6 cm across.
11. By the way, it is a lot of work to make these transparent dumpling skins. It is totally ok to use regular dumpling skin. But it will look different and taste little different. Just be aware of that
12. Put in about 1 tbsp of filling; make sure there is at least 1 pieces of shrimp in it. Fold the wrapper in half. Pinch the middle to stick together. Start from 1 side to make pleats. Then do the other side. It is pretty easy. Once you are done, put it on top of a piece of carrot to prevent sticky.
13. Now that the dumplings are freshly made, put the steamer above boiling water. Steam it on high heat for 5 minutes. And you are done.