咸水角 (Ham Sui Gok) is a deep-fried dumpling, known for its crispy and gooey texture. I order it every time I go to the tea house restaurant. You will love it too.

To Make the Wrapper (enough to make 20 dumplings)

• 70 grams of wheat starch
• 85 grams of hot water
• 210 grams of glutinous rice flour
• 60 grams of sugar
• 155 grams of water
• 60 grams of lard

To make the filling

• 200 grams of skinless pork belly
• 60 grams of diced Jicama (Sha Ge 沙葛)
• 15 grams of dried shrimp
• 3 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tbsps. of pickled radish
• 1 tbsp of minced garlic
• 3 tbsps. of diced shallot
• 1 tsp of minced ginger
• 2 tsps. of soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp of dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1.5 tbsp of cornstarch
• 1/3 cup of mushroom soaking water
• 1.5 tsps. of sesame oil
• 1/3 cup of garlic diced chives or scallions
• 2-3 cups of frying oil

INSTRUCTIONS

First, let’s make the wrapper. Dissolve 60 grams of sugar into 155 grams of room temperature water. Stir this really well until you don’t see any sugar crystals.

Pour the sugar solution into 210 grams of glutinous rice flour. Mix it with a spatula first then go in with your hand and knead it until a rough dough forms. Set it aside.

Pour 85 grams of boiling water into 70 grams of wheat starch. Stir it at the same time. then knead into a smooth dough. The wheat starch here is to balance the texture as glutinous rice flour is too sticky. If you don’t have access or you cannot eat it due to the gluten content, you can use all glutinous rice flour. Of course, the texture will be stickier.

Thoroughly knead these 2 pieces of dough into a bigger dough. It is made with starch so the ductility is very low. You can not use this to wrap dumplings yet because the dough cracks when you try to change the shape.

Don’t be frustrated. What you can do is to grab a small piece, about 40 grams. Put it in a heat-proof bowl and cover it. Cook this in the microwave for just 25 seconds. If you don’t have a microwave, you can boil it in water for a couple of minutes. After cooking, this little dough will be super gooey and sticky. Mix it into the big piece of dough thoroughly. It will bind everything together. As you are mixing it, the dough will be malleable and elastic. You can stretch it very long. This trick works for any type of starch, so it is really good when you want to make gluten-free dumpling wrappers.

Mix the dough with 60 grams of room temperature pork lard. Pork lard is traditional but you can definitely switch it to vegetable oil or butter. Don’t cut down the oil amount because the oil prevents the starch from retrograde, so the wrapper stays soft and tender after you serve on the table for a while. Once the lard is well absorbed. The texture should be very stretchy and tender. You should be able to spread it like cream but it is not sticky. Set the dough in the fridge for 40 minutes so it can firm up a little bit.

During this time, we can make the filling. Soak 3 dried shiitake mushrooms and 15 grams of dried shrimp 2 hours in advance. Once they are fully rehydrated now, dice them finely. Combined the soaking liquid together, reserve for later use.

You will need 60 grams of diced Jicama. We call Sha Ge (沙葛). The whole one looks like this. It tastes almost like a water chestnut – sweet, crunchy, and juicy. I bought this from Walmart so I assume it is widely available. However, if you don’t have it, you can use water chestnut, carrot, or daikon radish.

This is caipu, it is Chaozhou style preserved daikon radish. You want to get the one that is preserved with salt because there is another kind that is preserved with salt and sugar. Don’t get that one. If you don’t have access to this ingredient, you can skip it or use any other crunchy pickled vegetable as a replacement.

200 grams of skinless pork belly, which I have already diced into 1/4 of an inch cubes. Add it to the wok and stir over medium low heat for 3-5 minutes or until you can see a lot of fat rendered from the pork. The pork bits should be slightly brown. Push everything to the side and tilt the wok so the oil runs to the side.

Add 1 tbsp of minced garlic, 3 tbsps. of diced shallot, 1 tsp of minced ginger, the diced mushroom, and dried shrimp. Stir over medium heat for a few minutes to activate all the fragrances.

Add the diced jicama. Season it with 2 tsps. of soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp of dark soy sauce, 1 tsp of sugar, 1/4 tsp white pepper. Keep mixing until all the flavor is well distributed.

Quickly combine 1.5 tbsp of cornstarch and 1/3 cup of mushroom and shrimp soaking liquid. Pour it into the wok. This will help to bind all the filling together. Turn off the heat. Drizzle in 1.5 tsps. of sesame oil for a nutty flavor. Give it taste to make sure the flavor is right.

Remove everything from the wok and let it cool a little bit. Then add 1/4 cup of diced garlic chives. If you don’t have it, you can use regular chives or scallions. Mix well and your filling is done.

Take the wrapper dough out of the fridge and portion it into 20 even pieces. Each one should be 30 grams. Roll it in between your hands until it becomes a smooth ball.

We don’t need a rolling pin to make these dumplings. Just flatten it in your palm. Then shape it into a small little bowl. Put some filling in, about 15 grams. Carefully bend both sides to the middle. Pinch the edge to close the dumpling. How easy is this. You just do the same thing to finish the rest of the dumplings

Heat the oil to 380°F (190°C), then carefully slide in the dumplings. Keep the heat at medium and fry this for 5 minutes. The filling is cooked already so you can just go by the color. The dumplings will expand a little bit and become a football shape. Once they are nice and golden, you can take them out and use paper towels to absorb the excess grease. Enjoy!