prawn claw dumplings
2 min readAlong with Steamed Pork Buns and Pork and Prawn Open Dumplings, these complete the ‘Guangdong big three’-the famous dim sum trio. The delight in making your own har gau is that you get to see the metamorphosis of the opaque white wrapper into a beautiful translu-cent skin that encapsulates vibrant pink prawns in the shape of a gau, or claw. Keep in mind that har gau are their tastiest without a dipping sauce, letting the delicate flavour of the prawn really shine.
Makes 24 for the filling 300g raw king prawns, peeled and roughly chopped 2 tsp finely diced ginger 4 tbsp finely diced canned bamboo shoots tsp salt 2 pinches granulated sugar 2 pinches ground white pepper 112 tsp cornflour tsp sesame oi for the wrappers 120g wheat starch 50g tapioca flour pinches salt 2 tsp vegetable oil 1 Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl, then cover and chill for at least 30 minutes. 2 Stir the wrapper ingredients in a bowl Add 200ml boiling water and use a pair of chopsticks to stir vigorously in one direction (e.g. clockwise). Use your hands to lightly knead and fold the dough until there are no lumps. Cover and leave the dough to rest for 5 minutes. 3 Roll the dough into a sausage and cut it into 24 pieces. Work with one piece of dough at a time, keep- ing the rest of the dough covered to prevent it drying out. Shape a piece of dough into a ball, then toro use a rolling pin to roll it out into a round wrapper about 8cm in diameter with a slightly thicker centre and thinner edges.4 Pop a heaped teaspoon of the prawn filling in the middle, then fold the wrapper over into a semicir-cle. Cradle the wrapper in one hand, and use the other hand to create pleats along the edge furthest away from you, pinching the two edges firmly together after each fold to create crescent shape.
Aim for 7-8 pleats and start off with an extra wide pleat-this will help the dumpling to curve into a crescent shape. (For more dumpling pleating guidelines, see here.) 5 In a bamboo steamer (or steamer), steam the har gau in batches over vigorously boiling water for 7 minutes and serve immediately.
