Sunday 18 May 2008

Spinach and Water Chestnut Dim Sum


Dim sum was a regular feature on the Saigon restaurant scene whilst I was living in the Far East (Yeebo is by far the best in town), whilst it wouldn't normally feature in my kitchen here, I'd been inspired to try and make my own wrappers after having seen a few blogs on the subject. It was fiddly of course, this was to be expected, but also quite doughy. I also really knew that I'd been eating wheat flour afterwards as I haven't cooked with all purpose flour in a very long time. It was fun but I think next time I'll buy wrappers from the shop!

Dim Sum Wrappers
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup water

Mix the flour and water together in a bowl and form a dough. You may need more or less water than above but you want the dough to be soft but not sticky. Knead the dough twenty times. Cover and leave to stand for 30 mins. Roll out flat on a floured surface with a rolling pin. Rather than rolling it into neat circles, I just used a cutter to create accurate discs.

Spinach and Water Chestnut filling
1 bag spinach
3 spring onions
1 tin water chestnuts
rapeseed oil
garlic
tamari

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the chopped spring onions and garlic. Add the spinach and a little water and fry until wilted. Finely dice the water chestnuts and add to the pan, along with a splash of tamari. Once cooked, drain in a sieve to remove excess liquid.

Place a pinch of the mixture in the centre of the dim sum wrapper, fold in half and seal the edges using water. Make a series of folds along the edge of the dim sum and steam in bamboo steamers for 5 minutes.

No comments: