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Recipe for "shu-mei"

NAME

     SHU-MEI - Steamed dumplings (meatballs)
     This recipe is an adaptation of the one in The Frugal  Gour-
     met  by Jeff Smith.  The bigger the batch, the better. There
     are never leftovers.

INGREDIENTS (makes 35-40)

          DUMPLINGS
     1 kg      ground turkey
     25 ml     corn starch (cornflour)
     25 ml     dry sherry
     50 ml     light soy sauce
     10 g      ginger, grated or finely chopped
     6         cloves garlic, crushed, minced or pressed
     6         green onions, chopped
     15 ml     brown sugar
     15 ml     sesame oil
     1 pkg     wonton wrappers
               peanut oil
          DIPPING SAUCE
     4 dl      fish sauce (You  may  want  to  dilute  this  with
               water, depending on its strength)
     25 cl     vinegar
     200 g     sugar
     6         cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
     10 g      ginger, finely minced or grated
     15 ml     red pepper, crushed

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Make the dipping sauce by mixing together  all  of
               its  ingredients.  Store in the refrigerator until
               you are ready to use it.
          (2)  Stir together everything but the wrappers and  the
               peanut  oil.   Mix  vigorously  by  hand  until it
               begins to bind together.  (About 1 minute or so.)
          (3)  Place 25-30 ml of filling in the middle of a  won-
               ton wrapper.  Fold the sides up around the meat so
               that you have a little bag or cup. Press the  bot-
               tom flat so that the bag doesn't fall over.
          (4)  Oil racks of the steamer with  peanut  oil.  Place
               dumplings in racks.
          (5)  Steam for 15 to 20 minutes in  covered  rack  over
               boiling water.
          (6)  Serve hot with dipping sauce.

NOTES

     These little gems would probably go just fine with a  favor-
     ite hoisin or chili dipping sauce.
     The steamer racks I recommend are the Chinese  bamboo  ones.
     You  can  stack  them  quite nicely (I find that three racks
     work well) and they sit at just the right height  above  the
     boiling  water  in  a wok.  The real advantage is that water
     will not condense on your food if you use a bamboo steamer.
     The dipping sauce is  an  adaption  of  one  served  at  the
     Phoenix  Vietnamese  restaurant  in Saint Paul Minnesota; it
     was originally served with eggrolls,  but  works  splendidly
     with these dumplings.
     The original recipe calls for ground pork, but I find ground
     turkey  preferable.   The flavor is lighter and the calories
     far fewer.  Pork is fine, though, and even  hamburger  could
     be used in a pinch.

RATING

     Difficulty: easy, but tedious.  Time:  45  minutes  prepara-
     tion,  15 -20 minutes cooking.  Precision: approximate meas-
     urement OK.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Kathy Marschall
     Submitted for her by David Messer.
     Lynx Data Systems, St. Paul, Minnesota USA
     dave@viper.UUCP    {amdahl,ihnp4,rutgers}!{dayton,meccts}!viper!dave