Sanhe Rice Dumplings

Ingredients

• 300 g rice flour
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 400 ml boiling water
• 200 g minced pork belly
• 150 g firm tofu
• 25 g dried shrimp
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 3 spring onions
• 20 g fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 2 tbsp groundnut oil, for the filling
• 1 litre groundnut oil, for frying
• 1 tbsp cornflour

Before you cook

• Soak the dried shrimp in warm water for fifteen minutes, then drain and chop them.
• Soak the shiitake in warm water for thirty minutes, squeeze them out, and dice them small.
• Crumble the tofu into small pieces and press out the excess water in a clean cloth.
• Finely chop the spring onions and mince the ginger.
• Mix the cornflour with two tablespoons of cold water.

Steps

1. Heat the two tablespoons of oil in a wok over a medium flame.
2. Add the minced pork and fry for four minutes, breaking it up, until it is browned and the fat has run.
3. Stir in the ginger, dried shrimp and shiitake and cook for one minute.
4. Add the crumbled tofu and fry for three minutes so it dries out and takes on colour.
5. Season with both soy sauces, the Shaoxing wine, sugar and white pepper.
6. Stir the cornflour slurry and pour it in, cooking until the filling holds together in a mass rather than running.
7. Fold through the spring onions, spread the filling on a tray, and chill it until completely cold.
8. Mix the rice flour with the salt in a heatproof bowl.
9. Pour in the boiling water in a steady stream, stirring hard with a wooden spoon until no dry flour remains.
10. Cover the bowl and leave the dough for five minutes to hydrate fully.
11. Knead the warm dough for four minutes until it is smooth, soft and no longer sticky.
12. Divide the dough into sixteen pieces and keep them covered with a damp cloth.
13. Flatten one piece between your palms into a disc about ten centimetres across, keeping the edges thinner than the centre.
14. Spoon a heaped tablespoon of filling onto one half, fold the dough over into a half-moon, and press the edge firmly to seal.
15. Crimp the sealed edge with your fingertips and set the dumpling on a lined tray.
16. Shape the remaining dumplings the same way.
17. Heat the litre of oil in a deep pan to one hundred and sixty degrees Celsius.
18. Lower in four dumplings at a time and fry for five minutes, turning once, until they are deep gold and the shell has blistered.
19. Drain the dumplings on a rack and fry the remaining batches.
20. Eat them hot, with black vinegar for dipping.