Hellen Youn - The Dumpling Galaxy Cookbook

Acknowledgments

Books are, by their nature, a team effort, and I cant express my thanks enough to the team that made this project possible. Without my editor, Angelin Borsics, this book would never have been written; she was the one who convinced me, after visiting Dumpling Galaxy, to share these recipes with the world. She has been a constant source of inspiration over the past year and a half. Im also so grateful to my coauthor, Max Falkowitz, for organizing my thoughts with such wisdom, dedication, and clarity, and for how he pushed me, always gently, in the right direction during tough deadlines. Amy Tischler, my tireless recipe tester, worked countless hours and late nights to help translate my recipes for the home kitchen. Ed Anderson, whose stunning photographs youve seen throughout this book, brought all my favorite dishes to life in such a beautiful way.

A big thanks to the Potter team for all of their hard work, especially Danielle Deschenes for bringing such vision to my books design; Kim Tyner for ensuring every photograph printed beautifully; and Ada Yonenaka for crossing all my ts and dotting all my is.

I dedicate this book to my incredible family: To my husband, Joel, and our dear children, Harry, Jasmine, and Solomon, for their support, love, and patience when work kept me away from them. To my mother, for inspiring me from the very beginning and for sharing all of her wisdom in and out of the kitchen. To my father, for always being someone to look up to, even from afar.

And to my mother-in-law, Jeannette. I only knew her for the last six years of her life, but she was an important role model for me, and I will forever love and admire her as a strong, independent woman.

And, of course, I am grateful to all my customers at Dumpling Galaxy, whose ideas and special requests challenged me to create more original recipes.

Classic Dumplings

PORK SOUP DUMPLINGS

SHANGHAI-STYLE SOUP DUMPLINGS xiao long bao(pronounced shao long bow)are different from the other dumplings youll find in this book. Traditionally, you mix ground pork with a thick pork aspic (made by boiling pork skin, fat, and feet for hours) and wrap it in a thin purse of dough. As the dumplings steam, that aspic melts into a lip-smacking soup that drives dumpling addicts wild.

This approach can make a delicious dumpling, but if youre not careful, it can also turn out heavy and greasy. Thats why I prefer to make my aspic with powdered gelatin, which, after an overnight rest in the refrigerator, will set into a perfect gel without the hours of boiling and straining of the traditional method andwith far less fat. If youve had only ultra-fatty soup dumplings before, you may be shocked at how light and clean these are, while still packed with flavor. And yes, thats the correct amount of ginger: you want it to shout its way out of the dumpling.

MAKES 24 DUMPLINGS

DUMPLING FILLING

5 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoons kosher salt

2 cups unflavored powdered gelatin,about 32 -ounce envelopes

5 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped (about 1 cup)

4 scallions, cut into -inch pieces, white and green parts

1 pound ground pork

2 tablespoons sherry cooking wine

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

teaspoon toasted sesame oil

8 large cabbage leaves, or perforated sheets of parchment paper, for lining the steamers

24

DIPPING SAUCE

2 tablespoons Chinkiang black vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 4-inch piece of