Chiu Chow Fun Gor (Teochew Dumplings) 潮州粉果

These Chiu Chow-style steamed dumplings are very pupular at Chinese dim sum restaurants.  My grandma made the best Fun Gor, I regret I did not ask for her secret recipe when she was alive.  However, I was able to gather pieces from relatives, friends and online.  It was a fun process to experiment with ingredients until the recipe was just right.

Ingredients for Filling (餡材料):
40g  Lean pork (瘦豬肉)
4   Prawns (大蝦)
3   Dried radish (甜菜脯)
4   Jicama/water chestnut(沙葛 /馬蹄)
3   Dried Shiitake Mushrooms, soaked until soft (冬菇)
30 Dried shrimps (蝦米)
2   Slices carrots (紅蘿蔔)
1    Stalk celery (茜芹)
16  Roasted peanuts (炒熟花生)
16  Ground roasted peanuts (炒熟花生磨碎粉)
16  Cilantro (香芫荽葉)
little White pepper (少許白胡椒粉)
1/4 cup chicken broth

Marinade for pork (醃肉料):
1 Tbsp Soy sauce (生抽)
1  tsp Brown sugar (糖)
1  tsp Corn starch (粟粉)
1/4 tsp Oyster sauce

Seasoning (調味品):
1   tsp Oyster sauce (蠔油)
½  cup Chicken broth (雞湯)
¾  Corn starch (粟粉)

Ingredients for wrapper (16 pieces) (皮料: 16 個)
150 g  Wheat starch (澄麵粉)
50 g  Tapioca/potato starch (菱粉)
250 ml  Boiling water (滾水)
1/3 tsp  Salt (鹽)
2 tsp  Oil (油)

Directions:

1. Dice all ingredients, set aside.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a pan and fry the dried shrimps, set aside.
3. Boil some water and cook the prawns (about 2 mins), cut each prawn into 3-4 pieces, set aside.
4. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and heat the pan/wok with a glove of garlic, pan fry jicama, mushrooms, carrots and celery, set aside.
5. Marinade the meat and pan fry until it is cooked, add all ingredients listed in 4.  Add in ¼ cup of chicken broth and simmer for 3-5 mins with low fire.  Stir in the seasoning mixture to thicken the filling.  Set aside to cool down.  Stir in ground roasted peanuts and mix well.
6. Add a pinch of salt into wheat starch.  Boil 250ml of water and pour into the wheat starch, mix quickly.  Add Tapioca starch a little by little while kneading the dough.  Add a little oil and keep kneading.
7. Cut the dough into 16 pieces, cover with a cloth to keep warm while wrapping the dumplings.  Take out one piece of dough at a time, use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a flat circle, or you can use a plate to press it down to form a circle (a tortilla press would have been ideal for this).
8. Scope a spoon full of filling and add some roasted peanuts, prawn and cilantro into the wrapper.  Fold the wrapper in half and seal the edges.
9. Spray cooking oil on the steamer and steam dumplings for 7 minutes.  When cooked, the skin will turn transparent like crystal.

Note:  Tapioca starch gives it more elasticity.  If you want a chewer skin, you can change the recipe to have equal amount of wheat starch and tapioca starch.