Chinese Dumpling Soup (上湯水餃)

The dumplings in soup (上湯水餃) are really flavoursome as you'll have more ingredients and more texture in the fillings if you enjoy it in a traditional Hong Kong noodle restaurant.

Every time I went into a noodle shop in Hong Kong, I’d definitely order either wonton or dumpling noodle soup. Are there any big differences between these two noodle soups? The fillings of both are mainly pork mince and prawns. But for dumplings in soup (上湯水餃), there are some extras, wood ears, mushrooms and bamboo shoots. More ingredients mean more delicious.

Wood ear has a crisp texture. So you can imagine how balanced the texture of each dumpling you’d enjoy of every bite. When it comes to making your own dumplings in soup, you can skip anything except the wood ears. I just feel wood ear is the signature ingredient that makes these dumplings so special.

Wood ear is rich in protein and very nutritious, often used in Chinese cooking for its crisp texture and ability of taking up all the flavoursome seasonings. Often times, I just cook a few dumplings in soup with bok choy when I need a light meal.

Chinese Dumpling Soup Recipe

(Printable recipe) By Christine’s Recipes
Course: Snack, Dumplings
Cuisine: Chinese
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Yield: 40 pieces

Ingredients:

• 1 packet dumpling wrappers, for soup
• 1.5 liter chicken stock, homemade or store-bought
• 2 to 3 stalks baby bok choy
• spring onion, diced, for garnish
• sesame oil, to taste
• salt, for cleansing the prawn meat
• corn flour, for cleansing the prawn meat

Fillings:

• 250 gm pork mince
• 160 gm prawn meat
• 3 shiitake mushrooms, soaked and shredded
• 30 gm bamboo shoots, frozen or canned, blanched in hot water then shredded
• 20 gm wood ears, blanched in hot water then shredded

Marinade:

• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar
• ½ tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp cornflour / corn starch
• ½ tsp chicken powder / chicken bouillon
• 1 egg white
• white pepper, to taste
• sesame oil, to taste

Method:

1. Mix the prawn meat with a little of salt and corn flour. Leave them for about 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse and pat dry with kitchen papers. Cut each into 3 to 4 pieces.
2. Mix pork mince with marinade. Stir in the prawn, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, wood ears. Cover and chill in fridge for about 20 minutes, or until you’re ready to wrap dumplings.
3. Put a heaped spoon of fillings in the middle of a wrapper. Damp the wrapper around the fillings and seal the filling tightly, leaving the wrapper edges loosely. No need to make it perfect. Just make sure the fillings won’t leak out while boiling. Repeat this step to finish wrapping with the remaining fillings.
4. Bring the chicken stock to a boil over high heat in a pot.
5. In the meantime, carefully put dumplings into another large pot of boiling water over high heat. Stir the water with chopsticks in order to avoid the dumplings stick to the bottom. When the dumplings float to the water surface. Immediately transfer them into the chicken stock. Add bok choy and cook for a while. Season with salt. Sprinkle spring onion and sesame oil. Serve immediately.

Notes：

• Dumpling wrappers are available at Asian stores. Make sure to get the dumpling wrappers for making soup, not that one for pan-frying. The texture is quite different. If you can't find any, you can replace with wonton wrappers. This time I used the ones for making Shanghai wontons, really silk soft.
• To prevent wrappers from air-drying while wrapping, cover the unused ones with a damped cloth.
• Using another pot of boiling water to cook dumplings will help to keep your stock clear.
• The uncooked dumplings can be stored in freezer up to 3 weeks or so. Whenever you’re craving dumplings, just cook the frozen dumplings in boiling water for a bit longer, until they float to the surface.
• To freeze the uncooked dumplings: Place the wrapped dumplings on a plastic film in one single layer, without touching one another, in freezer for about 20 minutes or so. When they turn harder, you can transfer them in a plastic bag. They won't stick together when frozen.