Xiao Long Bao Soup Dumplings

(Xiao Long Bao)

MAKES 16

There's an art to eating these dumplings. Resist the temptation to pop one whole into your mouth; you'll almost certainly burn your lip. Instead, set a dumpling on a deep-bowled soup spoon, nibble a small hole near the top of the wrapper, and carefully slurp out the hot soup. Then finish off the dumpling, dunking it into the dipping sauce, if you like. Look for pork skin at Asian meat markets or at butcher counters.

3" piece ginger, peeled
2 scallions, trimmed
4 oz. pork skin, rinsed and finely diced
8 large napa cabbage leaves, trimmed
4 tbsp. chinkiang (Chinese black vinegar)
5 oz. pork belly, cubed
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. fermented soybean paste
1 tsp. dark soy sauce
1 tsp. Asian sesame oil
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground white pepper
1/2 cup flour

1. Thinly slice one-third of the ginger crosswise and put into a small pot. Cut 1 of the scallions in half crosswise and add to pot. Add pork skin and 1 1/2 cups cold water. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and continue to simmer until most of the gelatin from the pork skin has leached out and broth has reduced to 1/2 cup, about 1 hour. Strain broth through a sieve into a shallow bowl, discarding solids, and refrigerate until firmly jelled, 1–1 1/2 hours.

2. Blanch cabbage leaves in a wide medium pot of boiling water over high heat until pliable, about 15 seconds, then dip leaves into a bowl of ice water to prevent them from cooking further. Drain leaves and pat dry with paper towels. Line bottoms of 2 medium (about 9" in diameter) bamboo steamer baskets with 3 of the cabbage leaves each and set aside.

3. Slice half of the remaining ginger lengthwise into very thin matchsticks and divide between 2 small dipping bowls. Add 2 tbsp. of the vinegar to each bowl and set sauce aside.

4. Chop the remaining scallion and put into a medium bowl. Thinly slice the remaining ginger crosswise and add to bowl with scallions. Add pork belly and mix well. Pass pork mixture through a meat grinder fitted with the fine-hole disk into a medium bowl. Add sugar, bean paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt and pepper and mix well. Finely dice pork jelly from step 1 and, using chopsticks or a fork, gently but thoroughly stir into ground pork mixture. Cover and set filling aside in the refrigerator to let rest.

5. Put flour into a medium bowl, add 5 tbsp. warm water (115°–120°), and stir with chopsticks or a fork until a dough begins to form. Press dough together into a rough ball, transfer to a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth, 8–10 minutes. Shape dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to let rest for 30 minutes. Roll dough into a 6"-long rope on a lightly floured surface with your hands, cut into 16 equal pieces, roll into balls, and cover with plastic wrap to keep from drying out.

6. To form the dumplings (See Photo Gallery for step-by-step guide to making dumplings), lightly dust 1 of the dough balls with flour, then flatten it with your fingertips into a disk. Set disk on a lightly floured surface. Roll out edge of disk closest to you (avoiding center 1" of disk) with a small dowel with one hand while holding opposite edge of disk with the other hand, rotating disk as you roll out edge, until disk is about 3" in diameter; the outer edge of dough will be thin all around, and the center portion will be slightly thicker. Put 1 tbsp. of the filling on the thick center of dough. Pleat dough at 1/4" intervals to encase filling. Hold dumpling in one hand, put tip of index finger of your other hand in center of pleated dough, then gently twist pleats shut, removing index finger as you twist, to completely encase filling. Repeat rolling, filling, pleating, and twisting with remaining dough to make 16 filled dumplings in all. Put 8 dumplings into each steamer basket, adding them as they are formed; cover dumplings with remaining cabbage leaves to keep them from drying out as you work.

7. Remove and discard cabbage leaves from tops of dumplings (not the leaves lining the baskets), stack baskets, and put lid on top basket. Steam dumplings over a wok of boiling water over high heat until pork is cooked through and jelly has melted into soup, 8–10 minutes.

8. Take steamer baskets to the table and serve dumplings immediately, with dipping sauce on the side.