This is a very famous dumpling soup in Chengdu, meat dumplings in aspicy sauce served topped with red hot chili pepper oil.
Ingredients
The cold water dumpling dough
2 cups high gluten flour
1 cup plain flour
salt
1 cup cold water
1/3 cup flour for dusting
The fillng
450 g gound pork
1 tbsp sichuanese peppercorn
1 cup water
1/2 cup chicken broth
The red hot chillie pepper oil
1/2 cup peanut oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp red hot chilie powder
2 tbsp seasme oil
The spicy sauce
1 star anaise
1 caoguo*
1 sprig cinamon bark (3 cm)
2 cups water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup light soy sauce
Seasoning for the filling
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp seasme oil
2 tsp juice from ginger root
1 egg
2/3 cup sichuan peppercorn soup
1/4 tsp sichuan peppercorn powder
Preparation
In a saucepan toast sichuan peppercorn in saucepan to release the aroma
Reserve 1 tsp of the peppercorn
Add 1 cup water to the toasted peppercorn
Boil in medium heat till 1/2 cup liquid is left
Strain the peppercornsoup with a fine sive to a bowl
Clean the saucepan
Add the chicken broth and the peppercorn soup
Boil to evaporate till 2/3 cups liquid is left in the saucepan
Grind the sichuan peppercorn left in the sive
Discard the husks but keep the powder
In a saucepan heat the peanut oil
Saute the gralic quickly in the oil
Remove from heat
Stir in the red hot chillie powder after 30 seconds
Add the sesame oil
The hot spicy sauce
In a saucepan a the star anaise, caoguo, cinamon stick and 2 cups of water
Over medium low heat, slowly evaporate till 2/3 cups of liquid is left in the saucepan
Strain and reserve the liquid in a bowl
In another saucepan add the dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, brown sugar and spicy water
Simmer over low heat for one hour till thick
The dumpling filling
Place the ground pork In a large bowl
Add light soy sauce and salt
Blend in one direction with a wooden spatula till tacky
Add the white pepper powder, rice wine, ginger juice, sichuan peppercorn powder and egg
Add the sichuan peppercorn soup a tablespoonful at a time till the liquid is absorbed, then add the next spoonful till all the soup is added
Blend in the sesame oil
Refrigerate for at least 6 hours
The dumpling dough
Blend the high gluten flour and plain flour in a large mixng bowl with some salt
Make a crater in the middle of the flour
Slowly add the cold water, stirring with a pair of chopsticks till a rough dough is formed
Cover dough with a piece of clean damp cloth and let rest for 20 minutes
Pour the dough onto the table top sprinkled with some dry flour and knead until smooth and not sticky
The dough is ready for use
Making the dumplings
Divide the dough into 4 portions
Roll each portion into a cylinder about 2 cm in diameter
Divide each cylinder into 20 pieces
Flatten each piece with the palm of your hand to form a disk of about 7 cm diameter thinner round the edge
Altogether make 80 pieces
Wrap 2 tsp of the filling for each dumpling
Boiling the dumplings
Bring4 to 5 litres of water to a rolling boil In a large pan.
Put all the dumplings into the boiling water
Cover and bring to a boil again
Add 1 cup cold water
Bring to a boil again until all the dumplings are afloat
Remove the dumplings with a strainer
Serving
Place a serving of dumpling in a serving bowl
Ladel in the spicy sauce and some red hot chillie oil
Serve with garlic paste
The garlic paste
Peel and mash 5 to 6 cloves of garlic into a pulp
Gradually add in a little water and blend to a thin paste