Ingredients

For the har gao prawn:
250g peeled raw prawns
20g white vegetable fat
15g sugar
5g potato starch
1 tsp sesame oil
5g salt
Pinch of white pepper to taste
75ml ginger and spring onion water made from the trimmings of fresh root ginger and spring onion crushed with the side of a large knife and mixed with water.
For the har gao pastry:
110g wheat starch
110g tapioca flour
70g potato starch
About 200ml boiling water
50ml vegetable oil
For the rice vinegar foam:
200ml rice vinegar
100ml water
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp soya lecithin
Sweet chilli sauce to serve (one of the really brightly coloured varieties as a mark of respect to the neon takeaway versions)

Method

For the har gao prawn:
Place all ingredients into an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and knead for 10 minutes (the dough hook binds the ingredients together without turning the mixture into a puree, which a blender would do). Remove from mixer and refrigerate until ready to use, clean mixer.
For the har gao pastry:
Follow the instructions on page 27 of Andrew's book, A. Wong ‑ The Cookbook, to form the pastry skins and wrap the filling. Steam the dumplings over a high heat for 5 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 60°c.
For the rice vinegar foam:
Warm all of the ingredients in a pan and then blend with a stick blender until a foam forms.
To serve, brush the dumplings lightly with sweet chilli sauce and cover each with a tablespoon of foam before serving.
Chef’s tip:
One thing that I have learned over the years making this pastry is that if you undercook the dough when adding the boiling water and it doesn’t have any elasticity, you can wrap it up in cling film and steam it for a minute before attempting to knead it again. But if you have overcooked the dough, save yourself the aggravation of trying to force dumpling skins out of it; throw the batch away and start again adding the water a little slower this time.

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