Crab "soup Dumplings" (dim Sum)

Total Time: 55 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried agar-agar, loosely packed
• 2 cups chicken broth, clear
• 1 cup crabmeat, fresh or frozen. drained on paper towels
• 4 ounces shrimp, shelled, deveined, cut into pea-sized pieces
• 4 ounces lean lamb, cut into pea-sized pieces
• 5 dried chinese mushrooms, soaked in hot water until spongy, stems discarded, caps cut into small squares
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose white flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• cold water
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger, finely shredded
• 1/4 cup chinese red vinegar
• 2 tablespoons black soy sauce

Recipe

• 1 hours or a day before making the dumplings, cook the agar-agar in the chicken broth until completely dissolved. pour into a shallow dish. cover and refrigerate for a few hours until it gels.
• 2 mix all the filling ingredients.
• 3 dice the gelled agar-agar/broth into small pieces and mix with the filling ingredients.
• 4 refrigerate this mixture.
• 5 to make the wrappers:.
• 6 mix flour and egg.
• 7 add water a little at a time until a soft but not sticky dough is formed.
• 8 knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
• 9 roll the dough into a long sausage, 1 inch in diameter.
• 10 cut the dough into walnut-sized pices, then roll them into round balls; cover the balls with a damp towel.
• 11 you are now going to make crescent-shaped dumplings.
• 12 dust your work surface with a little flour.
• 13 roll a piece of dough into a paper-thin circle.
• 14 put about a tablespoon of filling (now including the gelled broth) in the center of the circle.
• 15 fold the circle in half to look like a half-moon.
• 16 pleat the top curved edge.
• 17 pinch the pleated edge and the unpleated edge together to seal.
• 18 gently tap the crescent's round bottom so that it can stand up.
• 19 place the crescent-shaped dumpling between towels.
• 20 make the remaining crescents in the same way.
• 21 place a layer of cheesecloth in the bottom of a steamer.
• 22 arrange the crescent dumplings on the cloth.
• 23 cover and steam over high heat for 10 minutes.
• 24 serve hot with ginger-vinegar-soy dip.
• 25 to make the dip:.
• 26 mix all dip ingredients in a serving bowl, cover, and allow to stand at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before serving; it should keep for hours at room temperature.