Page 138 - COMING UNSTUCK by Sara tuck
P. 138
aromatic braised I played with this recipe
for ages to get it just right.
beef & chilli The beef in the dumplings
is meltingly tender and
beautifully flavoured –
dumplings a drinks party hit.
Makes 50-55 Choose a roasting dish that the beef will fit into snugly – you
want the liquid to cover it while cooking. Preheat the oven to
¼ cup light soy sauce 160˚C (325˚F). Put the soy sauces, wine, zest, juice, ⅓ cup water,
¼ cup dark soy sauce sugar and five-spice powder in the roasting dish and whisk to
⅓ cup Chinese rice wine combine. Add the star anise, chilli, ginger and garlic and stir to
finely grated zest and juice combine. Add the brisket – it should be just submerged in the
of 1 spray-free orange liquid. Cover with a double layer of tinfoil and cook for 5 hours,
¼ cup sugar turning beef twice during cooking. Remove from the oven,
2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder allowing the beef to cool in the braising liquid. Refrigerate,
3 star anise covered, overnight. Drain and shred the meat, reserving the
1 large red chilli, roughly sliced cooking liquid. Strain the braising liquid and mix ⅓ cup with
50g (2 oz) fresh ginger, the cornflour then add this to the beef and stir so that the beef
peeled, sliced is coated and moist. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1kg (2 lb) beef brisket Keep your wrappers covered unless using them to stop them
1 tbsp cornflour (corn starch) from drying out, and have a small bowl of cold water ready.
50-55 x 9cm (3½ in) dumpling Place a wrapper in the palm of one hand, dip a finger in the
wrappers water and run it around the edge of the wrapper. Place a heaped
spray cooking oil teaspoonful of filling in the centre of the wrapper then fold it
gently as you would a taco, into a half moon shape. Starting at
Dipping sauce: the centre pinch the top together. You can simply squeeze the
⅓ cup black Chinese vinegar edges together to seal them in a simple half moon and that will
½ cup soy sauce work just fine, or if you are up for a challenge, draw the tapered
1-2 tsp chilli oil (to taste edges of the half moon together and squeeze to seal.
– be warned chilli oil is hot!)
1 clove garlic, crushed To cook, line the bases of a multi-level steamer with baking
1 tsp caster sugar paper. Spray the baking paper very lightly with a little
cooking spray and brush it over the paper to coat sparingly.
Garnishes: Use a small sharp knife to poke little holes in the paper,
1 red chilli, finely chopped between the bamboo base slits. Heat a large, deep, wide frying
¼ cup finely chopped chives pan of water until boiling then place the steamer on top. Cook
1 tbsp black sesame seeds the dumplings in batches for 8-10 minutes until the wrappers
½ cup finely chopped roasted are soft and the filling is well heated. While dumplings are
peanuts cooking, whisk dipping sauce ingredients together. Serve the
extra chilli oil to taste dumplings immediately with dipping sauce and garnishes.
These freeze really well (so you don’t need to serve them all on
one night) just defrost on a baking paper-lined tray in the fridge
before cooking as described above.
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