These dumplings have been enjoyed by the Chinese for more than 500 years and originated from the capital city of the Northern Song Dynasty, BianLiang (汴梁). This place, known for its wonderful cuisine, is now named kaifeng (开封市).
Better known as Kuo Tie (锅贴) to Singaporeans, this street food started off as ShuiJianBao (水煎包). The latter is the original name and used normally in Northern China, while the former was an alternate name used in Hebei (河北) and Shandong (山东) areas.
I recall seeing these dumplings appearing in our hawker centers in the 1980s. I tried making them from young, always buying the dumpling skins from the supermarkets. Unfortunately, they were never good enough.
Today, I’ve got a whole bunch of chives in the refrigerator that I really do not want to keep for another day. So, I decided to dump them into these -lings. They taste wonderful!
Whether it is Guo Tie or ShuJianBao, they are really the same thing. Just a different way to pleat the dumplings, that is all. I made it like shuijianbao today. The next time, I shall shape them into the style Singaporeans are more familiar with.
shuijianbao mom
My mom has dementia. She loves these baos. In this photo, she was telling us how caucasians sound funny when they speak English. She was immitating an English person speaking English.
😂
It was really hilarious.
Guo Tie or ShuiJianBao (or Pan-fried Dumplings)
Ingredients
Dumpling Skin
- 300 g Medium Gluten Flour or plain flour
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 5 g Yeast leave out if making guo tie
- 170 g Water at 70°C
Filing
- 150 g Minced port at 30% fat
- 50 g Ice Water
- 20 g Dried Prawn Skin
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 Tbsp Soya Sauce
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tsp White Pepper powder
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
Veggies
- 200 g Chives minced
- 1/2 Big Onion minced
- 1 Tbsp Soya Sauce
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
Instructions
Dumpling Skin
- Put all dry ingredients into a blender and blitz two times.
- Add the hot water and blend until dough forms.
Filings
- Mince the meat and then add the ice water and blend until incorporated.
- Add the seasonings and prawn skin and stir through
- Set aside for at least 20 minutes.
Veggie filings
- Combine all the ingredients of the veggies and set aside.
Making the dumplings
- Divide the dough, veggies and meat filing into 25 equal portions.
- Roll out the dough with the edges thinner than the center.
- Place a portion of meat filing on the dough, and top the meat filing with the veggie filing.
- Seal the dumpling and set aside.
Cooking the dumplings
- Heat 1/2 cup of cooking oil when the pan is hot. Pour hot oil out and set aside to be used later.
- Place the dumplings into the pan, as close together as possible.
- Pour water into the pan and stop when it is 1/3 to 1/2 full with water.
- Bring to a boil.
- Cover the pan and wait till the water has evaporated. Do not be tempted to open. You can hear it has no more water.
- Open the lid and pour the reserved 1/2 cup of oil onto the pan to brown the bottom.
- Once lightly browned, remove from the pan, and sprinkle sesame seeds, chopped spring onions, chives or cracked black pepper.
- Serve immediately.
Enjoy them! Guarantee better than those you can get at hawker centers, and really easy to make as well!
So here’s how it is done in a 2-minute-video.
This video show us how to shape baos or dumplings.
