Soon kueh is one of the Teochew delicacies that I wanted to master. I love the chewy skin and the complex texture of the savory filling. Top it with sweet soy sauce and fried shallots, Yum! I spent 5 hours in the kitchen, painstakingly wrapping, pinching and pleating the edges of each dumpling. Well worth the effort.

The filling in this recipe is awesome, but the skin still needs improvements. I suspect that the hot water I added to the flour mixture wasn’t hot enough. It was really difficult to knead the dough with bare hands while it is burning hot. It helps if you put on a pair of food prep gloves over another pair of cut-resistant gloves. Double protection definitely makes kneading the hot dough much, much easier.

Ingredients

Filling

• 2 medium jicama ~ 1.2kg, peeled and shredded
• 60g dried shrimp
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and shredded
• 6 large dried mushrooms, rehydrate and sliced thinly
• 20g dried fungus, rehydreated and sliced thinly
• 6 Tbsp canola oil
• 4 Tbsp minced garlic
• 4 Tbsp shaoxing wine
• 4 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp ground white pepper

Dough

• 275g rice flour
• 125g tapioca starch plus more for kneading and dusting
• 600ml boiling water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp oil

Directions

Filling

1. Heat 3 Tbsp oil in a large wok over medium high heat.
2. Stir fry minced dried shrimp until fragrant. Transfer to bowl and set aside.
3. Heat remaining 3 Tbsp oil and stir fry minced garlic until fragrant.
4. Add sliced mushroom and black fungus and continue to fry until mushrooms starts to brown.
5. Add shredded jicama and carrots.
6. Stir until mixed well.
7. Add fried dried shrimps, wine, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, and pepper. Stir until seasoning is evenly distributed.
8. Continue to stir fry until jicama and carrots are softened. Filling should be dry and not wet.
9. Transfer to bowl and set aside to cool while you prepare the dough. Filling should be completely cooled before wrapping. I like to prepare them the day before and keep in the refrigerator overnight.

Dough

1. Mix rice flour, tapioca flour, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2. Bring the water to a boil and pour over the flour mixture.
3. Stir with a rubber spatula until a rough dough forms.
4. Add the oil and knead while the dough is hot until a smooth dough forms. Tip: Wear cut-resistant glove and a nitrile glove over it so that you can handle the scalding-hot dough.
5. Cover with a wet towel and let dough rest for at least an hour.
6. Divide dough into 4 equal parts and roll each part into a log. Divide into 30g pieces and roll each piece into a dough ball. Cover the dough balls with the wet towel while you wrap the Soon Kueh.

Wrapping

1. Work on top of a piece of parchment paper. Trust me, the parchment paper is a lifesaver when rolling out the dough balls.
2. Flatten a dough ball with the heel of your palm on the parchment paper.
3. Dust the flattened dough and rolling pin with the tapioca flour. Roll each piece out into a 4-inch disc.
4. Fill each disc with 2 Tbsp of the filling.
5. Pinch the edges together, and if you desire, pleat or pinch the edges as needed.

Steaming

1. Line steamer with parchment paper.
2. Arrange the wrapped soon kueh in the steamer without touching each other.
3. Steam on high heat for 10 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and brush lightly with cooking oil.

Serving

1. Serve with drizzle of sweet soy sauce and fried shallots.
2. If you refrigerate the leftover (tough to have leftover), another way we like to serve the soon kueh is to pan fry till the skin is crusty and golden brown. Delicious!