Har gow

Method

1. 1 Pour boiling water (100 degrees Celsius) into the mixture of wheat flour and tapioca starch, then stir immediately with chopsticks — the water must be boiling to cook the flour into a translucent mass.
2. 2 Knead the hot dough with lard for 5 minutes, then wrap it tightly. The dough loses its elasticity when it cools, so it must be shaped while still warm.
3. 3 Chop two-thirds of the shrimp and leave one-third whole. Mix with chopped bamboo shoots, cornstarch, sesame oil, and pepper, then mix and knead for 3 minutes.
4. 4 Roll out the pastry shell to a thickness of 1 mm using a flat knife, then fold the edges into exactly thirteen creases — the number of creases is the standard for Cantonese dim sum chefs.
5. 5 Steam over high heat for exactly 6 minutes; the shrimp are cooked when the shells become translucent and the pink color of the shrimp inside is visible.

With an appliance

• Pressure cooker 1 hr 10 min

  Replace step 5: steam the dumplings at low pressure for 4 minutes, then quickly release the pressure to make the wrapper translucent without becoming soggy; steps 1–4 remain the same.