Chive and Prawn Dumpling

Here is another delicious mainstay of the tea ritual known as dim sum, and belongs to the class of dumplings enfolded with a wheat starch wrapper.  The name in Cantonese is Gao Choi Ha Gao 韭菜虾饺, or simply Gao Choi Gau (In Mandarin, Jiu Cai xia Bao).  You will find this steamed dumpling in almost every dim sum restaurant, although it will sometimes be formed into hockey-puck sized packets, and fried.  In either case you'll know it by the intensely green vegetable showing through the translucent wrapper.  

Like cilantro,  Chinese garlic chives,  jiu cai might strike some as an acquired taste.  Once accustomed to its sharp and fragrant flavor, however, it becomes an essential sensation for lovers of dim sum.

Filling: 

12 oz prawn, peeled and  deveined

12 oz garlic chives  

1 egg white

2 med clove garlic, minced 

1/4 rounded tsp white pepper

2 rounded tsp cornstarch

1 Tablespoon plus 1 tsp Shao Xing wine

1 tsp sesame oil

1 rounded tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Wrapper:

1       Cup      wheat starch

1/2    Cup      tapioca Starch

1       Tab       Peanut oil

1/4    tsp         salt

1       Cup       boiling water

Dice half the prawns fine (appx 1/8"), and the other half large (appx 1/2") and set aside in a mixing bowl.  Garlic chives are sold in bundles at Chinese groceries, and known by the names  jiu cai  (Mandarin),  and gao choi (Cantonese); cut off 1 or 2 inches of the thickest (root) end, then chop into 1/2" sections.  On med heat, Stir fry in a wok or sauté pan until wilted, about a minute.  Allow to cool before adding to the prawns.

After adding the cooled chives to prawn,  combine the remaining filling ingredients and mix very thoroughly with a rubber spatula.  Refrigerate.

Sift the starches and salt into a mixing bowl; form a well in the powders, then add the oil.  Pour the boiling water, measured with a pre-heated measuring cup, into the well and stir quickly but carefully with a rubber spatula.  Scrape the sides as you mix, to incorporate all the ingredients.  Form a ball of dough.  As soon as you can handle the dough, knead it vigorously for a full 3 minutes, occasionally compressing the ball forcefully as you knead.  (Wheat starch dough is firm to the gentle touch, but extremely malleable).  This enthusiastic kneading is to insure that the starches and water and oil are smoothly and completely incorporated.  Divide the dough into 3 pieces and let it rest in a plastic bag for 10 minutes or so.  All the foregoing steps can be done ahead of time.

When ready to make dumplings, prepare your steamer with a parchment paper liner for the steamer tray—punch or cut 1/4” holes randomly in the paper to allow steam to pass through.  Alternatively, liberally oil the steamer tray or use vegetable leaf to ensure the wheat starch wrapper does not stick after steaming.  Allow the steamer water to boil, with the basket separate, ready to load dumplings.

Compress each ball of starch into a smooth, round shape and then roll on a flat surface to make a 1” dia.   Rope.  Put two ropes back in the plastic bag and cut the remaining into 1” segments.  To make the skins: working on a high density polyethylene cutting board, place a piece of 4” square piece of parchment paper over the segment and flatten it one at a time with rolling pin, Chinese cleaver, or tortilla press (works great), making sure the skin is a uniform thickness of between 1/16” and 1/8".  This disk will be slightly irregular in shape; you can proceed with making the dumplings and trim the excess with scissors if necessary, or cut the skin now to appx. 3-3/4"diam. (Traditionally, Gao Choi Gau is much larger than Ha Gau, which uses a circle 3-1/4" or less--) Use a cookie cutter, empty tin can or similar round object .  You can make the skins all at once, if they are kept covered with plastic or damp cloth at room temperature.  

The procedure for stuffing the dumplings can be the same as for pot stickers, but note that wheat starch dough is very delicate, and care must be taken not to puncture or tear the skins while filling.  (Dim Sum chefs occasionally vary the pleat design of dumplings, and you may want to experiment with your own method).

Place the dumplings in the lined steamer tray, but do not allow them to touch each other.  Put over the steamer, and cook for 6 to 7 minutes.  Serve in the steamer or place on a serving dish when cool enough to handle.  An accompanying dipping sauce is a nice touch, as is tea.

Siu Maaih Pork and Shrimp Dim Sum dumpling

Siu Maaih Pork and shrimp dumpling

There is no item that so epitomizes dim sum as this little morsel.  It will be served in every dim sum restaurant, no matter how humble the offerings.  Its name, Siu Maaih, which literally translated from Cantonese means "cook sell," might describe its humble beginnings as a street snack to go with tea, and therefore may have been dim sum's first dumpling.  Luckily for those of us who are willing to slave away in the kitchen making traditional Chinese delicacies, this one is relatively easy to produce.  One can make their own skins for siu maai, if one wants to destroy one's kitchen over the course of a very long day, but few cooks try it; the thin, factory made wrapper, available in every Chinese store, is inexpensive and foolproof.

2 small to medium shitake dried mushrooms

11 oz pork (picnic country rib boneless), minced (previously ground pork is acceptable)

6 oz shrimp, after shelling and deveining; 1/3 of this pureed or pounded, 2/3 should be chopped.

1 sm green onion, minced

1 Tab soy

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

dash white pepper

3 tablespoons water

1 pkg  "thin shao mai" wrapper (i.e., Seattle's Rose brand)

Reconstitute the dried mushroom by submerging in very hot water for 1 hour.  Press out water, cut out stems, mince and set aside.

Prepare all other ingredients and combine, including the minced mushroom.  Mix vigorously in one direction for 3 or 4 minutes to make a uniform, cohered filling. 

With wrapper on flat of your left palm, wet edge of skin.  Using a small spatula or wide knife, slather approx. 2 Tab filling on wrapper.  Begin to close the palm, wrinkling the edges of the wrapper.  Close gently, gathering the edges together for pleating.  Pinch the wide pleats to make them more uniform.  Pressing in a bit more filling flattens the pleats and firms up the dumpling.  Applying some pressure to the bottom flattens the Siu Maaih and rounds the top.  Add a garnish of green onion, carrot slivers or 3 peas and they are ready to steam.

The dumplings can be frozen; I suggest you freeze them, separated, on a parchment lined tray before putting in a freezer bag to prevent sticking.

Steam 7 minutes if dumplings are fresh, 12 minutes if frozen.

makes approx. 24 dumplings

Xia Ren Chao Mian (Shrimp Fried Noodles)

Xia Ren Chao Mian (Shrimp Fried Noodles)

Anyone traveling to China, and Asia in general, will notice that noodles are everywhere, at all hours, in every variety.  It is an understatement to call it a staple--it is more like a way of life, especially among the working classes. Nevertheless, perhaps no Chinese dish has suffered more in its passage from the mainland to the West than chao mian (Chow mein).  In China, particularly the north, chao mian is a mainstay dish akin to fried rice (chao fan) in its simplicity and adaptation to the ingredients on hand; with this freedom in mind, one would have thought “Chow Mein,” as it is seen in Chinese-American restaurants, would bear at least a passing resemblance to those versions on the mainland.  In a very few cases, this is true, but most Americans have experienced “Chow Mein” as a sodden, glutinous mass of starchy sauce, overcooked bean sprouts and any number of ingredients standing in for fresh noodles.  In parts of the Eastern and Southern United States,  chao mian will be served without any noodles whatsoever!  In these places, one must order “Lo Mein” to receive noodles.

Chinese chao mian may differ widely from household to household, restaurant to restaurant, and north to south.  If there is a tradition to chao mian, it may be limited to the following: fresh wheat noodles or egg noodles, fried, with some vegetables and flavoring ingredients; its sauce will serve to season the dish, subservient to the noodles, not to overwhelm or bind it together.   With this in mind, one has a great deal of leeway; almost any kind of meat or vegetable can be used, as well as the type of noodle and technique for its frying.  In Southern China and elsewhere, it is more customary to see a thin egg noodle, fried crisp on one or more sides, (Cantonese: Leung Mein Wong) with the meat, vegetables and sauce applied to the top after it’s plated.  In other parts of China, the noodles are fried in the wok along with the other ingredients, and may or may not be crisped, but only heated through and saturated with flavor.  It should also be noticed that while countless traditional recipes exist with the above characteristics, the term chao may not appear in the name, in recipes or menus, though it certainly falls within the category of fried noodles.

One can—and has—written books on the subject of Chinese noodles. [See Florence Lin's Complete Book of Chinese Noodles, Dumplings and Breads.] Making noodles at home, however, is an activity reserved for die-hard food enthusiasts, ones that don't mind the near destruction of their kitchens.  No matter how much care is taken, flour inevitably winds up on the floor, ceiling, clothing, hair and walls.  In China, cooks seem to know better: folks rarely make their own fresh noodles, they are cheap and available on nearly every block.  Here, the faint of heart can buy fresh wheat noodles at any Asian grocery. The version below is based on chao mian I’ve enjoyed in several Sichuan street restaurants.  Keep in mind, you may want to vary the meat, or omit it for a vegetarian version; chilies, dried mushroom, red or green peppers, doufu, can all be utilized if desired, without changing the essential tradition of Chao mian.  It is recommended however, that the garlic, ginger, yellow onion and sprouts be retained, since their flavor and texture is a key to the character of this dish.

Homemade Fresh Noodles

• 3-1/2 cups flour (approx.)
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp oil

The amount of flour used in this recipe will depend on the type of flour, its age, and humidity.  Adjust as necessary.  Combine the flour, water, salt and oil and knead until the dough roughly coheres in a ball.  The dough should be dry and somewhat stiff.  Begin running the dough through the machine on the largest setting, folding it each time, until it is smooth and begins to feel slightly sticky.  Dust the dough repeatedly with flour as you do this, until it will not absorb any more.  The idea is to make a very strong dough with a high proportion of flour to water.  Wrap and allow the dough to rest for several hours—this will relax the gluten and distribute the moisture.  You can now repeat the process of rolling and adding more flour, until you have a very strong,  elastic dough.   Now divide the dough into 3 or 4 equal parts and run it through the machine, trimming the width if necessary, dusting with flour when needed, and decreasing the dimension, until the sheets are approximately 1/16” thick and at least 15” long, depending on the type of noodle desired.  Run the sheet through the narrow cutter attachment, producing a strand approximately 1/16” by 1/16” in diameter, and 15” to 20” long.  Dust with cornstarch. The dimensions of a chao mian noodle can vary: it can be flat, like an Italian fettuccine, or somewhat larger, resembling a Japanese udon; the Chinese, however, consider a long noodle best, as it traditionally symbolizes long life, and is a customary—we should say, mandatory—dish served at Birthday celebrations.

The noodles should be refrigerated, dried, or frozen, however homemade noodles do not hold up as well as commercially made, so it is best to use them as soon as possible.

Xia ren chao mian:

15 oz fresh noodle

7-8 oz shelled de-veined shrimp or prawn

2-3 garlic cloves, very finely minced

1” x1/2” pc ginger, peeled and finely minced

1/2 yellow onion, cut into small wedges

8 oz beansprouts

3 green onions

4 oz green cabbage or bai cai

Sauce: 

1 Tab ground bean sauce

3 Tab soy

1 rounded tsp sugar

1 tsp sweet vinegar

Garnish:

A few shreds sweet red pepper

A few shreds green tops of green onion

Sesame oil

Boil fresh noodles for two minutes, checking them every quarter minute for desired doneness.  They should be slightly undercooked, since they will undergo a second cooking in the wok.  Remove the noodles when they are done, drain, and spread on a countertop to cool and dry.  As soon as the surface of the noodles have dulled, drizzle a small amount of peanut oil on them to prevent sticking.

Meanwhile, prepare the other ingredients:  wash and trim shrimp, if necessary, and drain thoroughly.  Cut yellow onion into wedges along its axis, and separate them.  Cut green onions into 2” sections; cut white portion into quarters lengthwise, then shred 2 or so tablespoons of the green portion to use as a garnish.  Shred a few pieces of sweet red pepper for garnish. Cut the cabbage into 1/4” shreds.  Combine the sauce ingredients.

Dredge the shrimp or prawn in cornstarch and thoroughly shake off excess.  On high, heat wok til it begins to smoke and add 2-3 Tab of peanut oil; add dusted shrimp and stir fry quickly just until they loose their transluscence.  Remove and set aside.  Add another tablespoon or two of oil and when wok is very hot, toss in yellow and green onion but do not stir—you want to achieve some caramelization on the onion pieces (if you have a professional wok burner, this will not be necessary); when wok is hot again, add ginger and garlic, toss, then cabbage and sprouts and stir fry for 1 or 2 minutes until sprouts barely begin to wilt.  Add the noodles and begin tossing with the other ingredients.  The noodles will tend to roll up and turn over without suspending the other ingredients; it is necessary to gently pull the noodles apart as you stir fry, to combine it all.  Using large chopsticks rather than the shovel, is sometimes helpful.  After 2 minutes or so, add sauce ingredients and continue mixing, trying to pull the noodles apart as you go, until the noodles and ingredients are thoroughly heated through.  When you plate the dish, roll the mass onto the platter and heap any remaining onions or flavoring ingredients onto the top of the noodles.  Arrange the shrimp on top as well, before garnishing with shredded onion, red pepper and sesame oil.

Ha Gao (Shrimp Dumpling)

Ha Gao  (Shrimp Dumpling)

Ha Gao (Cantonese, also Romanized as Ha Gow, Har Gow or Ha Gau, meaning “Shrimp Dumpling”) is possibly the most classic dim sum delicacy, seen in every dim sum restaurant on earth, no matter how limited the menu.  It works excellently as an appetizer for a Western meal, however, in China it is exclusively a dim sum item or a street snack sold alongside other dim sum favorites.  When done well, Ha Gau has a spectacular appearance as well as taste.  Wheat starch is the key ingredient for the skin, and its sticky texture and semi-transparency, while very unusual to western tastes, is ubiquitous in Southern China and Southeast Asia.  When making this snack, you might find that handling the wheat starch wrapper for these dumplings is a challenge. The dough trades off its finished beauty with being sticky and structurally weak to work with. Having said that, because it has no gluten, the dough actually becomes easier to manipulate than wheat flour once you get used to it. I’ve tried to photograph the process in the hopes that this will help.  In any event, the effort will be rewarded...

Filling:

1       oz         Pork Fat, finely diced (Optional...)

10     oz         deveined and shelled shrimp

1       oz         bamboo shoots, rinsed, drained well, chopped fine.

1       egg       white only, lightly beaten

1       tsp         sugar

1/2    Tab       cornstarch

1/2    tsp         salt

1/2    tsp         sherry

1/2    tsp         sesame oil

Dash    white pepper

Finely mince and pound or puree 1/2 of the shrimp.  With the other half, cut the shrimp into 3 or 4 large segments, depending on the size.  (For appearance and texture, you want large pieces of shrimp in the filling; the finely minced provides an overall binder.)   In a bowl, mix the shrimp and beaten egg white thoroughly.  Add minced pork fat, bamboo shoots, sesame oil, salt, white pepper, sherry and cornstarch.  Mix thoroughly with a rubber spatula.  Refrigerate while you make the skins.

Skins:

1       Cup      wheat starch

1/4    Cup      tapioca Starch

1       Tab       Peanut oil

1/4    tsp         salt

1       Cup       boiling water

Sift the starches and salt into a bowl; form a well in the powders, then add the oil.  Pour the boiling water, measured with a pre-heated measuring cup, into the well and stir quickly with a rubber spatula.  Scrape the sides as you mix, to incorporate all the ingredients.  Form a ball of dough.  As soon as you can handle the dough, knead it vigorously for a full 3 minutes, occasionally compressing the ball forcefully as you knead.  Wheat starch dough is firm to the gentle touch, but extremely malleable.  This enthusiastic kneading is to insure that the starches and water and oil are smoothly and completely incorporated.  Divide the dough into 4 pieces and let it rest in a plastic bag for 6 minutes.  In the meantime, make certain your steamer water is boiling.  Prepare a parchment paper liner for the steamer tray—punch or cut 1/4” holes randomly in the paper to allow steam to pass through.

Compress each ball into a smooth, round shape and then roll on a flat surface to make a 3/4”to 1” dia.   Rope.  Put three back in the plastic bag and cut the remaining into 3/4” to 1” segments.  To make the skins: working on a high density polyethylene cutting board, place a piece of 4” square piece of parchment paper over the segment and flatten it one at a time with rolling pin, Chinese cleaver, or tortilla press (works great), making sure the skin is a uniform thickness of between 1/16” and 3/16”  This disk will be slightly irregular in shape; you can proceed with making the dumplings and trim the excess with scissors if necessary, or cut the skin now to appx. 3-1/4” diam. using a cookie cutter, empty tin can or similar round object(An empty 6-1/2 oz.  tuna can works very well).  You can make the skins all at once, if they are kept covered with plastic or damp cloth at room temperature.

Pick up the skin very gently (these wrappers are soft and tear easily—even if you nick it with a fingernail, this will likely produce a tear in the dumpling as it steams) put a rounded tablespoon of filling in the middle, fold the skin patially around the filling to form a trough; hold this loosely in the fingers of your left hand, with the thumb resting in the middle, over the filling.   Gently pleat the side furthest from you only, from right to left, using the left thumb and right index finger to guide the pleats against the side closest to you, while the right thumb provides backing.  Pleat along the dumpling, until the dumpling is enclosed.   You need not tightly seal the wrapper as you pleat—the concern at this point is not to stress the wrapper resulting in a tear.  Once it’s pleated, you can press the edges, sealing the dumpling and cutting off the excess if the wrapper wasn’t pre-cut.  Place as many dumplings as you can (without touching) on the paper-lined steamer tray. It is best to use all the wrapper dough right away; it works best when still warm.

Steam the dumplings for 5 minutes.  If it is necessary to take the dumplings out of the steamer tray—as opposed to setting out the tray as a serving dish—you should wait 3 or 4 

minutes while the skins cool somewhat; they are very soft and sticky while piping hot.

If absolutely necessary, these dumplings can be frozen once they are steamed, but they lose about 15% of their texture.  Thaw them on parchment paper or polyethylene cutting board before reheating, and steam for about 3 minutes as before

Fun Gwor (Pork and Shrimp Dumpling)

Fun Gwor (Pork and Shrimp Dumpling)

This is another classic dim sum tidbit. One might want to refer to the recipe for Ha Gao, with its detailed description of wheat starch dough, as this dumpling uses the same wrapper. 

There can be confusion, even among native speakers, about the exact names of Chinese things, and food items are no exception.  The Cantonese “Fun” in the name is often mistakenly translated as “rice flour,” mistaken because there is no rice flour used in this recipe. The literal translation of “Fun (mandarin: Fen) can mean any number of things, but it most likely attaches to the meanings of powder and flour, especially bean and potato starch flours, which likely have been used in the past instead of wheat starch.  “Gwor” (guo) means fruit, and poetically alludes to its crescent shape, suggesting a section of fruit, or the delicacy of fruit.

8 oz Pork, minced 1/8” to 1/4”
4 oz peeled deveined shrimp, minced per pork
2 dried shitake mushrooms, minced per pork
7 peeled water chestnuts, minced per pork
1 heap tsp garlic, minced med fine
1 scallion, minced med.

Stir-fry this mixture just until pork has cooked through—turn off the heat, then immediately add mixture of:

1/4 cup chicken stock
1 Tab cornstarch
1 Tab wine
2 Tab oyster sauce
1 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp sugar
1 Tab soy sauce
1 scant teaspoon sesame oil

When the mixture has cooled, add:

1/4 tsp white pepper
2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 heap cup (loosely measured) chopped cilantro and stems

Mix and refrigerate, preferably overnight,.

To make dumplings, follow recipe and procedure for the wheat starch dough used for Ha Gau skins (1 cup wheat starch; 1/4 cup Tapioca Flour, 1 Tab oil, salt and 1 cup water.); place appx 1 rounded Tab of filling on the skin, fold over and press edge gently to seal and form a crescent.  Steam for 5 minutes.  Allow to cool for 2 or 3 minutes before serving or transferring to serving platter (serving in steamer tray is recommended, since the hot dumplings are very sticky and fragile).

Deep-frying this dumpling produces a nice variation.  Remembering that the filling is already cooked, the dumpling can be fried at 325° to 350° in peanut oil for 1 or 2 minutes until crisp.

Jiao Yan Xia (Salt and Pepper Shrimp)

Salt and Pepper Shrimp (Jiao Yan Xia)


Salt and pepper preparations are ubiquitous in stateside restaurants, both Chinese and Vietnamese, offering chicken, squid, shrimp and pork, especially ribs.  Simply put, before frying, the meat is dredged in a mixture of salt and ground white or black pepper, giving it a dry, intense, sparkly sort of taste.  However, it is not as common in China, unless one considers the very common Sichuanese penchant for using a salt and Sichuan peppercorn mixture as a dip, especially with steamed chicken.


Here, in traditionally oriented restaurants, Salt and Pepper shrimp is usually prepared shell on, sometimes with head included; however, I prefer the textural subtleties of a more “western-friendly” version of the dish, and peel the shrimps.


Two quarts frying oil (peanut oil is excellent)
8 oz. Deveined, peeled shrimp. (30-40 count per pound works well)
1/2 med. Yellow onion, sectioned into crescents
4 small green onion, sectioned 2” long.  Reserved greenest portion for garnish.
1 egg white.
4 Tab cornstarch (1/3 cup)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tab peanut oil for stir frying
Salt and pepper for onions.


Fresh chili or Jalepeno, sliced diagonally (optional)
In a bowl, combine cornstarch pepper and salt well.  Combine green and yellow onion in a bowl and season with a few dashes of salt and pepper to taste.
In a deep fryer or large pot Heat frying oil to 375°.  Dry shrimp with paper towels. Whip egg white lightly and add shrimp, mixing well.  When oil is to temperature, pick shrimp out of the egg white, shake off excess egg, and place in cornstarch mixture.  Toss and roll the shrimp to coat evenly; shake off excess starch in colander or by hand and carefully place in oil; use bamboo chopsticks to separate and turn shrimp.  Cook just until shrimp curl and firm up; quickly remove and drain.  Heat wok to hot and add 2 tablespoons peanut oil,  put in seasoned onions (and chili if using).  Stirfry until edges of onion begin to brown. Add back shrimp; fry for 30 seconds or so and remove all with basket strainer.  Drain on paper towels, and quickly remove to platter.  Garnish with reserved greens and served immediately.

Huntun Tang (Wonton Soup)

Throughout the world, Wonton Soup is a dish as well known by name as Chow Mein, Chop Suey, and Sweet and Sour Pork.  In China, where it has been known for as many as 2,000 years, it is also popular everywhere, and has variations such as the Sichuanese Long Chao Shou.  The Chinese word huntun has some lyrical interpretations, such as the doubtful story that the dumplings were named after two tribal warriors in Ancient China named Hun and Tun.  In cantonese, the characters, pronounced similarly as wahn tan, 云吞, is translated as "swallowing clouds." Traditional variations include the addition of noodles, (huntun tang mian 馄饨 汤面), and of additional ingredients, such especially cabbage or spinach.

This recipe is quite easy to prepare, especially if you have chicken stock on hand.  It's not recommended to make the wonton skins from scratch, since the traditional recipe calls for such a thin wrapper.  Many good store-bought skins are available, even in Western supermarkets

Wontons:
50 -100 wonton skins
Filling:
1/2# shrimp (Weigh after deveining and shelling) chopped coarsely
1/2# Pork, minced with cleaver
2 small green onion, minced
1 scant TAB soy
1 TAB rice wine
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
dash black pepper
1/2” x 3/4 “ pc peeled ginger, finely minced
2 tsp cornstarch
1 round tsp sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
--makes 50 to 70 wontons

Chop the shelled deveined shrimp; finely mince into a paste 1/3 or so of the chopped shrimp. Combine all the filling ingredients except sesame oil and stir vigorously and thoroughly in one direction until the mass coheres and is well blended. Add sesame oil and continue to mix until oil is incorporated.
Put a round tsp or so of filling in the center of the square wrapper and wet two adjacent edges.

Fold the wet edges over the filling, align with the opposite edge and press together securely to form a triangle. Now wet one of the pointed ends at the longest side, and pull it and the other point back around to make the two ends of the longest side overlap. Press the ends together, and the dumpling is completed. (You will need about 10 pcs for this recipe, but huntun can be arranged on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, frozen, bagged and frozen).

To make the Soup:

10 won ton
3 cups chicken stock (for 1 lg bowl or two small bowls)
3 very thin slices of ginger
3 small-med bai cai or napa cabbage leaves (or six small spinach leaves)
dash of white pepper
1/2 to 1 tsp of sugar to taste
Salt to taste.
1/2 green onion, thinly sliced on an extreme diagnonal for garnish
Sesame oil for garnish

Blanch cabbage leaves for 1-1/2 minute, drain and cut out thickest portion of spine and slice into 1” diagonal pieces. Set aside. Slice 1/2 green onion on sharp diagonal for garnish.
When you are almost ready to serve, begin heating the soup with ginger slices, salt, sugar and white pepper to a very gentle simmer, tasting and adjusting seasoning; in the meantime place approximately 10 dumplings into boiling water, stir occasionally, and cook for 2 1/2 minutes. Remove and cover for a few moments while the soup is prepared. As soon as the soup barely simmers, put the cabbage or spinach into a serving bowl or two individual bowls, then the wontons, and pour in the soup. Garnish with sliced onion and sesame oil.