Spicy seafood dumplings

Filled with crab, prawns and fresh coriander, you'll want to eat these tasty Chinese dumplings faster than you can cook them!

For the dough

• 290 g plain flour
• 175 ml water

For the filling

• 225 g cooked crabmeat
• 55 g fresh tiger prawns
• 1 stick celery, finely chopped
• 28 g carrot, finely chopped/ grated
• 28 g fresh coriander, finely chopped
• Chinese XO sauce (a spicy flavour-packed sauce made with dried shrimp, scallops and garlic, available from Asian supermarkets)

Method

1. To make the dumpling dough from scratch, sift the flour into a bowl and stir in the water. Knead until the dough is firm but with some elasticity, and then cover with a towel for about 30 minutes. This makes the wrapper more durable, and also makes them taste better.
2. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a sausage and slice it into 2cm pieces, rotating the dough between cuts to prevent it from going flat. Squash the chunky cylinders from the edges inwards using a small rolling pin to create the pastry disks.
3. To make the filling, mix together the crab, prawns, celery, carrot and fresh coriander in a bowl.
4. To make the filling, mix together the crab, prawns, celery, carrot and fresh coriander in a bowl.
5. Take 1 teaspoon of Chinese XO sauce and place on top of the dumpling. Set aside and repeat to make approximately 18 dumplings in total.
6. Place the dumplings into a bamboo steamer over a pan of simmering water and cover. Steam for 5 minutes, or until the crab mixture is completely cooked through. Remove from the steamer and serve immediately.

COOK'S TIP:

Homemade wrappers should be used soon after they are made as they will dry out and become brittle, so be careful not to let them stand too long after making the disks. The dough can also be quite sticky, so never stack them on top of each other, and give each dumpling space when steaming them so they don’t stick to each other.

Chinese steamed pork buns

Impress your guests with this delicious finger food recipe by Jenna Leiter for Sainsbury's magazine

For the dough

• 300 ml milk
• 25 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 2 tbsp groundnut oil
• 500 g plain flour
• 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast

For the filling

• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp rounded cornflour
• 25 g caster sugar
• 1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 400 g pork tenderloin
• 2 tbsp groundnut oil
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1.5 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Method

1. Gently heat the milk, 25g of caster sugar, salt and 2 tablespoons of oil in a small pan until the sugar has dissolved and the milk is warm. Mix the flour and yeast in a large bowl, add the warm milk and mix with a wooden spoon to a rough dough. Knead briefly in the bowl, then knead for 10 minutes on a lightly floured work surface. Put the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for about 90 minutes, until doubled in size.
2. Meanwhile, for the filling, whisk 125ml of water with the oyster sauce, ketchup, cornflour, sugar and soy sauce. Trim any sinew and fat from the pork and cut into 1cm pieces. Heat half of the groundnut oil over a high heat in a wok or a large frying pan and fry the pork for about 2 minutes until golden; transfer to a plate. Add the remaining oil and fry the onion, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes until golden. Return the pork to the wok and cook for 2 minutes; stir in the rice vinegar. Reduce the heat to medium and pour the sauce into the centre of the wok. Cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes until thickened. Take the wok off the heat, add the sesame oil and leave to cool.
3. Cut out 12 x 10cm squares of baking paper. Once the dough has doubled in size, tip it out on to a surface and knead for 30 seconds. Divide it into 12 (roughly 60g each). Roll into 15cm discs about the thickness of a pound coin.
4. Add a heaped tablespoon of filling to the centre of each, fold up the edges to encase the filling and place on a baking paper square. Cover with a clean tea towel to rest for 15 minutes. Set up your steamer.
5. In batches of 4, place the buns, still on their baking paper, in the steamer and steam, covered, over a medium heat for 12-15 minutes. Serve with soy sauce for dipping.

Get ahead:

Make the filling up to a day ahead, cool, cover and chill.

Kitchen secret: 

Leftover buns? Freeze and steam from frozen for 12 minutes, or until piping hot right through – a great midweek meal.