Vegan Dim Sum - Shrimp Dumplings 'Har Gao'

"Har gao" shrimp dumplings are probably the king of Chinese dim sum. These are the dumplings that you must order when at dim sum. I'm not exactly sure why this is the case, but it may have something to do with the large whole shrimp that are usually put into the dumplings, which are clearly evident because of the unique clear wrapper, which the dumpling employs.

I use a faux vegan shrimp, which bears an uncanny similarity to the real deal, in my dumplings. Good shrimp dumplings are a mix of ground shrimp for a softer, easy-to-bite mouth feel and whole shrimp.

Probably one of the most important portions of this recipe is the wrapper. It can't be too moist and it can't be too dry. The texture that you're looking for is for the wrappers to be malleable and stable enough where when you make the folds on the dumplings that the folds hold. However, if you end up mixing too much starch into the mix, the dumpling dough will surely hold, but it will crack and then you have a mess on your hands.

My tip is to first, always have extra wheat and potato starch in case the dough is indeed too wet and you need to stiffen it up. The second tip is to simply rip off a piece of your finished dough, roll it out, and see if you can fold it and that fold stays up and doesn't crack. It's obviously harder to fix a dry piece of dough than it is to add a bit more starch to the wetter one.