Xiao Long Bao (Chinese steamed soup dumplings) is a famous Chinese dessert. Sometimes you may hear Shanghai Xiao Long Bao, but like Beijing style Zha Jiang Mian, this soup dumpling can be found in many Chinese cuisines. Xiao Long Bao recipe might differ from one cuisine to another. Here I introduce the most basic version, you don’t need professional skills but can make yummy soup dumpling at home easily.

It is not easy to make this little, juicy and yummy soup dumplings at home. Soup dumping usually is featured by its juicy soup filling. There are two different varieties of the pork filling. Some use pork rind jelly while the other one use stock directly. For beginners, pork rind jelly version is much easier since it would be easy to assemble to soup dumplings. 

The basic processing of making soup dumping at home should be: prepare the pork meat jelly in the previous day— make the filling and then set aside to let the flavors combine together —— Knead the dough and Make the wrapper and assemble soup dumplings one by one.

How to make pork jelly: 

1. In a large pot of water, add salt, scallion, ginger and Sichuan peppercorn seeds. Cook for 5-8 minutes. Then transfer out and remove the fat with knife. Try to remove all of the fatty layer on the surface and remove any hair.

2. Add baking soda or (alkaline powder) and salt on the pork rind. Message for a while then you will white tissues coming out. Clean with hot water until the water turns clear and further cut the rind into smaller pieces.

3. Add water and then blanching the rind again fro 1 minute after the water boils. Then transfer out and strain the rind once again. We do lots of blanching and cleaning work in order to remove the impurities and keep this a lovely taste.

4. Stir in 1 teaspoon of salt in 900ml water and then steam for 30 minutes in high pressure cooker. Let it cool naturally. Transfer to mould and then keep in fridge for 3 hours or overnight.

Tips for juicy filling

In a small bowl, soak minced ginger, green onion and Sichuan peppercorn with 1/2 cup hot water for around 10 minutes to make ginger and green onion water.

Blend the pork jelly for a while. Then add pork chunks in a blender, add salt, sugar, pepper, light soys sauce and oyster sauce. Blend with pause for 10 seconds. Then add the ginger and green onion water in. Continue blending with pause for another minute.  Add the pork jelly, chopped green onion and sesame oil in. Stir in one direction for 1 or 2 minutes. Cover and place in fridge.

Dough 

All purpose flour or bread flour can be used as the ingredients of the dough. But all purpose flour is much easier for beginner since it needs less resting time. The key step of a successful soup dumpling is kneading the time.  Kneading time should be at least 12 minutes (15 minutes for beginner) until the dough becomes whiter and shinning  and very smooth on surface. If you feel the dough is hard to knead during the process, cover with plastic wrapper, set aside for 15 minutes and then continue kneading. I recommend the two hands kneading method shown in the video, which helps to knead the dough completely and quickly.  Once the dough is well kneaded, cover with plastic wrapper and set aside for 1 hour. 

Wrapper and Assemble 

Shape the dough into a long log and cut into small pieces (around 12g each one). Then roll the wrapper out to form a large wrapper (around 12 cm in diameter). The wrapper should be quite thin.

Place the wrapper in your left hand. Place 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of your wrapper. Fix the starting point with the thumb of right hand and begin to fold the edge counterclockwise. Move the thumb slowly in the process. Repeat the process until the dumpling is completely sealed. Then slightly pull up the sealed peaks and then remove the extra flour(so we can get even and thin wrapper). 

Steam for 8 minutes after the water boils. And here we are! Enjoy!

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Xiao Long Bao—Chinese Soup Dumpling

Prep Time

40 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

55 mins

 

Chinese Xiao Long Bao--Steamed Soup Dumplings

Course: staple

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: Dumpling

Servings: 24 Making 24 soup dumplings

Calories: 122 kcal

Author: Elaine

Ingredients

Wrapper

• 300 g flour , 2 cups unshifted
• 150 ml warm water water +15ml for adjusting
• a small pinch of salt

Pork Filling

• 250 g pork , at least 20% fat
• 200 g pork jelly
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. ground pepper
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 tbsp. chopped green onion

Ginger and Green Onion water

• 1 tbsp. minced ginger
• 1 tbsp. minced green onion
• 1/2 tsp. Sichuan peppercorn
• 1/2 cup hot water

Dip Sauce

• 1 tbsp. Chinese black vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp. light soy sauce
• 5 ginger shreds

Instructions

For the Pork Jelly

1. Make the pork jelly in the previous day with this instruction.

For the Filling

1. In a small bowl, soak minced ginger, green onion and Sichuan peppercorn with 1/2 cup hot water for around 10 minutes to make ginger and green onion water.

2. Blend the pork jelly for a while. Then add pork chunks in a blender, add salt, sugar, pepper, light soys sauce and oyster sauce. Blend with pause for 10 seconds. Then add the ginger and green onion water in. Continue blending with pause for another minute.  Add the pork jelly, chopped green onion and sesame oil in. Stir in one direction for 1 or 2 minutes. Cover and place in fridge.

For the wrappers

1. Add pinch of salt in flour. Add flour and water in a mixing bowl and then knead the dough until smooth and stretchy (this process may need 15 to 20 minutes depending on your kneading skill. You can also use a mixer to do this job.) Cover with a wet cloth and reset for 1 hour.

2. Shape the dough into a long log and cut into small pieces (around 12g each one). Then roll the wrapper out to form a large wrapper (around 12 cm in diameter). The wrapper should be quite thin.

3. Place the wrapper in your left hand. Place 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of your wrapper. Fix the starting point with the thumb of right hand and begin to fold the edge counterclockwise. Move the thumb slowly in the process. Repeat the process until the dumpling is completely sealed. Then slightly pull up the sealed peaks and then remove the extra flour(so we can get even and thin wrapper). 

Steaming process

1. Place the assembled dumpling on lined steamer. Set up the steamer and steam for around 8 to 10 minutes after the water is boiling.

2. Serve directly or with Chinese black vinegar and ginger shreds.

Recipe Notes

The Nutrition Facts is based on each single Xiao Long Bao.

Recipe firstly published in 2016 and updated in 2020. 

Nutrition Facts

Xiao Long Bao—Chinese Soup Dumpling

Amount Per Serving

Calories 122 Calories from Fat 54

% Daily Value*

Fat 6g9%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Cholesterol 18mg6%

Sodium 343mg15%

Potassium 73mg2%

Carbohydrates 8g3%

Protein 7g14%

Vitamin A 15IU0%

Vitamin C 0.3mg0%

Calcium 7mg1%

Iron 0.7mg4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.