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    Home » Recipes » wonton and dumplings

    Xiao Long Bao— Soup Dumplings

    Last Modified: November 15, 2022 by Elaine| 50 Comments

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    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.

    Shanghai soup dumpling|chinasichuanfood.com

    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. 

    Xiao Long Bao—Chinese Soup Dumpling

    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 ½ 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.

    Shanghai soup dumpling|chinasichuanfood.com

    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. 

    Shanghai soup dumpling|chinasichuanfood.com

    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). 

    Shanghai soup dumpling|chinasichuanfood.com

    Shanghai soup dumpling|chinasichuanfood.com

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

    Shanghai soup dumpling|chinasichuanfood.com

    Shanghai soup dumpling|chinasichuanfood.com

    Shanghai soup dumpling|chinasichuanfood.com

    Xiao Long Bao—Chinese Soup Dumpling

    Elaine
    Chinese Xiao Long Bao--Steamed Soup Dumplings
    5 from 5 votes
    Watch Video Print Recipe
    Prep Time 40 mins
    Cook Time 15 mins
    Total Time 55 mins
    Course staple
    Cuisine Chinese
    Servings 24 Making 24 soup dumplings
    Calories 122 kcal

    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
    • ¼ 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
    • ½ tsp. Sichuan peppercorn
    • ½ cup hot water

    Dip Sauce

    • 1 tbsp. Chinese black vinegar
    • ½ tbsp. light soy sauce
    • 5 ginger shreds

    Instructions
     

    For the Pork Jelly

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

    For the Filling

    • In a small bowl, soak minced ginger, green onion and Sichuan peppercorn with ½ 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.

    For the wrappers

    • 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.
    • 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). 

    Steaming process

    • Place the assembled dumpling on lined steamer. Set up the steamer and steam for around 8 to 10 minutes after the water is boiling.
    • Serve directly or with Chinese black vinegar and ginger shreds.

    Video

    Notes

    The Nutrition Facts is based on each single Xiao Long Bao.
    Recipe firstly published in 2016 and updated in 2020. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 122kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 7gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 343mgPotassium: 73mgVitamin A: 15IUVitamin C: 0.3mgCalcium: 7mgIron: 0.7mg
    Keyword Dumpling
    Tried this recipe?Mention @ChinaSichuanFood
    Shanghai soup dumpling|chinasichuanfood.com

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. HJ

      November 05, 2020 at 4:56 am

      5 stars
      Made this with my kids this weekend and it was AMAZING!! Thank you for the recipe....this is definitely going to be one of our family meal items for years to come!!

      Reply
      • Elaine

        November 06, 2020 at 8:37 am

        Hi HJ,
        Thank you so much for your kind feedback. Enjoy!

        Reply
    2. Loretta

      December 30, 2020 at 3:47 am

      not a dessert, more like appetizer or one oe a dim sum item. Translated as "Little Dragon Bun". Recipe is fairly accurate.

      Reply
    3. Mentari

      November 10, 2021 at 1:31 pm

      5 stars
      That is so pretty! I plan to do this but the making pork jelly and kneading put me off.. I think one day I will make this 🙂 Thank you for sharing the recipe!
      May I know what is the size or diameter of the bamboo steam you're using? Thank you <3

      Reply
      • Elaine

        November 11, 2021 at 7:47 pm

        Mentari,
        The steamer is around 20cm in diameter.

        Reply
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