Those poor eels - Chinese Cooking Workshop half day

Back in Shanghai and first on the list of must do experiences is the wonderful dumpling making class at www.chinesecookingworkshop.com.  As there's a group of us (5), we decide on a private group.  First up, to the markets to hunt and harvest the ingredients for our xiao long bao, Kongbao Chicken, and fried pork with pineapple (sounds so much better than "sweet and sour pork" no?).

The markets (just off West Nan Jing Road) are a tapestry of colour, sounds, and smells.  Vegetables curled around in ever decreasing circles, scarlet capsicums placed just so, strawberries the size of golf balls and big open baskets of sprouts and herbs cascading out in spirals.

Eggs of all kinds, quail, speckled, blue, 1000-year, salted egg, and embryonic variety sit proudly to one side, chickens perform death kicks to the skies in a final salute...

There's a type of chicken, a black chicken, which I haven't had the pleasure of trying yet which apparently makes the best soup (source - Langham Xintiandi Exec Chef Albert Servalls).  Toads climb on top of each other trying to escape, fish gasp for breath, and eels slither.  


Prepping the eels is incredibly quick. Using flat ended tongs, she stabs the eel, and then runs the tongs down the length of the  either side of the spine, lefts the spine away, leaving a butterflied tiny eel (little finger size) - sweet and probably destined for crispy eel skin with chili sauce!

Then back to the about to be demolished Puxi kitchen.  Through an arch, past the graffiti, posters, tarps, up three flights of (questionable) stairs and into the kitchen.

the kongbao chicken and fried pork are demonstration dishes but Chef gets us busy cleavering.  There were a couple of surprizes.  The diced chicken is marinated in salt, sugar, rice wine, soy, dark soy, vinegar and cornstarch, and then hot oil from the work is stirred through to separate before the chicken is all deep fried until cooked. Ginger, garlic, chili paste, and rice wine satueed, then the chicken is added along with deep fried peanuts. 

and just coz too much fat is never enough....the pork is deep fried as well!  (the "rhombus" peppers still take remarkably fresh despite the amount of oil though so counting them as vegetables still)

 now comes the fun part...DDUUUUUMPPPPPPPPPPPLINNNNNNNGGGGSSSSSSS

First, a mound of flour, water, mix, knead, roll, stretch, knead until the dough comes away  cleanly from the stainless steel.  A flat angled "paddle" is the instrument of choice.  roll dough into a snake, then grip it in a death hold with a piece of dough the length of the top part of your thumb sticking out the top, pinch hard to break away a stub of dough.  flatten with the palm of your hand and then hold part in the air and use your mini rolling pin to roll almost up to where your holding it, lift, rotate, and again, and again till it's circular and dainty (aspirational ;) ...then you mix together pork mince, salt, sugar, white pepper, rice wine, light soy sauce, shallots, ginger, sesame oil and lots and lots of "pork jelly" and the magic begins.

ta dah!

Dumpling Surprize - so that's how they get the soup into Xiao Long Bao

For the equivalent of around AUD50, Shanghai's chinesecookingworkshop.com has a great choice of cooking and market classes. We started with your basic pork dumpling and salty egg rice and worked our way up to my dumpling obsession, xiao long bao.

Now to unlock the secret of the xiao long bao - 100g minced pork, 60g chopped pork jelly/stock (which melts to become the soup), pinch of ginger, green onion, pepper, rice wine, light soy sauce, salt and pepper, and some sesame oil and mix well.  

Now the pastry,.  Just 80g of flour and 45ml of cold water, knead, roll into a snake, and cut into equal portions, roll into a ball, flatten the ball and then roll.

Add the filling, and then delicately pinch the top to form the dumpling - good dumplings should have 18 pleats.  


First attempt is enthusiastic....

But, I do get there, not to 18, but a little more respectable looking offering....

and you know what, they actually tasted pretty good (particularly on such a cold cold day!)