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Delicious shredded vegetables are enclosed in homemade soft dough and steamed to perfection.
I never knew I could love food this much until I’m far away from home. Lots of comfort food I took for granted because I never had to cook them. Food sure brings lots of sweet memories to most people and I am no exception. I also never knew that I was capable of cooking what I’ve been cooking until I’m far away from home. I guess being far away from home really pushes my limit 🙂 A good thing you would say. I guess so. Few years ago a good friend asked me about making chai pao or I loosely translated it into steamed vegetable dumplings and that somehow remind me of how long I haven’t had chai pao.
Jicama
In the dialect spoken at our hometown, chai means vegetable, pao means wrap..so there it goes! This is one of the popular snacks/street food that I often seen at our house. My dad often brought them for us as snacks. My mom loves them. Heck, we all do love them. Chai pao is so widely available that I would never thought that I would have to make it myself 🙂
Dried shrimp (ebi)
Chai pao is really something very simple in terms of the filling. Made of common vegetables like jicama, carrots, and sometimes green beans. Traditionally the skin is made of mashed sweet potatoes and flour where I grew up. The skin is a beautiful “orangey” color because of the color of the sweet potatoes. You can check out the recipe for that here
Hakka Chai Kueh / Choi Pan (Steamed Vegetable Dumplings)
Ingredients
Fillings:
- 500 gr shredded jicama peeled and shredded
- 100 gr shredded carrots optional, usually not used in choi pan
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and finely minced
- 100 gr raw medium shrimp -optional peeled, deveined and chop finely
- 1 tsp sugar or more to taste
- Salt to taste
- 1 stalk green onions thinly sliced
- small bunch of cilantro leaves roughly chopped
Skin:
- 275 gr rice flour
- 125 gr tapioca starch
- 600 ml hot boiling water
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil
Chili sauce:
- 3 red jalapeno peppers
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 100 ml water
- 1 Tbsp vinegar
Instructions
Preparing the filling (can be done one day ahead):
- Preheat oil in a large wok or skillet. Saute the garlic for about 10 seconds, add in the shrimp and cook until they turn color, about 30 seconds or so. Add in the jicama and carrots and cook for about 2 minutes, add in the green beans and saute for another minute. Add in fish sauce and sugar stir to mix everything. Have a taste and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in green onions and cilantro leaves. Remove from the heat and let it cool off completely before wrapping
Preparing chili sauce (can be done one day ahead):
- Place all the chili sauce ingredient in a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into a small saucepan and cook until the sugar dissolves. The sauce should be slightly sweet and tangy. Adjust by adding more sugar or vinegar to your liking
Preparing the skin:
- Mix the rice flour, tapioca starch, salt and stir to mix. Pour in hot boiling water and use a spatula to stir and combine. It will be sticky at this point. Continue to stir. When it's not so hot anymore, use your hands to knead to form a rough dough. Add oil and continue to knead into a smooth non-sticky dough. Cover and set aside for at least 15 minutes
Wrapping:
- After the dough is done resting, divide into about 30 equal pieces. Keep them covered and work with one at a time. Roughly roll into a ball and then flatten and roll out into about 5-inch in diameter circle. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling in the middle of the wrapper and fold over to form a half-circle. Pinch the edge to seal. Repeat with the rest
Steaming:
- Line the steamer with banana leaves brushed with some oil (optional) or place them on a plate brushed with some oil and steam for 15 minutes or until the skin turns white and slightly translucent. Let them stand for about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with the sauce on the side
Marv's Recipe Notes