Recipe: Shrimp Or Mushroom Kaffir Lime Dim Sums

If you are having friends over, try this Shrimp and Kaffir Lime Dim Sums starter. Literally flavour bombs of shrimps, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and oyster sauce, they explode in your mouth.

Add bright purple colour for extra pizzazz and serve with a black bean dip.

If you require vegetarian or vegan dim sums as well, simply substiute the prawns/shrimp with mushrooms in this recipe and serve Mushroom and Kaffir Lime Dim Sums.

Shrimp and Kaffir Lime Dim Sum

Recipe courtesy: RCB Bar and Cafe, Bengaluru

Servings: 5-6

Ingredients

For the dough

• 20 gm wheat starch
• 8 gm potato starch
• 20 ml hot water
• 2 ml oil
• 3 drops edible purple colour

For the filling

• 80 gm deveined and shelled shrimps or small prawns, chopped
• 1 fresh or dried kaffir leaf, chopped
• 3¼ tsp galangal or Thai ginger
• ½ tsp oyster sauce
• 10 ml salad oil or extra virgin olive oil
• Salt, to taste
• Pinch white pepper powder
• 4 pods fresh edamame, shelled
• Oil to grease the steamer tray or idli moulds

To serve

• Black bean dip

Method

For the dough

• In a bowl, combine the potato starch and the wheat starch.
  Mix well with a wooden spoon.
  Add hot water.
  Mix again till well-combined.
  Add the oil and purple colour and knead to make a stiff dough.
  Keep aside.

For the filling

• In a bowl, combine the chopped prawns, chopped kaffir leaf, galangal, oyster sauce, olive oil.
  Season with salt and the white pepper.
  Mix well and keep aside.

For assembling the dim sums

• Divide the dough into 6-7 equal parts.
  Roll into balls and then into small circles and place 1-2 tbsp filling in the centre of each.
  To assemble each dim sum, start gathering and pleating the edges slowly and bring together making a potli or moneybag, like you would do for a modak.
  Garnish each with an edamame bean on top.
  When the dim sums are assembled, heat water in a steamer.
  Either opt to steam in a steamer tray or an idli mould.
  If using an idli mould, place each dim sum into each greased idli mould and put the idli stand inside a pressure cooker.
  If using a steamer tray, grease the tray and arrange the dim sums, so they are not touching each other.
  Add water as required in the steamer/cooker.
  Cover and steam for 10-12 minutes, till the outer skin becomes transparent.
  Don't overcook or they will become chewy.
• Serve hot with black bean dip.

Editor's Note: Ingredients like potato starch, wheat starch, black bean sauce or dip, dried kaffir leaves, purple colour, oyster sauce can be purchased online or found at gourmet grocery stores.

Fresh or frozen edamame beans. galangal and fresh kaffir leaves are available at certain vegetable sellers at your local market who stock 'English' vegetables or at gourmet grocery stores.

If you can't specifically find purple food colour, mix a drop of red food colour and a drop of blue food colour to make purple colour.

Substitute an equal quantity of any variety of mushrooms, to have a vegetarian or vegan starter. Make sure to use mushroom oyster sauce.

For gluten-free or Jain dim sums, you could try using either only potato starch or only wheat starch, respectively. And use saunth or ginger powder instead of galangal and mushrooms instead of shrimp to further make it suitable for Jains.

• REDIFF RECIPES