Rice-Free Dumplings

Rice-Free Dumplings

　　    A popular street snack. Chives are the main filling ingredient (chive flowers or yellow chives can be used as substitutes). To make it, fresh chives are washed, chopped into small pieces, and then mixed with minced mushrooms, dried shrimp, along with appropriate amounts of monosodium glutamate, salt, pepper, and sesame oil, stirred together to form the filling.

    The dumpling wrappers are usually made from sweet potato starch. The wrapper is pressed thin into a round shape, filled with the stuffing, then pinched into a ball with raised wrinkles on the surface. It is steamed in a steamer for 15 minutes until cooked, then pan-fried in a flat iron skillet until golden brown. The taste is rich and aromatic, white on the outside and greenish inside.

    Those sold by mobile street vendors are usually more economical, using only chives for the filling without adding mushrooms or other refined ingredients.