Crispy Chive Dumplings
I tried my hand at making Kanom Gui Chai Tod ขนมกุยช่ายทอด. I came across this dish at a local Thai restaurant Khom Loi and fell in love. So of course I had to figure out how to make them myself and share my personal adaptation with you.
A little history before we jump to the recipe. This gelatinous and crispy treat is a Thai variaton on chive dumplings from the Teochew Chinese immigrants that settled in #thailand. Teochew cooking is marked by restraint and subtlety, forgoing heavy seasonings in order to highlight the freshness of ingredients. Instead of the chives being a filling inside these dumplings, they’re simply mixed in with the batter to create a more homogeneous texture throughout. It’s also a whole lot easier than filling and sealing individual dumplings. They can be served steamed or you can take it a step further by pan frying them to get an amazing crispy and chewy texture.
Recipe
Ingredients
Dumplings:
400g garlic chives
100g regular chives
5 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp msg (optional)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp avocado oil
1 tsp white pepper
200g rice flour
200g tapioca starch
2 cups water
Dipping Sauce:
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp Wild Wing Apothecary tropical sipping vinegar
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp hot (chili) sesame oil
2 tsp Gochujang paste
Instructions:
Wash and dry chives
Cut chives into 1 cm pieces
Add to mixing bowl
Add salt, sugar, soy sauce, baking soda, white pepper, garlic powder, oil and mix until combined
Let sit for at least 20 minutes or longer until the chives look wilted and the liquid has been drawn out of them.
Make dipping sauce:
Combine soy sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar, Gochujang paste, sesame oil and sugar.
Stir until the sugar is dissolved. This sauce will keep in the fridge for weeks.
Make the batter:
Combine water, rice flour and tapioca starch in a pot and stir until there are no more lumps. Turn the heat on LOW and stir the mixture constantly with a soft spatula. As the mixture starts to cook and congeal into lumps, remove pot from heat occasionally to mash any flour lumps against the sides and break them up. Do not stop stirring until the mixture has the consistency of a thin pancake batter. Remove from heat while still stirring to break up any lumps of flour to make sure the consistency of the batter is even throughout. Add the chive mixture (liquid and all) and mix until well combined.
Grease two 7-inch round cake or pie pans with oil or bacon grease (my go-to). Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Divide batter evenly between them and smooth off the top to make them an even depth throughout.
Preheat a pot or steamer (I used a large stock pot with an upside down metal steamer to keep pie pan out of water) with boiling water. Wrap a towel around the lid of the steamer to prevent water from dripping onto the surface of the dumplings.
Steam the dumplings for 15-17 minutes. Turn off heat and remove lid.
Let the dumplings cool in the pan until cool enough to handle. Run a knife along the sides to release and flip it onto a cutting board with parchment paper on top, let cool. Grease a sharp knife and cut the dumplings into bite-sized cubes.
At this stage you can store the dumplings in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, and fry them up whenever you're ready to eat.
Fry dumplings:
Heat stainless steel pan over med/low heat. When water skids around pan in little balls the pores of the stainless steel pan are closed and your pan is hot enough to add oil. Add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and add dumplings when it starts to shimmer but not yet smoke. Fry dumplings on both sides until well browned and crispy. Place on paper towel-lined plate to remove excess oil.
Serve immediately while they’re still hot and crispy for best results.