Tapioca Dumplings - Saku Sai Moo สาคูไส้หมู

Method

Prepping

Soak tapioca pearls in room temperature water (picture2). The ratio of tapioca to water is one to one. It takes at least 15 minutes to get the tapioca pearl into a workable stage. The tapioca pearls will expand 10-15%.

Wash and keep green lettuce, cilantro, cilantro roots, fresh Thai chili peppers in water while working on the filling. If you are using raw peanuts, toast the peanuts in the pan (without oil) for 5 minutes or until they're lightly brown. Let the peanuts cool before grinding.

Mince garlic, cilantro roots and onion together (picture 3).

Cooking the Filling

Over medium heat, add 1-2 tablespoons of oil into a pan/wok. Add the minced garlic, cilantro and onion to the pan(picture 4). Stir until the onion is translucent. Add the pork. Stir to cook and break up the pork. Add the coarsely ground peanuts. Stir to mix everything together. Add sugar, fish sauce and ground pepper. Stir and mix all the ingredients well. The filling should start to turn brownish at this point (picture 5). If it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, add a tablespoon of water to release it.

When the filling is cooked, it's taste test time! The filling should be salty and sweet and seem over seasoned. Well seasoned filling will be balanced by the bland tapioca wrap. Adjust the seasonings if necessary. Let the filling cool while working on the tapioca wrap. When the filling is cooled enough to handle, make a ball about ½ to ¾ of an inch in diameter (picture 6). Any larger than that will be cumbersome to fit into one's mouth. Squeeze the filling tightly into a ball so that it's easier to put into the tapioca wrap. When the filling is completely cooled, it should stick together.

Prepare the Steamer

Now, let's get your steamer ready. The biggest concern is sticking, so, to prevent the dumplings from sticking, I line my steamer with shredded banana leaf and oil the banana leaf.  Alternatively, you can use parchment paper or just paint the bottom of your steamer with oil (or garlic oil). See Fried Garlic recipe below. Fried garlic can be made ahead of time and keeps for weeks.

Tapioca Wrap Preparation

At this point the tapioca balls should be soft and sticky, similar to play foam that you'd find at most preschools. Knead the tapioca balls like dough for 1-2 minutes. It should have the foam consistency and be workable like flour dough (picture 7).

Testing

You can test your filling by making one dumpling and steam it. If you find your dumpling too lightly seasoned, add more sugar and fish sauce to the filling.

Putting the Dumpling together

This recipe makes about 20 dumplings. Have small bowl with room temperature water ready for dipping your fingers into so the tapioca doesn't stick much. Pull a small amount of kneaded tapioca pearls, about the size of the filling ball (picture 8). Spread the pearls out into a thin layer. Place the filling ball in the middle (picture 9). Place a finger on the ball while fold your fingers to wrap the tapioca pearls around the filling. Move the pearls from thick spots to cover the whole filling. Squeeze the ball to firm it up (picture 10). If there is a spot where the filling is exposed, take a very small amount of tapioca pearls and patch the spot.

Try to to have a uniform wrap that is thick enough to cover the filling, yet still thin enough that it doesn't change the taste and texture. Steaming the ball will cause it to grow larger. The more tapioca pearls, the larger the ball, which will make it hard to pop in your mouth. And because of the large wrap, the dumpling will taste under seasoned.

Steaming the Dumplings

First, prep your steamer, above.  Add the dumplings to the steamer (picture 12). Leave room for expansion, about 1 cm or 1/3 of an inch). Let the dumplings steam for 12-15 minutes, depending on the size of the dumplings. Since the filling is already cooked, you only need to cook the outside tapioca wrap. When the dumplings are cooked, you can see that the tapioca pearls turn transparent (picture 13). You can see the filling inside. The dumplings appear brownish. Once when it's cooled, it will give the opaque appearance.

Serving

Removing the dumplings from the steamer by dipping a spoon into the fried garlic oil to prevent the dumplings from sticking to the spoon. Choose a serving plate that is big enough for the dumplings and accompanying vegetables. Oil the area on plate where the dumplings will be on with fried garlic oil. Then carefully scoop out the dumplings onto a plate. Add a small amount of the fried garlic with oil on top of each dumpling. Garnish with whole green lettuce, cilantro leaves and fresh Thai chili peppers. Serve warm or room temperature as a snack.

Storage

The dumplings can be kept in the fridge for 2-3 days. Reheat the dumplings in the microwave. You can also freeze the dumplings.

Common Problems

• Tapioca Pearl Dough is too sticky– Do not use hot water to soak the pearls. One summer, my mother and I were making tapioca dumpling using hot water. We had partially cooked and very sticky tapioca pearls stuck to our fingers. We couldn't shape the dumplings. It was disastrous. Cold (room temperature) water works the best.
• Tapioca Pearl Dough not forming – let the tapioca pearls sit in water longer. If the dough feel too dry (not sticky), add a teaspoon of water and massage it in. If the dough seems waterlogged, add a teaspoon of tapioca. The ratio of tapioca pearls to water is one to one.
• Dough sticking to fingers while forming the ball – dip hand into water before handle the dough and use more water on your finger as needed.
• Filling won't form ball – add more onions. Make sure that your ground peanuts are not too chunky. Form the filling balls while the filling is still warm.
• Dumpling breaks opened during cooking - The filling wrap is too thin.

Method