Har Gow

Har gow (xiājiǎo) is the dumpling against which Cantonese dim sum kitchens are most directly judged. The dictum in Cantonese food culture is that if you want to assess a dim sum chef's skill, order the har gow — it has nowhere to hide.

The skin is not made from conventional wheat flour but from a mixture of wheat starch (chéng fěn, from which gluten has been removed) and tapioca starch, combined with boiling water. The boiling water gelatinises the starch immediately, producing a dough that is extensible and slightly sticky but structurally weaker than a gluten-containing dough. This means it must be rolled very thin, handled carefully and pleated with precise technique — a skin that is too thick fails aesthetically; one that is too thin tears when lifted. The finished skin is semi-translucent: through it, the pink of the prawn should be visible. Seven to ten pleats along one curved edge, pressed against an unpleated edge, is the traditional technique.

The filling is deliberately minimal: whole or halved raw prawns (tiger prawns or similar, not small broken shrimp) with sesame oil, a little salt, white pepper and a small amount of thinly sliced bamboo shoot for textural crunch. The bamboo shoot also absorbs excess liquid from the prawn, preventing a watery interior. Nothing else is added — the filling's simplicity is the point.

Har gow are always steamed, never fried. They arrive in bamboo steamers of three or four dumplings. They should be eaten immediately: the skin deteriorates as it cools and becomes sticky and gummy. A dumpling that tears on chopstick pressure, has an opaque skin or a filling that tastes of freezer is a reliable indicator of kitchen standards.