Early this month, we had the privilege to go to Dong Bei Restaurant in Binondo to taste their dumplings for the first time. So much has been written and said about this down-to-earth Chinese restaurant so off we went to it that day.
But wait!
We were delighted to see that the storekeepers are making some Xiao Long Bao in Northeastern China style (Dong + Bei in Chinese means East + North = Northeast. In English, it is commonly know as Manchuria.) when we visited so we sat for a while to observe.
It is noticeable that the Northeastern China's Xiao Ling Bao's shape is different from the one's that we've seen. In Shanghai, a Xiao Long Bao is noticeably smaller and rounder with thicker wrappings. Juicy. And the best I've ever tasted too.
Anyhoo, let's try and see how these gorgeous cuties are made.
The wrappers are made from flour mixed with water. At first, it looked like a white thick dough and from it the storekeepers pinched the amount enough to create a flat wrapper. In the Philippines, it looked like a round bilo-bilo. And then they used the rolling pin to flatten those white stuffs out.
Of course, the Xiao Long Baos won't be legendary without the meat and the soup inside 'em which their patrons crave about. (One of them is me.) I wasn't surprised to hear that the meat filling is made of ground pork, some vegetables and the fat jellies! These fat jellies turn to soup when heated and thus making Xiao Long Bao one of the tastiest and the juiciest dimsum ever created in the planet.
They secured the meat inside the wrapper by pressing on the edges and locking it with water.
And then they created some creases on top that I've never seen made on other Xiao Long Baos. Unique!
Fluffy yeah?
Now it's time for some steamin'. And then we're ready for some ass-kickin' Northeastern Chinese lunch.
Enjoy!
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