#Xiaolongbao

20251028 #breakfastdiary day 1544, 2°C/clear, 20min/exercise (M) Xiaolongbao (小笼包) means, in Chinese, a bao (bun/dumpling) steamed in a xiaolong ('small bamboo steamer'). Unlike regular dumplings, its defining feature is the hot broth/juice inside the filling. It's also a signature Shanghai dish. With xiaolongbao this large, the standard etiquette is to slurp the broth out with a straw first — hence the nickname '#StrawDumplings' at major tourist spots in Shanghai. Instead of pork, I used shiitake mushroom, which somehow has a pork-like texture — though thinking about it, since I made the vegetable-stock jelly with gelatin (which is made from pork), it technically ends up being made with pork after all. Approx. 247kcal #xiaolongbao

5 shiitake mushrooms, 1/2 onion, 1/2 scallion (chopped), 1t soy sauce, 1T cooking wine, 1T oyster sauce, 1t garlic, 1t ginger, (vegetable stock jelly) 1/2 vegetable stock cube (Star Dado), 3 sheets leaf gelatin

1. Dissolve 1/2 vegetable stock cube in 200g boiling water. Add the leaf gelatin, pre-soaked for about 3 minutes, mix thoroughly, and set in the fridge overnight to firm up. 2. Chop 5 shiitake mushrooms, 1/2 onion, and 1/2 scallion, add 1t soy sauce, 1T cooking wine, 1T oyster sauce, 1t garlic, 1t ginger, and the vegetable-stock jelly (which will provide the 'broth'), and mix thoroughly. 3. Fill the dumpling wrappers with the xiaolongbao filling from step 2, seal completely, and steam for 10 minutes. 4. Take out of the steamer, poke in a straw to sip out the broth, then eat the dumpling.

Inspired by @othingsss