Crab Dumplings with a Coriander Sauce Vierge

I absolutely love dumplings but the problem is, cooking them from scratch is a mission of its own.
I however found myself home alone recently, and a mission was exactly what I needed to pass time quicker before the return of my other half.
The ingredients list is actually quite short, but because you need to prepare the dough, the filling, the sauce, and cook the dumplings at the end, some organisation is needed.

Serves 4

Step 1: Prepare the dough

- 250g of flour
- 1 cup of lukewarm water
- 1/2 tsp salt

Start by mixing together the water, the oil and the salt. In another bowl, pour the flour. Form a well and pour half of the liquid. Stir, and slowly add the remaining liquid mix. The mixture should form a ball that will be a bit sticky but able to easily hold itself.
Cover the bowl with cling film and let it rest for 30 minutes (You can actually prepare step 2 and 3 during this time).

Once the dough has rested, start kneading for about 10 to 15 minutes. The dough should become elastic and you should be able to stretch it without it breaking.


Step 2: Prepare the filling 

- 200g Crab meat
- 4 Spring onions
- 2 Lemongrass stalk
- Coriander
- 1 thumb sized piece of Ginger
- 2 Limes
- 2 tbs of Soy Sauce

Chop all of your ingredients and quickly blend them using a fork. This will separate the crab meat fibres and give the mix a more homogenous texture.


Step 3: Prepare the sauce

- 4 Fresh Tomatoes (diced)
- 2 Lemons
- Olive Oil
- Coriander
- Salt

Add salt to the diced tomatoes to extract their juices. Add in the lemon juice, olive oil, and chopped coriander.


Step 4: Prepare your wrappers

Put the dough on a floured surface, and spread it as thinly as possible with a rolling pin. Spreading the whole batch of dough really thin might prove difficult, so I would recommend to quarter it first, before rolling each ball individually.

Once you think the dough cannot be stretched anymore, use a pastry cutter to make round wrappers as shown on the picture.

Keep the rolling pin out, and just before adding the filling to your wrappers, re-roll the wrappers once more; you'll be amazed to see they can still be made much thinner.


Step 5: Prepare your dumplings

Take a wrapper, put the equivalent of a teaspoon of filling on the upper half of the circle, and fold the wrapper in two. Use a wet fork fork to seal the edges.


Step 6: Cooking and platting of the dumplings

When you're ready to eat, warm up a pan of boiling water, and add no more than 6 dumplings at a time. Once they start resurfacing, take them out of the water using a slotted spoon. Put them on a plate and finish with a drizzling of sauce.