The texture of these fresh pasta products is positively silky in comparison to the commercially prepared kind. Making them by hand is a very time-consuming process, but the result is certainly worth the effort. Commercial dumpling skins (gyoza) will work just fine.

1. Place the flour in a mixing bowl and add the boiling water. With a wooden spoon, mix the ingredients to a rough ball. If the dough is too hot to handle, let it cool a bit; then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and need for about 5 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. If the dough is too sticky, need a few tablespoons of flour into it. Cover the dough and let it rest for 25 minutes.

2. Cut the dough in two and form each half into a long snakelike roll about 1 inch in diameter. Cut each half into 25 pieces. With a cut edge down, press each into a circle. Using a small rolling pin or a tortilla press that has been lightly floured, roll out each piece into a 3-inch circle. Cover the circles with a cloth or towel to prevent drying.

Most of this came from the book Nina Simonds, "Classic Chinese Cuisine", Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1982. It is an excellent Chinese cookbook. The recipes are straight forward and typically pretty easy. It contains nice (often wordy and sometimes slightly dated) descriptions and historical notes.

Eat-L Digest 14 July 96

From the Eat-L recipe list. Downloaded from Glen's Mm Recipe Archive,