Sweet & Savory Salted Egg Taro Dumplings

A taro bun remade into tiny bite sized taro dumplings filled with buttery salted duck eggs, taro and lightly sweetened with condensed milk.

Whenever I am craving a specific type of steamed bun I pull out my dumpling wrappers from the freezer and throw together the filling and stuff them into dumplings instead. As much as I love eating steamed, soft and fluffy bao (buns) there are days when I just want a quick fix.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think making dumplings is a quick process but I save a bit of time by buying dumpling skins instead of having to make the bao (buns) from scratch. I also love bite sized chewy snacks, it gives me a bit more control on how little or how much (whole tray) I want to eat!

 

 

These little salted egg taro dumplings really hit the spot whenever I am craving a taro bun. It’s lightly sweetened with a bit of condensed milk, slightly salty from the buttery salted duck eggs and creamy from the condensed milk, coconut cream and taro. Definitely not an everyday kind of snack since it’s a bit heavy but awesome as a treat for yourself and some friends to share. 🙂

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS

For this Sweet & Savory Salted Egg Taro Dumplings, most ingredients can be found at an Asian grocery store.

 

 

For the dumpling skins, make sure you are not buying wonton skins. If you look at the ingredients, it shouldn’t contain any egg in it. Dumpling skins are generally thicker than wonton skins and are beige in colour (not yellow).

 

You can find taro at any Asian grocery store. I have also found these in Indian grocery stores and sometimes even my local grocery store as well!

 

Salted duck eggs will be available at an Asian grocery store. I don’t recommend buying them online because they are quite fragile and may arrive broken. I have also noticed that online sellers seem to mostly sell fully cooked salted duck eggs instead of the raw ones as well and for most recipes you usually want the raw salted duck eggs.

 

 

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Protect Your Hands From Raw Taro

While you are peeling the taro (I like to use a vegetable peeler), make sure you use a cloth or towel to wrap and hold on to it instead of holding it with your bare hands. If you have sensitive skin, the starches may irritate your skin and make it feel itchy.

 

WARNING! Taro MUST Be Fully Cooked Before Consumption!

Once the taro has been peeled, chop them into 2 inch chunks and boil it in water. It is important that the taro is cooked well done before you start making the filling because taro that has not been fully cooked contain a high amount of calcium oxalate which can cause kidney stones or gout.

 

 

Boil them for approximately 20-25 minutes and use a knife to poke through the taro it to see if it is fully cooked. There should be absolutely no tension and the knife should be able to cut through it very easily like melted butter. If it still feels tough or has a bit of tension when you cut it, then continue to cook it for 10 minute intervals until it is soft.

 

Folding Taro Dumplings into Goldfishes!

Unfortunately, once you cook them, they won’t look like gold fishes anymore 😛 but I find this type of fold helps with keeping it’s shape better in the pan which means less of a chance to rip or stick to the pan! 🙂 Here’s how I fold taro dumplings into goldfishes.

 

 

For this type of fold to work, you will need to buy square dumpling skins.

1. Use water to wet the edges of the dumpling skin (this will be the glue) and fill the dumplings with the taro filling (I usually use about 1 1/2 teaspoon of filling). Do not over-stuff these little guys or they will be tough to fold together. Pressing the wet edges together will make it stick together.
2. Once you have a triangle formed, gently flatten it out the filling with your fingers. This will make it easier to twist the end together.
3. Hold the dumpling with folded seam facing you and the filling facing outwards and dab a bit of water onto one side of the dumpling.
4. While holding the ‘wings’ of the dumplings with your finger and thumb, press your fingers towards each other until the ‘wings’ overlap and then press down where you dabbed the water to hold it in place.

 

 

Dippy Dip Dip for Your Taro Dumplings?

If you enjoy dipping your taro dumplings, a few things I find go well with these are:

• Plain Coconut Cream
• Condensed Milk with a Dash of Cinnamon (Slightly watered down with a bit of milk so it’s not super thick)

 

 

Experimenting and finding unique things to stuff into dumplings is FUN! 🙂

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