Chinese Chive Boxes

Ingredients
FILLING:
  • 2 portions Cellophane noodles (70 grams)
  • 300g Chinese garlic chives
    (i cut off the beady heads for these, but its optional)
  • 280g ground pork
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 tablespoons dried (tiny) shrimp
  • 3 grams salt [or to taste]
  • 3 grams chicken powder [or to taste]
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper [or to taste]
  • 2-3 tablespoons light sesame oil

DOUGH:
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2/3 cup hot water
  • 1/3 cup cold water
Instructions
  1. Boil the cellophane noodles until they become soft and transparent. Strain and chop the noodles into small strands (1 centimemter in length). Set aside.
  2. Wash and chop the chives into 0.5 centimemter peices. Set aside.
  3. In a frying pan, cook the ground pork until done. Set aside.
  4. Mix the 2 eggs together and fry until done. Then chop the eggs into small pieces. Set aside.

  5. Set the stove on medium low heat and quickly saute the shrimp in light sesame oil (30 seconds) .
  6. Add in the chives, cellophane noodles, ground pork, and eggs.
  7. Season with salt, chicken powder, sugar, black pepper (to taste). Your filling is now ready. Set it aside while you make the dough
  8. In a big mixing bowl, measure out 2 cups of flour. Pour in 2/3 cup of hot water and using chopsticks/spatula, quickly mix the water and dough together until it forms clumps. If the dough is too hot to work with, let it cool for a while.
  9. Start kneading the dough, slowly adding cold water to it until it forms a smooth ball (you may not use up the 1/3 cup of cold water).
  10. Cut the dough into pieces weighing 40 grams each.Roll the dough out into a circle. Spoon the prepared filling onto the dough.
  11. Fold the dough in half, cutting off the uneven edges with the sides of a bowl. Pleat to seal the edges.

  12. Heat a non-stick saute pan over medium heat. Brush with olive oil once hot. Add in the chive boxes and pan fry about 2-3 minutes per side until it's nice and golden.

  13. LOW-FAT Chive Boxes (what i did)= place the chive boxes directly onto a heated non-stick pan WITHOUT any oil. Heat on both sides until the crust is crisp and golden.