Tapioca Dumplings with Sweet Lime

These are great to prep ahead for dinner parties as a starter; cook when ready to serve.

Serves 2–4 as a starter

Makes 20

Prep time — 30 minutes

Cooking time — 10 minutes

For the filling

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

50 g (1¾ oz) carrot, cut into 5 mm (¼ in) cubes

40 g (1½ oz) cauliflower, cut into 5 mm (¼ in) cubes

40 g (1½ oz) okra, sliced into 5 mm (¼ in) discs

40 g (1½ oz) sugar snap peas, cut into 5 mm (¼ in) cubes

¼ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon nutritional yeast

For the spring onion oil and sweet lime sauce

juice of ½ lime

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Yondu vegetable umami sauce, Homemade Vegan Fish Sauce or soy sauce

1 bird’s eye chilli, sliced thinly at a diagonal

For the dough

100 g (3½ oz) tapioca starch, plus 20 g (¾ oz) for dusting

65 ml (21/5 fl oz/generous ¼ cup) boiling hot water

In a frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Fry the garlic until slightly golden, then add the carrot, cauliflower, okra, and sugar snap peas. Season with salt, sugar, and nutritional yeast. Fry for 3 minutes, then set the filling aside to cool.

Follow the instructions to make the spring onion oil in a medium frying pan. Set it aside.

Combine the ingredients for the sweet lime sauce and divide it into dipping bowls.

In a bowl, add the tapioca starch. Using a wooden spoon, slowly stir in the just-boiled water in a circular direction until well combined. Once it forms a dough, quickly knead the hot dough with your hands until it becomes a smooth ball. Roll it into a sausage shape and cut it in half. Slice each half into 10 pieces (approximately 12 g or scant ½ oz each).

On a floured board, use a rolling pin to roll out a disc of dough to a thickness of 3 mm and a diameter of 8 cm (3 in). Place a teaspoon of filling in the center, fold the dough over it to create a half-moon shape, and pinch the edges together to seal. Set the dumpling aside in an airtight container and repeat the process with the remaining dough and filling.

To cook the dumplings, bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Gently place enough dumplings, one by one, into the pan, ensuring they fit without overcrowding. Use a pair of chopsticks to separate them and prevent sticking. When the dumplings float to the top (around 3 minutes), cook for an additional minute, then remove them from the water using a spider or slotted spoon and transfer them to the fryingpan with the spring onion oil. Coat in the oil to prevent them from sticking together.

Spread them out on a serving plate, smother them with more spring onion oil and serve immediately with the sweet lime sauce.

NOTE

The trick with the dough is to be as fast as you can. Have a wooden spoon ready to mix so, as soon as you pour just-boiled water into the flour, get mixing and then quickly get your hands kneading. Don’t lose a second.