Crystal dumplings (水晶饺子 – shuǐjīng jiǎozi) got their name from the beautiful translucent look of the dumpling wrappers.
Although not quite as common or popular as crowd favorite, har gow shrimp dumplings, you’ll see these beauties on carts in restaurants with a bigger dim sum selection.
Delightfully chewy and delicate in flavor, you’ll want to learn how to make this Cantonese dim sum favorite at home.
Note: This recipe was originally published in March of 2018. We have re-tested and improved the recipe in March 2022 in response to reader comments. We have also re-photographed it and added metric measurements. If you’d like to reference the older version of the recipe, it’s at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!
What Makes a Crystal Dumpling
While crystal dumplings are similar to har gow dumplings, har gow are made with more opaque white wrappers (our recipe uses wheat starch and cornstarch).
It’s the addition of tapioca starch (a root starch, unlike wheat starch and cornstarch) that makes the translucent look of crystal dumplings possible.
Tip!
If all this talk about various starches confuses you, check out our rice and flours ingredients page for more information!
We do use wheat starch in these dumplings, however, as it gives the wrapper structure and makes the dough easier to work with.
We adapted the recipe for the dough in particular from this Chiuchow Dumpling recipe on a great YouTube channel called Souped Up Recipes, making very slight changes in measurements and proportions according to our own testing and experience. It’s a lovely dough that’s easier to work with than starch-based doughs we’ve made in the past!
As for the filling, this recipe uses seasoned pork, fragrant shiitake mushrooms, carrots, and bright green spinach.
This creates a mix of colors peeking through the wrapper, making these dumplings as pretty as they are delicious.
While the vibrant colors definitely make for an impressive presentation, once you bite into one of these tasty little dumplings, you’ll find that you may just have a new favorite Chinese dim sum!
FAQs
That’s a great question, and a tricky one! Certainly, you can use gluten-free oyster sauce for the filling (Lee Kum Kee makes a GF oyster sauce—look for the green panda label). However, when it comes to the wrappers, we do use wheat starch. Wheat starch is technically just the starch, isolated from the flour—with the gluten removed. This is likely fine if you have a gluten sensitivity rather than a serious allergy or Celiac’s (though you should always consult a doctor first!). However, some products marketed as gluten-free do contain wheat starch, as long as the wheat starch is what’s called “Codex” wheat starch, which has less than 20 ppm of gluten.
You can find these ingredients in most Chinese grocery stores. If you don’t have one locally, you can find these ingredients at some online retailers!
You can pan-fry these dumplings using Method 2 on our How to Cook Dumplings Post. You can also steam them on a heatproof plate set on a rack in any pot with a lid that will accommodate it (see our How to Set up a Steamer post), though this is not ideal for dumplings, as condensation will form and drip on to the dumplings and the dish.
While you don’t need a digital scale to make this recipe (we provide US customary measurements), we suggest using metric measurements for the best, most accurate results! Just click the “metric” button below the ingredients list in the recipe card!
Crystal Dumplings: Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Make the Dough for the Wrappers
In a bowl, whisk together the wheat starch, tapioca starch, and cornstarch.
Add exactly 1¼ cups of water to a medium pot along with the vegetable oil. Cover and bring to a boil. The second it comes to a boil, immediately remove it from the heat (you don’t want too much of it to evaporate away).
Immediately add about a third of the starch mixture to the just-boiled water in the pot, and stir vigorously with a stiff rubber spatula or wooden spoon. The starch will begin to form both opaque and translucent lumps.
Add another third of the starch mixture and mix it for 1 minute until you get a paste-like consistency.
Finally, add the rest of the starch and mix for 2 minutes until it forms a shaggy dough. It will look dry, with some starch still not mixed in. Cover the pot tightly, and rest the dough for 5 minutes.
Lightly dust a clean, dry work surface with some cornstarch. Uncover the pot and begin kneading the dough with the rubber spatula, folding it over repeatedly for 3 minutes. Dust your hands with cornstarch and knead the dough by hand on the work surface until it is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. The dough should now be smooth, pliable, and relatively stretchy.
Roll the dough into a log about 1½ inches thick and 15 inches long, dusting the work surface lightly with additional cornstarch as needed.
Divide the dough into about 36 pieces, each about 12-14g (a digital scale helps!).
Keep the dough pieces from sticking using a light dusting of cornstarch, and cover them with a large overturned bowl while you make the filling.
Step 2: Make the filling
Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for about 2 hours to rehydrate. Finely dice them.
Fill a wok or medium pot about halfway with water, and bring to a boil. Also prepare an ice bath.
Add the spinach and/or leafy greens to the boiling water, and stir for 15-30 seconds until just wilted. Use a Chinese spider or metal strainer to transfer the blanched greens to the ice water bath. Then use the strainer to remove the greens from the ice bath, squeeze the leaves dry, and set aside on a cutting board.
Next, add the diced carrots and mushrooms to the boiling water, and stir for 1 minute. Transfer to the ice water bath.
Finely chop the cooled spinach greens and put them in a bowl along with the drained carrots and mushrooms. Add the ground pork, Shaoxing wine, cornstarch, salt, sugar, white pepper, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and vegetable oil. Mix until well combined.
Step 3: Assemble the dumplings
Dust a rolling pin with cornstarch. On a surface lightly dusted with cornstarch, roll each piece of dough out into a round disc about 3 to 3½ inches in diameter.
Add about 1 tablespoon of filling (about 14g) to the center of the wrapper.
You can either wrap it like a traditional dumpling (see our post on how to fold dumplings in 4 different ways), or you could create a triangle or four-sided shape, as shown. Continue assembling until you’ve used all the wrappers and filling.
Step 4: Cook!
Next, place the dumplings in a bamboo steamer lined with perforated parchment paper.
Steam the dumplings over boiling water at medium-high heat for about 6 minutes, until translucent. (See our post on how to use a bamboo steamer, or how to steam food without special equipment if you don’t have a steamer.)
If you like, you can also use our pan-frying method to cook these (see how to cook dumplings, method 2).
Serve these crystal dumplings immediately with some hot chili oil on the side! (You can refrigerate any leftovers and steam them for a few minutes to reheat. See make-ahead tips below as well!)
Make-ahead Tips!
These dumplings can be assembled ahead and refrigerated for up to 24 hours, or frozen on a sheet pan (with the dumplings spaced apart and covered) until solid, and then transferred to an airtight container or freezer bags. To cook from frozen, do not thaw, simply steam for an additional 1-2 minutes.
Steamed Crystal Dumplings
Ingredients
For the crystal dumpling skins:
- 14 tablespoons wheat starch (14 tablespoons = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons)
- 3/4 cup tapioca starch
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch (plus more for kneading)
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
For the crystal dumpling filling:
- 4 medium dried Shiitake mushrooms
- 3 cups baby spinach (or other stemless leafy greens)
- 1 small carrot (finely diced)
- 8 ounces ground pork (or hand-chopped)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Instructions
Make the dough for the wrappers:
- In a bowl, whisk together the wheat starch, tapioca starch, and cornstarch.
- Add exactly 1¼ cups of water to a medium pot along with the vegetable oil. Cover and bring to a boil. The second it comes to a boil, immediately remove it from the heat (you don’t want too much of it to evaporate away).
- Immediately add about a third of the starch mixture to the just-boiled water in the pot, and stir vigorously with a stiff rubber spatula or wooden spoon. The starch will begin to form both opaque and translucent lumps. Add another third of the starch mixture and mix it for 1 minute until you get a paste-like consistency. Finally, add the rest of the starch and mix for 2 minutes until it forms a shaggy dough. It will look dry, with some starch still not mixed in. Cover the pot tightly, and rest the dough for 5 minutes.
- Lightly dust a clean, dry work surface with some cornstarch. Uncover the pot and begin kneading the dough with the rubber spatula, folding it over repeatedly for 3 minutes. Dust your hands with cornstarch and knead the dough by hand on the work surface until it is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. The dough should now be smooth, pliable, and relatively stretchy.
- Roll the dough into a log about 1½ inches thick and 15 inches long, dusting the work surface lightly with additional cornstarch as needed.
- Divide the dough into about 36 pieces, each about 12-14g (a digital scale helps!). Keep the dough pieces from sticking using a light dusting of cornstarch, and cover them with a large overturned bowl while you make the filling.
Make the filling:
- Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for about 2 hours to rehydrate. Finely dice them. Fill a wok or medium pot about halfway with water, and bring to a boil. Also prepare an ice bath.
- Add the spinach and/or leafy greens to the boiling water, and stir for 15-30 seconds until just wilted. Use a Chinese spider or metal strainer to transfer the blanched greens to the ice water bath. Then use the strainer to remove the greens from the ice bath, squeeze the leaves dry, and set aside on a cutting board.
- Next, add the diced carrots and mushrooms to the boiling water, and stir for 1 minute. Transfer to the ice water bath.
- Finely chop the cooled spinach greens and put them in a bowl along with the drained carrots and mushrooms. Add the pork, Shaoxing wine, cornstarch, salt, sugar, white pepper, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and vegetable oil. Mix until well combined.
Assemble the dumplings:
- Dust a rolling pin with cornstarch. On a surface lightly dusted with cornstarch, roll each piece of dough out into a round disc about 3 to 3½ inches in diameter.
- Add about 1 tablespoon of filling (about 14g) to the center of the wrapper. You can either wrap it like a traditional dumpling or create a triangle or four-sided shape (see photos). Continue assembling until you’ve used all the wrappers and filling.
Cook the dumplings:
- Place the dumplings in a bamboo steamer lined with perforated parchment paper, and steam the dumplings over boiling water at medium-high heat for about 6 minutes, until translucent. Serve these crystal dumplings immediately with some hot chili oil on the side!
Tips & Notes:
nutrition facts
OLD VERSION OF THE RECIPE
For those who prefer the old version, or would like to compare it against the new, the original recipe is printed below. The dough wasn’t as easy to work with, so we adapted our new version from a Chiuchow Dumpling made by Souped Up Recipes (check out her videos!), which is wonderful, and much more pliable.
For the wrappers
- ½ cup + 5 teaspoons potato starch(93g)
- 1½ cup wheat starch (64g, plus 1 cup/128g, divided)
- ½ cup room temperature water (112g)
- 1⅓ cup boiling water (300g)
For the filling:
- 4 medium dried Shiitake mushrooms(15g, soaked in hot water for 1 hour and finely diced)
- 1½ cups spinach or other stemless leafy greens (100g)
- 1 small carrot (50g, finely diced)
- 3 ounces finely minced pork (85g)
- ⅛ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt (you can use less if you plan on dipping these in soy sauce or various chili oils)
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1½ teaspoons oyster sauce
- 1½ teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Mix the 93 grams potato starch, 64 grams wheat starch, and ½ cup water in a small bowl until thoroughly combined.
- Bring 1⅓ cups of water to a boil, preferably in a nonstick pan. Once the water is boiling, remix the potato and wheat starch mixture, and slowly pour it into the boiling water while stirring quickly with a spatula or wooden spoon. If you’re not using a non-stick pan, we found using a metal spatula works better. Continue to stir and cook the mixture until it solidifies (5 to 10 seconds). Remove from the heat.
- Pour 1 cup of wheat starch onto a flat surface, and scrape all of the cooked dough from the pan on top. Use the spatula since the dough is still hot and sticky. Slowly work the dough into the wheat starch, until the dough has cooled enough to work with your hands. Then knead the dough and flour together until you have a smooth ball. Cover with a clean kitchen towel to rest.
- Now it’s time to make the crystal dumpling filling. Finely dice your rehydrated mushrooms. In a wok or medium-sized pot, bring 3 cups of water to a boil. While that’s happening, prepare a bowl of ice water.
- Add the spinach and/or leafy greens to the boiling water, and stir for 30 seconds until just cooked through. Use a Chinese spider or metal strainer to transfer the blanched greens to the ice water bath. Once cool, strain the greens into a colander and squeeze out the excess water. Set aside on a cutting board.
- Next, add the diced carrots and diced mushrooms to the boiling water, and stir for 60 seconds or until just softened. Transfer to the ice water bath.
- Finely chop the cooled spinach greens and put them in a bowl along with the drained diced carrots and mushrooms. Add the minced pork, sugar, salt, white pepper, sesame oil, oyster sauce, vegetable oil, and cornstarch. Mix until well combined.
- Roll out the crystal dumpling dough into a long cigar, and cut it into 12-gram pieces. Roll each piece out into a round disc about 3 to 3½ inches in diameter.
- Here’s where you can get fancy with folding your crystal dumplings or simply fold the dough in a half circle. Just make sure you pinch the openings closed firmly! You can fold them in the shape of har gow or make the standard pleats you would for most of our dumpling recipes. We decided to use a pleated fold with the pleats at the top, which is common at the dim sum restaurants that serve up these crystal dumplings.
- The finished dumplings can be placed on a perforated sheet of parchment paper (a large square or on individual squares) brushed with oil–set on a bamboo steamer, or a heat-proof plate that fits into a pot / metal steamer. Steam the dumplings over high heat for 3-4 minutes, until translucent.
- Serve these crystal dumplings immediately with some hot chili oil on the side! These crystal dumplings do reheat in the steamer very nicely after refrigeration, but it’s always best to eat them fresh.
