Pinsec frito

There was an older entry of a recipe for pinsec frito but this is a much better version. I can’t remember anymore where I picked up the idea of adding small cubes of tofu to the filling. Must have been one of the cooking shows in the Discovery Travel & Living Channel.

Pinsec frito, in a nutshell, is fried dumplings. You can use ordinary siomai wrapper, the square ones, but since they are paper thin, stuffing them with the filling and then sealing the edges can be a pain in the neck. They have this horrible tendency to break during the procedure. The round wrappers, really meant for serving the skin of roast Peking duck, are thicker and serve the purpose better. They puff up during the frying too so that the cooked dumplings have a wonderful texture.

Ingredients :

250 g. of ground lean pork
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp. finely minced garlic
1/2 tsp. of grated ginger
1 small tofu, cut into very small cubes
1/4 c. of finely chopped wansuy (cilantro)
1/2 tsp. of pepper
1/2 tsp. of salt
1 tbsp. of light soy sauce
1/2 tsp. of sesame seed oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
25 pcs. of dumpling wrapper
3 c. (or more) of cooking oil

Cooking procedure :

Mix together all the ingredients, except the dumpling wrappers and cooking oil. Pour in the beaten egg, reserving 1 tsp. Using your hands, mix thoroughly.

Add 1 tbsp. of water to the remaining beaten egg and stir to form an egg wash.

Separate the dumpling wrappers. Fill each wrapper with 1 tsp. of the filling, keeping the filling on one side of the wrapper. Wet the edges with egg wash and fold in half, pressing the edges together. Lightly sprinkle both sides of each filled wrapper with flour.

Heat enough cooking oil in a skillet or wok for deep-frying, about 1-1/2″ to 2″. Deep-fry the dumplings in batches. Fry both sides until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve with sweet and sour sauce on the side.

For the sweet-sour sauce :

3 tbsp. of vinegar (you may need more if using mild-strength vinegar)
6 tbsp. of sugar
1 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of chili sauce (Tabasco is ok)
1 tbsp. of tomato paste
1 tbsp. of cornstarch
1 c. of water
sesame seed oil

In a small saucepan, mix together all ingredients for the sweet-sour sauce. Set over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until thick and clear.