Gok Jai: Savory Steamed Chicken Dumplings, a Nut-Free Dim Sum Recipe

Our Longdu Family’s Favorite Steamed Savory Dim Sum

My family makes a savory, steamed dim sum dish called 角仔 “gok jai”. The meat, dried shrimp, and veggie filling is wrapped with a wheat starch and tapioca starch dough, shaped into a half-moon crescent with a decorative rope-braid edge (like empanadas). Gok jai are peanut-free and tree nut-free.

There was one time I saw an item called 中山粉果 “Zhongshan Fun Gor” on a menu at a dim sum restaurant. Both of my parents are from Zhongshan in the Guangdong Province (hi to all my Longdu cousins). I was surprised to when the Zhongshan fun gor were gok jai, just like the ones my family makes. Another way to reference these dumplings is 咸角仔 “haam gok jai” (haam means salty).

Gok Jai Filling Ingredients

One advantage of learning how to make gok jai or any kind of dumpling is that you know exactly what are the ingredients inside the dumpling. Savory gok jai dumplings are usually filled with finely minced pork shoulder, Chinese sausage (lop cheong), dried shrimp, water chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms, dried turnip/radish, onions, and scallion.

Ingredient Swaps for This Recipe

Over the years, I’ve made a few ingredient swaps due to dietary preferences, our food allergies, and availability of ingredients.

• Due to my own dietary needs, I swapped the minced pork shoulder with ground chicken. You can use ground pork or ground turkey instead of ground chicken if you prefer.
• Also, instead of using traditional lop cheong (Chinese sausage) that is made from pork, I buy chicken and pork lop cheong for a lower fat option.
• I recommend using small-sized dried shrimp for this recipe. I have medium-sized dried shrimp which are a little bit too big for this recipe. After a 2-3 minute soak in water, I drain and rough chop them. If you’re not sure about the sizing of your dried shrimp, then use as-is if they’re smaller than a pea or give them a rough chop if they’re bigger than a pea.
• I don’t use water chestnuts for this recipe. Fresh water chestnuts are difficult to source and are time-consuming to prep. Instead, finely diced jicama is an excellent substitute because it is much easier to buy and faster to prep than fresh or canned water chestnuts.
• One of my sons is allergic to mushrooms and I omit shiitake mushrooms for him. But because shiitake mushrooms are delicious in this recipe, I included instructions in the recipe notes. If you want to learn more about how to buy and prep it, I have more details on my recipe for a Chinese vegetable stew. Some people also like adding rehydrated and chopped wood ear mushrooms.
• I like dried salted turnips in gok jai but I don’t want to buy an entire bag of it to use a tiny amount in this recipe. If you happen to have it, rinse off the excess salt and mince (~1/2 cup) and I would add them into the filling mixture with the chopped scalions.

How to Make a Wheat Starch Dough for Crystal Dumplings

Gok jai dumplings look white and opaque when raw. But after they’re steamed, the wrapper will have a translucent appearance, like har gow (shrimp dumpling). Because these types of dumplings have an almost see through wrapper, they’re sometimes referred to as crystal dumplings.

I make the wrapper by mixing wheat starch, tapioca starch, and boiling hot water. While it’s possible to make the dough from all wheat starch, the resulting wrapper might tear apart easily. The tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour) will make the wrapper a little bit firmer and less likely to fall apart.

It’s possible to prep and stir-fry the filling ingredients in advance but not the wrapper dough. Once you make the hot water dough, you must assemble the dumplings while the dough is still warm and soft. The dough is pliable and easier to work with when it’s still soft and warm. Allow a 20-40 minute wait for the hot water dough to cool. Make the wrappers, assemble the gok jai, and steam them during the same cooking session.

Make a hot water dough

Combine the starches and boiling hot water in a large heatproof bowl. You can also use a 4 quart or larger pot with a lid. Pour the hot water slowly in a circle over the starch and use a wooden spoon or chopsticks to stir to combine at the same time. Continue to stir the dough until the dough is a shaggy rough dough.

Then cover the bowl with a dinner plate or lid and wait for the dough to cool down 20 to 40 minutes so that it’s temperature-safe to touch. Covering the dough with a dinner plate or lid prevents the dough from drying out.

Safety precautions about hot dough

Be certain to use a large heat-proof mixing bowl or a 4 quart or larger pot with a lid. You will also want to place the bowl (or pot) on a damp towel to keep the bowl in place. Also be mindful of pets, small children, and other people around your work area.

Since the dough is made with boiling hot water, I wait at least 20 minutes before kneading the dough. Pinch the dough gingerly with your fingertips to check the temperature. Never plunge your hand into the dough until you’re certain it’s temperature-safe. If you have a food thermometer, use it to check that the temperature is 110°F or less before kneading.

I wear a food-safe glove, coat it with some oil as I add oil to the hot water dough. If the dough is hotter than expected, the oiled glove slips out out easily. And if not, I can take my hand out of the glove. I do not want to have gobs of boiling hot dough stuck to my bare hand. I’m so cautious, I like to wear a nitrile glove over a kitchen cut-resistant glove or cotton gloves to protect my hand from the direct heat.

You will want to knead until the dough is mostly smooth. Break up any dry clumps of starch in the dough. Pat and shape the dough into a circle and divide it into quarters. Cover the bowl of dough in order to keep the dough warm and pliable.

Gok Jai Assembly

Add a few tablespoons of wheat starch, tapioca starch, or even cornstarch to a small bowl. When your fingers are sticky, dip your fingertips in the starch to dust your fingers. Sometimes when you’re assembling the dumplings and pinching them close, the edges will stick to your thumb or fingers instead of sealing shut. Dip your finger tips into the bowl of starch and you should be able to pinch the dumpling edges together.

Making the wrappers

Take a quarter of dough out of the bowl and roll the dough into a log. Pinch off lumps of dough approximately the size of a large cherry tomato and roll them into balls. You should expect to make 12-15 evenly sized dough balls per quarter of dough. If you have a digital scale, the dough balls should weigh approximately 25 grams.

I use my mom’s tortilla press lined with parchment paper to flatten the dough balls into wrappers. Using a tortilla press is the easiest way to press the dough into a 3.5-inch round. If you notice that the side closer to the hinge is thinner than the side closer to the handle, flip the wrapper over and press again so that the circle is evenly thin. Once the dough is flattened, it might dry out fast so just flatten a few dough balls at a time.

• If you don’t have a tortilla press, flatten a dough ball with the heel of your palm into a cookie shape. Then roll the dough into a flat, thin, circle with a small wooden rolling pin. A tapered rolling pin is even better because you want the outer edges to be a little bit thinner.
• If you want to flatten the dough ball by hand, then flatten the dough with the heel of your palm into a cookie shape. Then use your fingers and thumb to press the dough into a flat or cup-shaped circle.

The Actual Number of Dumplings Made Might Vary

It’s very common to make dumplings as a group activity but then there’s more variability in the results. You might end up using all the dough and have some leftover filling or vice versa, use up all the filling and have extra dough. Here’s what happened during my recipe testing:

Recipe test round 1:

My mom, son, and I made approximately 48 dumplings and we had a lot of filling leftover. I tried to make the dough balls evenly sized but I think each person had a different filling style.

• I tend to put as much filling as possible into the wrapper and have enough experience/finesse to seal them shut.
• My mom’s preference is to put in as little filling as possible because she likes eating the wrapper more than the filling.
• My son’s filling style is probably more in between the two of us. He tried to put a little more filling than my mom but not as much as I do so that he could seal the dumplings.

Recipe test round 2:

Since I had so much filling leftover from the first round of recipe testing, I increased the dough recipe by 50%. To be consistent, I weighed each of the dough balls (~30 grams each). I asked everyone to fill the dumplings as best as they could. We made 75 dumplings with all of the filling and most of the leftover filling from the previous recipe test.

Recipe test round 3:

I decided to go back to the original dough recipe and did not weigh the dough balls. But I made them a little smaller (approximately 25 grams) and we got better at adding more filling to each dumpling. We made 58 gok jai and used up all the wrappers and all but 1 tablespoon of the filling.

Recipe test round 4:

The goal of this recipe test is to see if someone else could follow the recipe. This recipe is not a beginner recipe but it’s also not hard if you have all the information you need.

My son cooked and seasoned the filling and he made and kneaded the hot water dough. During the assembly, he divided the dough into balls, tried the three methods to flatten the wrappers, and assembled the gok jai. I acted as sous chef/assistant and between the two of us we made 55 dumplings in 3 hours.

I estimate that this recipe will yield approximately 50 to 55 gok jai dumplings. The actual number may vary depending on the size of your dough balls, who is making dumplings with you, etc.. It all sounds complicated but remember that the gok jai will be delicious even if imperfect, and the time together learning something new is precious.

What to do if you have extra wrappers or filling?

If you have extra filling you can easily eat it as is or add it to rice or fried rice. I find it a lot easier to have extra filling, it’s not a problem at all.

I did not know about what people do with the extra wrappers. My mom always stretched the filling and added less filling until all the dough was used up.

My friend asked me about a dish called silver needle stir fry and where to order it. I learned that it’s a Toisan (a neighboring Cantonese region) dish where they shape wheat starch dough into 3-inch long “needles” with tapered tips. Then they either steam or boil the “needles” and then stir fry them with meat and vegetables. It’s totally ingenious. I did find it at a restaurant but only saw it on the menu on my way out the door. I need to go back and try it.

How to Save Time Making This Recipe

I have made these gok jai dumplings many times. But I didn’t blog about it because it’s a lot of information to share, hence this super long post. But everytime I make it without a written recipe, I have to go through the long mental process of remembering how. Sharing this recipe on the blog helps me too!

The biggest time-saver is to recruit help from family or friends when making this recipe. In order to make a satisfying amount of Chinese dumplings, people usually make them as a group activity. However, with more hands in the kitchen, results may vary but practice makes perfect.

The first time I made this recipe for the blog, it took me 6.5 hours which included discussions and wrapping demonstrations with the family. After streamlining the recipe for efficiency, I was able to cut down the time to 3.5 hours with extra hands to help with the wrapping.

Overview of time efficient recipe steps

Instead of making all the filling ingredients first and then making the hot water dough and wrappers, I streamlined the recipe in the following way:

1. Set up all the equipment needed so that once you start wrapping the dumplings, there’s minimal wait time to start steaming. I have lots more details with steamy cooking tips.
2. Prep all of the filling ingredients and then set aside.
3. Make the hot water dough, which requires a 20 to 30 minute waiting time for the dough to cool enough to knead without scalding yourself.
4. While waiting for the dough to cool down, stir fry and season the filling ingredients and then set aside to cool down.
5. Go back to the hot water dough and if cool enough to handle, knead and shape into small balls in batches to flatten into wrappers and fill the dumplings.
6. With a lot of help, you might finish wrapping all the dumplings faster than you finish steaming them, which is fine.
7. While you finish steaming all of the dumplings, I use the time to clean up and wash dishes.
8. You might notice that people gravitate to different tasks. I usually take responsibility for prepping the filling, kneading the dough, preparing the dough balls, steaming the dumplings, and wrapping in between everything else. My son would use the tortilla press to flatten a few dough circles whenever they ran out, my mom focused only on making the dumplings. Figure out what everyone likes to do is how you will find your efficiency sweet spot.

Prep ahead tips:

You can also save time by prepping the filling ingredients ahead of time. It takes me about 30 minutes to prep and chop everything. Stir frying the filling ingredients takes about another 20 minutes. That’s a good stopping point, cover, and refrigerate the filling.

I strongly do not recommend making the hot water dough or wrappers ahead of time. When you make the dough, it’s important to keep it from drying out. It’s not possible to make the hot water dough in advance. Only make the dough when you’re ready to assemble and steam, and you need to work quickly.

Can you double the recipe?

Yes, it’s possible to double the recipe to serve a large group of people or to have some extra dumplings to have on hand for snacks or breakfast during the week. It’s easy to double the filling the recipe and stir-fry it in a large 12-14 inch frying pan.

For the hot dough wrapper, I find it challenging to make just one batch because the ingredients just fits inside my largest mixing bowl with enough room to knead the dough in the bowl. And timing-wise, it’s a race to fill all the wrappers while keeping everything warm and supple.

If I wanted to make a double batch in one session, I would make a batch of wrappers following this recipe and when we are between 50-75% done with using up the dough, I would make another batch of hot water dough. Be sure to allow the at least 20 minutes for the hot water dough to cool down until it’s safe to handle.

Add the filling and shape the gok jai

Place the round wrapper in the palm of your hand and cup it slightly. Add approximately 1 to 1.5 tablespoon of filling to the center of the wrapper. Leave a 1/2 inch border without any filling and try to keep the edge dry and free of filling. Cup your hand a little more and gently pinch the edges together to form a half-moon shape. If you have difficulty pinching the edges together because the dough sticks to your fingers, dust your fingers with starch.

To make a decorative rope-braid edge, gently pinch the edges again to taper the edge so that it’s slightly thinner. Starting with the end that is closest to your free hand, use the side of your thumb to fold a small triangle down diagonally and pinch with your index finger at the same time and repeat as you move to the other end.

Serve, store, freeze, and/or reheat

How to serve: The dumplings are best served freshly steamed and still hot. Because they’re already seasoned, we usually enjoy them plain. You could serve them with some soy sauce or chili oil, typical dim sum condiments, on the side. Typically people eat 6-9 pieces of dim sum as a meal and maybe 3 pieces as an appetizer or snack.

How to store leftovers: I usually wrap the plates of steamed dumplings with a plastic wrap and refrigerate. It’s best to eat them within 2 to 3 days.

The easy way to reheat the gok jai is to microwave them for 30-60 seconds. Your exact timing may vary depending on how many you reheat and your microwave’s wattage. The dumplings are ready to eat when warm and the wrapper is soft. If the microwaved dumplings still seem dry or hard, drape a damp paper towel on the dumplings and microwave for another 30 seconds.

The best way to reheat the dumplings is to steam them for 5 minutes. This is the best way when you want to reheat an entire plate of gok jai.

If I were to freeze them, I would freeze them flat and not touching each other on a parchment paper lined tray until they’re frozen solid. Then transfer the frozen gok jai to a freezer bag, layered with parchment paper to minimize them sticking together. Freeze up to one month and reheat by steaming for 8-10 minutes (an estimate, you should open one to see if it’s heated through).

Allergy Aware Gok Jai

This recipe is free of peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, and fish as written.

The recipe does use sesame oil for flavoring but you can easily omit that or stir in a spoonful of sunflower seed butter with the cornstarch slurry, if not allergic to sunflower seeds.

I also season with soy sauce, which contains soy and wheat. If allergic to soy, you can make my soy-free soy sauce recipe which is free of top 9 allergens. If you’re only gluten free, you might be able to make this recipe with gluten free versions of wheat starch, tamari sauce, and Chinese sausage.

This gok jai recipe is not safe for someone with a wheat allergy since wheat starch is a primary ingredient. However, my mom did mention that when she was in China, it wasn’t always convenient to buy wheat starch and people used glutinous rice flour instead. That sounds difficult to me but maybe my mom and I can figure this out.

My favorite flavor is oyster sauce. If you’re allergic to oysters, then try using a vegetarian “oyster sauce” made from mushrooms. Or you can omit oyster sauce and substitute with half soy sauce and half sugar instead.

This recipe also uses dried shrimp and if allergic to shellfish, then you can omit the dried shrimp and use an extra lop cheong or swap in finely diced carrots for color (cook them with the onions and jicama).

Someone in our family is allergic to mushrooms so I left shiitake mushrooms out of the recipe. See the recipe notes for instructions on how to use dried shiitake mushrooms in the recipe notes if you would like to include them.

Shopping for Ingredient Notes and Confusing Names

I want to be sure that you’re able to buy the wheat starch and tapioca starch at your local Asian market and included the Chinese names so you can point to them for help finding the products or at least be able to know what to look for on the package.

Wheat Starch

The only brand of wheat starch available at my local Asian markets is the Red Lantern brand. I cannot find additional information about allergen cross-contact. It seems to work with our family’s nut allergies as I also use wheat starch in rice noodle roll recipes. There are certified gluten-free wheat starch products available but I haven’t made Asian dumplings with them to know if it’s a good substitute.

The starch is called 小麥澱粉 (xiǎomài diànfěn in Mandarin) or 澄麵粉 (chéng miàn fěn). But I know it as 桐麵粉 (tóng miàn fěn). Apparently all of these terms are interchangeable.

Tapioca Starch

The recipe also calls for tapioca starch. I usually use the Erawan brand (with the elephant logo) or the Flying Horse brand, distributed by Walong. Look for the characters 西米粉 or 菱粉 on the package. Both brands are made in facilities without top 9 allergens.

Typically tapioca starch is a product derived from a cassava root (also known as yuca or manioc) and the Chinese characters for tapioca starch is 西米粉 (“say may fun” in Cantonese and Xī Mǐ Fěn in Mandarin). However, on the Flying Horse package, the Chinese characters under the word tapioca starch says 菱粉 (ling fun) which apparently is slang for tapioca starch. Traditional 菱粉 ling fun refers to a starch made from water calthrop.

If you need additional recommendations about ingredients, please read about what’s in my cupboard.