Sariling Sikap Hakaw - Shrimp Dumplings

Hakaw or shrimp dumpling is an all-time classic favorite by everyone with or without allergies from seafood. What's that on your hand? Anti-histamine?! Drop it, lady!

What is hakaw or shrimp dumplings?
Noun.
Minced shrimp with other ingredients put in the middle of a wrapper, formed to perfection and then steamed on bamboo for your pleasure.
Best paired with chili garlic.
And lots of steamed rice.

So. My dear friend, Kathy, who believes we should all learn to cook (she says we can start by watching Cooking with Dog in YouTube) has embarked on this journey of making hakaws. Hakaws from scratch. Yes. She wants to make everything herself. I was fine with being the audience but I realized there is audience participation required that is not just taste testing. :( 

Ingredients for Wrapper:

- Tapioca Starch (note that after research, we found out that it's the same as tapioca flour)

- Wheat Flour (if you only found whole wheat flour, your hakaw is going to be brown and that's weird)

- All Purpose Flour (we used this instead because whole wheat flour made our hakaw brown :( duh )

- oil

- sweat salt

Healthy Options is dang expensive.
Go to Ongpin instead!

Ingredients for Filling:

- minced shrimp

- other additives, we used turnips because it's the only one we got our hands to

- sesame oil

- salt

Filling - chop everything and mix it well. Tadah! Haha. 

Wrapper - mix the starch and flour and add boiling water. Put oil and salt and start kneading like your life depended on it. 

Bamboo steamers available at Gourdo's for the feeling-sashall.

We also bought a bamboo steamer to make life so much cuter. So after flattening the dough and spreading it out, look at that beautiful thing!

Prettiest hakaw I have ever seen. Don't you dare tell me I'm biased.
I am clearly not.

When we got tired doing the tiny round dumplings, we decided to go machine-like and be dumpling queens. We purchased gyoza makers and used our cutesy tiny rolling pin (it's also available at Gourdo's masking under the name "fondant rolling pin") to form uniform flat dough to put in the plastic molder. In no time we were dehumanized and made 2 dozens dumplings without noticing. 

Making this removed the fun. And the hunger as well.

Yeah? Proof that bamboo steamers are better? Look how "cold-looking" the steamer below is:

Bamboo steamers win.