Chasing Asian Dumplings: Cucur Badak v1 (Sweet Potato, Shrimp, and Lemongrass Dumplings)

Behind The Scenes (BTS) of cookbook making + recipe development

Food feeds nostalgia and I’ve had dumplings on my mind. 2024 marks the fifteenth birthday of Asian Dumplings, my second cookbook. I didn’t think I’d have much of a writing career beyond the first one, let alone have the luck to be in the field long enough to celebrate its quinceañera.

In 2007, when publisher Lorena Jones at Ten Speed Press suggested a book all about dumplings from scratch (including the dough), I was flattered but also challenged. I’d been making wontons and eating Chinese and Viet dumplings for decades but it was another thing to explain all the hand moves for shaping. There are many ‘secrets’ to making dumplings.

Sensing my hesitation, Lorena said, “You can do it because you write complex instructions clearly.” She believed in me, a newly minted author. (Decades later, Lorena would conclude her storied career by editing Ever-Green Vietnamese.)

So I studied up, practiced, and polished the instructions for familiar pot stickers and classic dim sum like taro puffs and sesame balls. Asia is big so I had to include other culinary icons like Indian samosas and Viet chè trôi nước, sticky rice dumplings in gingery syrup.

Making the book involved a month devoted to complex Shanghai soup dumplings (xiao long bao, 小笼包). Here’s one of the XLB pages from my recipe development notebook.

I spent three weeks figuring out how to swipe elastic dough onto a skillet for spring roll skins. My laptop crashed after developing recipes for a chapter full of deep-fried dumplings. I kept it in the kitchen by the stove and the computer fan likely sucked up lots of oily bits in the air. “You put it on a downward death spiral,” our computer technician said.

And, I cracked two front teeth doing dumpling field research.

Despite all that, we made a book with photography by Penny de los Santos and Karen Shinto, illustrations for shaping, and even an enhanced ebook with how-to videos! Sales were great and Asian Dumplings was a cookbook award finalist. Most important, the book demystified dumplings for cooks. You can do it. I can help!

But what exactly is a dumpling?

In Vietnamese, we cast dumplings into the world of starchy foods called bánh — which sounds a bit like its Mandarin kin — bǐng (餅 / 饼). The Maylaysian equivalent is kuih / kueh.

As published, the book’s seventy-five recipes illustrated the joys and marvels of doughy morsels and parcels, many of which contained fillings (Japanese gyoza! Thai saku sai moo! Tibetan momo!) while others were simply mounds of deliciousness (hello Indian gulab jamun!).

I spent about 18 months making Asian Dumplings. My publisher was going through a traumatic corporate buyout. My editor wasn’t fully present. There were long stretches of time between answered emails.

Often times, I was flying by the seat of my pants. But I had a mission: to use dumplings as a means to expand people’s understanding of what Asia is. Asian dumplings aren’t just about dim sum. And, dumplings can connect us through ingredients, techniques, and flavors.

Chasing Asian Dumplings

Before the internet exploded with food content, researching exotic dumplings required rigorous inquiry! My book advance was modest, but that didn’t stop me.

I hustled, asking colleagues about iconic dumplings from their Asian specialties. I ventured to restaurants and markets to explore Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Tibetan, and Vietnamese dumplings. I emailed strangers in Mongolia for help on their iconic dumpling, buzz.

The biggest deal was going to Asia for the full experience. Piggybacking on a Saigon reporting assignment for Saveur magazine, I bought a Cathay Pacific “All Asia Pass” and made my way to Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, and Singapore. I visited places with dumplings that I needed to better understand.

Not on My Hitlist — at First

My first night in Kuala Lumpur (KL), I ate at the hotel buffet. I was tired and figured that if there were dumplings, they would be considered iconic and worthy of investigation.

There were no dumplings. I chatted up two young chefs about Malaysian dumplings. What are your favorites? What should I include?

“You must have cucur badak,” one said. “We don’t make it at the hotel. Street vendors do.” They described them as deep-fried with a savory-spicy-sweet shrimp and coconut filling.

I didn’t know what cucur badak (“choo-choo ba-dah”) were but was down to find out.

My local friends had never heard of the dumpling so they took me to their favorite vendors. Lots of Malaysian dumplings are deep fried. We tried many before finding the cucur badak. They were glorious!

After we celebrated our success with a chile-laden dinner and gin martinis, I had a stomach issue. In the middle of the night, I passed out and cracked two front teeth on the swank hotel bathroom floor. When I came to, I was so embarrassed.

My face was swollen. I Skyped with my husband who didn’t think things looked bad. “You’re not in pain and nothing fell out. Just a little blood,” he observed.

“Dumplings are soft. I can chew on the side of my mouth,” I murmured.

I kept going. First to Shanghai, then to Singapore. My local contacts in both places had never met me in person and I wasn’t looking great. They professionally sympathized. (Food writing isn’t glamorous.) Despite my setback, we went on dumpling crawls.

In Singapore, cookbook author Christopher Tan, vaguely knew of cucur badak but had no recipe. We scoured bookshops but came up short. “Check drugstore racks for recipe booklets,” he said.

He was right. At one drugstore near a Metro station, I found a rack filled with mini cookbooks costing 5 SGD (about 3.5 USD). One publication had a recipe for “sweet potato patties with prawn filling.” Bingo. I was so excited that I bought two copies of the same booklet!

When I returned to California, I used the book and my field notes to develop my own Stateside recipe. Turns out the filling contained dried shrimp, shallot, ginger, lemongrass, fresh chile, and grated coconut. The soft, chewy dough featured sweet potato and all-purpose flour. I had some initial fails but kept at it because there were so good!

Just a few Malaysian staples went into that dumpling to create so much joy. That’s the essence of dumplings, no matter where they’re from, right?

Dumplings are simple foods with few social pretensions.

🤔 So, what do cucur badak look like? Here’s the photo from Asian Dumplings:

Original Cucur Badak Recipe

⚡️ Ready to make some? Below is the well-tested recipe that went into the Asian Dumplings manuscript.

If you have the book, you’ll see that the final version was slightly copyedited and formatted differently. For example, there were no method subheaders in the published version. Space was tight so we used bolded instructions leads instead (“To make the filling, . . .”), which meant scalpel-like edits.

The recipe was nevertheless very detailed, when people weren’t as familiar with say, prepping lemongrass, as they are today. Plus, dumplings seemed harder to make, and I was there to assure cooks along the way. Over time, I’ve streamlined and loosened up my writing style but kept the details. I hope we’re all better for it!

5 Things before you dive in:

1. Dried shrimp is sold at Chinese and Southeast Asian markets in the refrigerated section.

2. Grated coconut: Unless you grate your own(!), shop at a Chinese or Southeast Asian market. Flat packages of grated coconut are sold in the frozen vegetables section. 

3. Yellow-flesh sweet potato (with pale-skin) has lower moisture content for dough that’s not too sticky. 

4. Got leftover filling? Sprinkle it on a mound of rice.

5. Shrimp topping: Having one atop each dumpling is old fashioned you don’t have to do it. If you’re doing the Full Monty, use thin-shelled white shrimp (not tiger or Gulf shrimp).

Cucur Badak: Sweet Potato, Shrimp, and Lemongrass Dumplings 

When making dumplings, remember this — whatever your dumpling looks like, it’ll tasted great. My family, friends and I ate the fails as well as the wins! You can’t get cucur badak just anywhere so go at it. NOTE: For the flour, use 3/4 cup (3.75 oz) for a 3/4-pound potato or 1 cup (5 oz) for a 1 pound potato.

Cucur Badak Original 2009

242KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Makes 16 dumplings

Filling

• 3 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) dried shrimp

• 1 stalk lemongrass

• 1 shallot, chopped (1/4 cup total)

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger

• 1 or 2 red Thai chiles, chopped

• 2 tablespoons canola or peanut oil

• 1/2 cup fresh or thawed, frozen grated coconut

• 1 pinch ground turmeric
  1/2 teaspoon sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Dough

• 3/4 to 1 pound sweet potato (1 medium or medium-large one)

• Generous 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3 3/4 to 5 ounces (3/4 to 1 cup) all-purpose bleached or unbleached flour, plus extra for dusting

• 16 medium white shell-on shrimp, trimmed of feet and tails (use scissors to snip), optional

• Canola or peanut oil for deep-frying

Make the filling

1. Put the dried shrimp in a small bowl, add warm water to cover, and set aside to soften for 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse, drain well, and then roughly chop. Set aside.

2. Trim the lemongrass stalk by removing any hard or loose parts that will be difficult to cut. To do that, peel off any dry or loose outer layers. Then, cut off the bottom part between the end and just below the widest point of the bulbous portion. Finish by cutting off the dry, tough portion at the top. The remaining stalk should be smooth and firm.

Cut the trimmed stalk into 3 or 4-inch sections, then halve each lengthwise. Working with two halves at time, put them cut side down, then cut them crosswise into thin half moons; repeat with the other halves. Finish by roughly chopping with a rocking motion of your knife. Measure 3 tablespoons and transfer to an electric mini-chopper; save the remaining lemongrass for another use.

Process the lemongrass to a fine texture, pausing to scrape down the sides as needed. Add the dried shrimp, shallot, ginger, and chiles. Process to a texture to match that of the grated coconut. Occasionally pause and scrape down the bowl to process evenly.

3. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the dried shrimp mixture and cook,

stirring often, for about 1 minute, until fragrant with the smell of lemongrass and briny shrimp. Add the coconut, turmeric, sugar, and salt, and cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes, until the coconut has absorbed the yellow turmeric color and the overall mixture has dried out a bit and is somewhat fluffy. Remove from the heat, taste and add extra salt or sugar, as needed. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight if making in advance. You should have about 1 cup.

Make the dough

4. Peel the sweet potato, making sure you remove any hard spots that will not mash up later. Cut the potato into 1-inch chunks and then put into a steamer tray.

Steam the potato over boiling water for about 8 minutes, or until tender. Test by stabbing a few pieces with a thin-blade knife. Detach the steamer tray and set aside to cool and dry for 3 to 5 minutes; the potato mashes easily when warm and a drier potato yields less sticky dough.

5. Mash the potato and salt to a smooth texture; remove any stringy or hard bits as you mash. Then incorporate the flour, half at a time, to create medium-firm dough. Use the potato masher or a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients at first and then switch to one hand to knead the dough in the bowl. Gather the dough into a ball and then continue kneading it for 4 to 5 minutes on a well-floured surface.

Initially, as things become hydrated, the dough will soften and become sticky. Work in extra flour as you knead; I typically work in about 2 extra tablespoons of flour. The finished dough should feel medium-soft and supple. Press your finger in and a deep indentation will remain. Cover with plastic wrap or an inverted bowl and set aside to rest for 30 minutes to relax and become earlobe soft. The dough can sit for a few hours at room temperature, but it will soften further and become stickier, requiring extra flour when shaping the dumplings.

Assemble the dumplings

6.  Cut the dough in half, keeping one half covered while you work on the other. Roll the dough into a log and cut it into 8 equal pieces. Dust your hands with flour and roll each piece into a ball; if the dough feels sticky, be liberal with the flour.

7. To make each dumpling, put it on a floured work surface and pat it with your fingers into a circle a scant 1/4-inch thick and 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches wide. Pick it up and press the rim with your finger tips to widen the circle to 3 to 3 /14 inches and to make the edge thinner than the center.

Gently cup one hand and put the dough circle in that hand, placing it toward the fingertips, which will cradle the dumpling as you shape it. Place about 1 lightly packed tablespoon of filling in the center. Gently press on the filling with the back of the spoon to create a shallow well; your hand will naturally cup a little tighter. Use your free hand to gather, pleat, and pinch the dough together to completely enclose the filling. Pinch and twist off any excess dough. If the pleated side feels sticky, press it on some flour. Gently roll the ball between your hands to smooth out the surface. You’ll end up with a 1 1/2 to 1 3/4-inch ball.

Put the ball on your work surface and gently press on it to create a thick disk that is a scant 1 inch thick and 1 3/4 to 2 inches wide. If using the shrimp garnish, finish the dumpling with a shrimp, bending the shrimp to create a C-shape, and press it into the dough to ensure it sticks. Regardless, put the shaped dumpling on parchment paper that has been dusted with flour. Repeat to make more dumplings from the cut pieces of dough before working on the remaining half of dough.

Fry the dumplings

8. Use a medium saucepan, wok, or deep skillet to fry the dumplings. Pour in the oil to a depth of 1 inch and heat over medium-high heat to 325ºF on a deep-fry thermometer. (If you don’t have a deep-fry thermometer, stick a dry bamboo chopstick into the oil; if bubbles rise after 1 to 2 seconds, the oil is ready.)

Fry the dumplings in batches for about 3 minutes, stirring and turning often, until browned on both sides. Take care to adjust the heat in between batches; aim to keep the temperature at or below 325ºF as a higher temperature browns the dumplings too quickly and creates too many large blisters, which affects their appearance, not their flavor. Drain the dumplings on a paper towel-lined platter. Let them cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Leftover dumplings may be refrigerated and reheated in a 350ºF oven for about 10 minutes, until hot. They may be frozen for up to a month too; thaw completely before reheating.