Giew Nam (Dumpling Soup)

What could be better than fragrant pork stuffed wontons in a savoury broth topped with crispy fried garlic? I love this recipe and it's a firm favourite in our house. It doesn't take as much time to make as you might expect and is just what you want on a dark wintery evening. There's a clear Chinese influence with this dish but with a subtle twist to make it firmly Thai. Enjoy slurping your way through your bowl of giew nam, just make sure there's enough for a second bowl!

For 4 bowls of giew nam use:

• A pack of wonton dumpling skins (I buy them frozen but leave them to slowly defrost still sealed in their packet throughout the day)
• around 300g of pork mince
• a fist size chunk or thereabouts of napa cabbage, very finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• a few springs, stalks and roots of coriander
• a spoonful of oyster sauce
• a small splash of soy sauce
• a big pinch of black pepper
• 3 spring onions, sliced finely
• 300ml of chicken stock
• half bulb garlic, cloves peeled and chopped finely
• a big glug of vegetable oil for frying the garlic

Make a quick paste out of the 3 garlic cloves, coriander and black pepper and mix this well with the pork mince. Add in the oyster and soy sauce and then the chopped napa cabbage and mix into a smooth paste.

Take up a wonton skin and dipping your finger into a small cup of water, wet lightly around the edges of the skin. Place a walnut sized ball of the pork mixture in the middle and press the sides evenly together, sealing in the meat- if you want to be fancy, try pleating the edge! Leave them to one side for now...

Heat the vegetable oil in a small pan on a fairly low heat. Add in all of chopped half bulb of garlic- it should gently sizzle. Cooking it over a low flame will take about 5-6 minutes to turn the garlic crispy and light golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to scoop out the garlic and drain onto kitchen paper.

Heat a large pot of water until boiling and working in batches, gently place the prepared dumplings into the water. As they cook, they will rise to the surface. Three minutes should do it.

Scoop them out and place to one side on a large plate. Don't try and drain all the water off them- keeping them in some of the residual hot water will stop them sticking to the plate and each other.

Heat the chicken stock and when ready to serve, quickly heat the dumpling up in the stock for a couple of minutes before ladling out a helping of the broth with 8 or so dumplings in. Sprinkle over the chopped spring onions and a good helping of the crispy fried garlic. 

Don't forget to add chillies or rice vinegar if you would like and eat as the Thai's do with soup dishes- use a spoon for the broth and chopsticks for the noodles (or wontons in this case)

Khanom Jeeb (Thai Style Steamed Dumplings)

Khanom Jeeb are the Thai interpretation of Chinese Sui Mai (steamed pork dumplings). There are usually some minor differences between the Chinese and Thai versions such as the use of white pepper and coriander root. For my version, I’ve decided to use the Chinese ingredients but add Thai herbs and flavours to the mixture and dipping sauce…

Depending on the size you make them, my recipe should do about 40-60 dumplings, halve the ingredients for less/ double up for more…

• A pack of yellow dumpling skins (sorry this is one you will need to go to an Asian grocers for)


• Half a packet of pork mince (roughly 300g)


• Half a tin of water chestnuts, cut into a fine dice


• A small handful of Chinese black fungus, soaked in boiling water until re hydrated then chopped into fine strips (optional and another specialist ingredient)


• 4 spring onions, finely chopped


• 2 red chillies, finely chopped


• 3 cloves garlic


• 1-2 stalks of lemongrass (ends trimmed, outer layers removed and the rest very finely diced (most supermarkets sell it fresh now)


• A thumb sized piece of galangal, very finely diced (some supermarkets sell this- morrisons does) or if is often sold in jars)


• A pinch of sugar


• a good splash of fish sauce (nam pla) all supermarkets sell it

Stir the ingredients (apart from the dumpling skins!) in a bowl until all the ingredients are well mixed.

Make a circle shape with your thumb and forefinger and lay a dumpling skin over the top. Take a heaped spoonful of the mixture and place it in the centre of the skin, letting it fall into the well you’ve made. Shape the skin around the filling and use a clean spoon to level off the top Repeat- many times! When you’ve used all your ingredients up. Place the finished dumplings in either a greaseproof paper lined bamboo steamer or concoct a similar version with a colander/sieve- just remember to line it otherwise you’ll leave most of the dumpling skin behind! Steam the dumplings, in batches if needed, for 10 minutes over rapidly boiling water.

While the steaming is going on, make a quick dipping sauce…

• finely chop a few red or green chillies


• put them in a small bowl with a good splash of soy sauce


• and a smaller splash of fish sauce


• with a pinch of sugar and stir well.

and serve!