A rather special form of dumplings. 西湖肉燕 (xī hú ròu yàn) means "West Lake Meat Swallows*". 肉燕 (xī hú) or West Lake is a beautiful lake in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province in the east of China, near Shanghai. 肉燕 (ròu yàn) are best known as being from Fujian Province to the south of Zhejiang. But there is a crucial difference betweeen their rou yan and those of Hangzhou.
The skin of the dumplings in both versions is called 肉皮 (ròupí), literally "Meat Skin". This is made by pounding meat to a paste and adding starch and glutinous rice flour to make something very similar to that known in Japan as すり身 or surimi, a term also now used in English. Basically it is the same stuff as used to make fake crabsticks etc. In Fujian, the roupi is made from pork, but in Hangzhou it is made from fish and other seafood.
These are stuffed with a bizarre mix of meats and vegetables including chicken, duck, pork, seafood, water chestnus, bamboo shoots etc. They also have some spices and chilli.
I'm sure you can imagine this a fairly labour intensive process, so most people buy them frozen, as did I. Oddly, the cooking instructions on the package recommended them being boiled for 5-10 minutes. Quite a range! I split the difference (nearly) and did them for 7 minutes and was pleased with the results. Served with a soy and chilli dipping sauce.
10 in the picture above, but I ate 20.
They are normally served in soup, but I'm not normal.
* "swallow" as in the bird.
