Man, yesterday was brutal. Woke up craving har gow but realized my kid’s school play starts in like three hours. No way I’m spending all morning pleating dumplings, right? So I dug through my freezer like a raccoon hunting takeout boxes. Grabbed that store-bought dumpling wrapper stash and decided to experiment.
The Panic Setup
First things first: threw four pork ribs into my Instant Pot straight from the freezer. Didn’t even thaw those suckers. Poured half a bottle of char siu sauce on top and slammed the lid shut. Pressure cooked on high for 25 minutes while I scrambled.
Meanwhile, dumped frozen shrimp into a bowl of cold water. Didn’t peel ’em yet – just let ’em float there like lazy pool toys. Saved me like 10 minutes right there.
Assembly Line Chaos
Found my rusty steamer baskets – stacked all three tiers ’cause I’m greedy. Lined ’em with parchment paper poked with holes using a fork. Genius hack – no sticking disasters today! Mixed shrimp filling fast: whacked thawed shrimp with the flat side of my cleaver, roughly chopped, tossed with sesame oil, pinch of sugar, cornstarch slur. No fancy mincing. Just threw chunks in there.
Now the wrapper trick: soaked store-bought gyoza wrappers in warm water for 90 seconds. Got ’em floppy like fresh dough. Pinched the tops into that har gow shape real quick – who cares if the pleats ain’t Instagram perfect? They sealed, that’s all that mattered.
- Used cold water to wet edges (faster than egg wash)
- Stacked them on cornstarch-dusted plates so they wouldn’t glue together
- Microwaved frozen bao buns wrapped in damp paper towel – 1 minute, boom steamed
The Final Stretch
By now the ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender. Fished ’em out, dumped the sauce into a pan and cranked the heat. Reduced it to sticky glaze while I shredded pork with two forks. Kid walked in drooling – good sign. Steamer was rolling full blast, loaded with lopsided har gow. Set timer for 8 minutes flat.
While those cooked, sliced green onions with scissors over ribs – zero knife cleaning! Filled a mug with soy sauce, splash of chili oil for dipping. Pulled the buns and har gow out right as steam died down. Shoved everything onto bamboo plates.
Total kitchen time? Under 40 minutes, man. Kid demolished three har gow before we even left. Still made the damn school play with burnt soy sauce fingerprints on my hoodie. Victory tastes like lazy shrimp dumplings.