I moved to New York City on the Fourth of July. I got into my sublet, dropped my bags, and took the train downtown in time to catch the giant fireworks display in the East River. Before joining the crowds that were lining the highways, I took a detour through Chinatown for a steaming tray of xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, from my favorite dim sum restaurant I had discovered on a past vacation to the city. It didn’t make sense to me either, ordering a very hot dish on a very hot day in the hottest week of the year. But when I think back on my first year in New York, I think about those soup dumplings and how the crowds at the fireworks were too dense for me to bear, so I took the train back uptown and watched the fireworks on TV.
Since then, I’ve never taken the time to make pork soup dumplings at home, but after coming across a TikTok of a recipe for a deconstructed pork soup dumpling “lasagna” from creator @cookingwithaila, I figured this recipe would be a nice baby step towards the real deal. While untraditional, I was intrigued by its playfulness and gave it a shot, making some tweaks of my own along the way.
Ingredients
Here’s where I started, yielding four servings.
How To Make Dumpling Lasagna
STEP 1: To a medium-sized mixing bowl, I added the ground pork, chopped chives, soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, and salt, and mixed them with my hands to combine.
STEP 2: Next, I lined the bottom of four ramekins or small heat-proof bowls with a sheet of dumpling wrapper, dipping the wrapper in water for five seconds before lining.
STEP 3: Then I added one heaping tablespoon of the ground pork mixture on top of the dumpling wrapper and spread it into a thin layer the width of the wrapper.
I repeated steps two and three, layering dumpling wrappers and layers of the pork mixture, until I had four layers of pork. I finished with a final fifth layer of dumpling wrapper on top, then added two tablespoons of water to the bowl.
STEP 4: I placed my ramekins in a steamer basket on my stove and steamed my dumpling “lasagnas” for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the internal temperature reached 165ºF. Depending on the size of your ramekins, you may have to steam them individually or in a couple of rounds, depending on how many fit inside your steamer basket.
STEP 5: Finally, I let them cool for three to five minutes before topping them with my favorite chili crisp from the LA-based company Boon before digging in.
Chewy, brothy, salty, and flavorful, this deconstructed “lasagna” version of my favorite pork soup dumplings honestly hit the spot, and I thought it offered an exciting spin on flavors and textures that most of us are familiar with. Aila also features a version of this recipe with chicken, prawn, and veggies, and a version that is completely vegetarian, proving that there is plenty of room for variety here.
If you’re a parent with kids that like to be hands-on in the kitchen, this is a great recipe to engage them with, especially when it comes to mixing the pork and building the dumpling “lasagnas” in each ramekin. While this was a compelling departure from a traditional xiao long bao, the next time I’m craving these flavors, I'd be excited to go the extra mile and try making the real thing myself.
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