Part 06

How to make Kiin’s thoong thong 

“Chef Artois”—the eight-episode culinary miniseries produced by Toronto Life and Stella Artois—just wrapped up. If you weren’t following along, it’s not too late to catch the cook-off action. We’ve made it easy to binge the whole season. Here, you’ll find links to each of our bite-sized, 12-minute episodes. On “Chef Artois” the contestants have to scramble against the clock while recreating Toronto’s most iconic dishes without a recipe. Now, we’re inviting you to try making these dishes at home—but don’t worry, we’ve published the recipes alongside each episode recap.

Watch the episode

Make the dish

Makes 30 dumplings

Ingredients

  • 11 white peppercorns
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 2 cilantro roots with three-inch stems attached (about 10-15 stems total), thoroughly washed and roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon thin soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
  • 1 medium chicken breast (250 grams), roughly minced
  • 8 medium shrimps, peeled, deveined, and coarsely minced
  • 4 fresh water chestnuts, peeled and finely diced
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 bundle chives
  • 1 package medium-size spring roll wrappers
  • 1 litre canola oil, for deep frying
  • 2 English Cucumbers
  • 2 cups sweet chili sauce

The recipe

  1. Using a stone mortar and pestle, grind the white peppercorns to a fine powder. Add the cilantro roots and garlic and grind to a paste. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add thin soy sauce and oyster sauce to the coriander-garlic paste and mix to combine.
  2. Add the chicken, shrimp, and water chestnuts to the coriander-garlic paste and mix with a large spoon until well combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
  3. In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil over a high heat. When the water is boiling, add the chives and blanch for 10 seconds. Drain, rinse with cold water, wrap in a kitchen towel, and squeeze out excess water from the top to the bottom, making sure to keep them intact. Ensuring that all the water is squeezed out will prevent the chives from getting brittle when you deep-fry them. Lay the chives on a baking sheet and set aside.
  4. Cut the spring roll wrappers into five-inch circles. Cover with a damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out as you wrap the dumplings.
  5. Lay a spring roll wrapper on a work surface. Use a spoon to scoop about two tablespoons of the filling onto the middle of the wrapper. Lift one side of the wrapper at a time, pinching with your index finger and thumb to pleat a little bit of the wrapper at a time to make the bag as tight as possible, until all the edges meet each other at the top. Wrap a chive twice around the gathered part of the wrapper, making sure to leave enough chive at each end to tie a tight double knot. Make sure the knot is tight to prevent the bag from exploding when it is deep-fried. Repeat until all the golden bags are made.
  6. Heat the canola oil in a large pot over high heat. When the oil is hot, working in batches of no more than 10 golden bags, use a slotted spoon to carefully drop the golden bags, one at a time, into the oil. Deep-fry until golden brown, five to six minutes.
  7. Use the slotted spoon to transfer the golden bags to a plate lined with paper towel to drain excess oil. Repeat until all the golden bags have been deep-fried.
  8. Using a julienne peeler, peel the cucumbers to create decorative ridges. Cut the cucumbers into one-inch slices. Using a melon baller, scoop out the center of each cucumber slice to create a little cup to hold the sauce, enough to hold one teaspoon of sauce.
  9. Place a teaspoon of sweet chili sauce into the center of each cucumber slice. Carefully place a golden bag on top of each cucumber slice and serve.