Ebi Shinjo (Shrimp Dumplings in Clear Soup)

Instructions

1. At least 30 minutes before starting this recipe, soak 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) in 4 cups water.
2. Now, gather all the ingredients. In this recipe, you'll make two stocks—kombu dashi and awase dashi. Use the kombu dashi for the simmering stock to cook the dumplings. The awase dashi is the clear soup broth that you'll serve into individual bowls with the shrimp dumplings.
3. Peel the skin off the mountain yam and measure 2.5 oz nagaimo/yamaimo (mountain yam) with a kitchen scale. Please weigh it precisely so you don't introduce too much liquid into the shrimp mixture.
4. Cut the mountain yam into smaller pieces, roughly ½-inch (1.25-cm) cubes.
5. Grate the ginger (I use a stainless steel grater from JOC Goods). Measure ½ tsp ginger, with juice.
6. Cut 11 oz shrimp in half sideways and remove the vein.
7. In a medium pot, gradually bring the soaked kombu and water to a simmer on medium-low heat, which helps extract the umami from the kombu. If you have never made stock using dried kelp, check out my Kombu Dashi tutorial.
8. Right before the water reaches a simmer, remove the kombu. Now, you have kombu dashi. You can repurpose the spent kelp by making Kombu Tsukudani. Cover the pot with a lid and set aside while you make the shrimp paste.
9. Put the shrimp and ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt in the bowl of a food processor. Run it for 30 seconds.
10. The chopped shrimp will begin to break down into paste but should still retain some small minced pieces.
11. Next, add the mountain yam, grated ginger, and 2 tsp potato starch or cornstarch. Using the Pulse function, pulse the mixture 10 times. This will help add water to the mixture.
12. Scrape down the side of the processor bowl and check the consistency. You're looking for a light, smooth texture with no minced pieces.
13. Continue just until it's smooth. Don't overprocess, or the mixture will become dense and heavy.
14. Transfer the shrimp paste to a bowl.
15. Heat up the simmering stock (kombu dashi) in a pot to a low simmer. To shape the dumplings, measure a heaping scoopful of shrimp paste (I use a #40 [1½ Tbsp] medium cookie scoop). Then, transfer it to one of two tablespoons.
16. Scrape the shrimp paste from one tablespoon to the other. Repeat a few times to form a ball. Scraping off the dumpling with the spoon edge will create a smooth surface.
17. When you have a nice surface, drop the dumpling into the simmering kombu dashi.
18. Continue to shape the remaining dumplings and add them to the pot. Simmer until they turn pink and register an internal temperature of 145ºF (63ºC) using an instant-read thermometer. Use chopsticks to turn them once in a while for even cooking. Meanwhile, start heating 4 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock) in a pot for serving the soup broth.
19. As the dumplings cook, skim off the scum floating on the simmering stock's surface. This keeps the liquid clear and clean so the debris doesn't stick to the dumplings and transfers to the soup bowls. I love using a super fine-mesh skimmer from JOC Goods as it works great for fish and vegetable broths.
20. Place one shrimp dumpling in each soup bowl (I used a lidded bowl from JOC Goods). Ladle hot soup broth (awase dashi) to about halfway up the dumpling. Garnish with optional yuzu zest and mitsuba (Japanese parsley) with a knot tied in the stem.
21. Serve hot and enjoy!
22. You can keep the leftover dumplings and soup broth in separate airtight containers. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for a month. Defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat until warm.