Name: Woo Gok
Yield: 24 Pieces
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: ⅔ cup wheat starch; ½ teaspoon blended whiskey; 6 ounces fresh shrimp, shelled, deveined, washed in salted water, well-dried, and diced into ⅛-inch pieces; 10 ounces boiling water; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon five-spice powder; ¾ teaspoon salt; ⅔ cup lard; 1 teaspoon sugar; 2 eggs, beaten; 1 teaspoon light soy sauce; 1½ pounds of taro root (see note), to yield exactly 1 pound of cooked, mashed taro; ½ teaspoon sesame oil; 4 medium Chinese dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water for ½ hour, squeezed, stems removed, diced into ⅛-inch pieces; 1 tablespoon cornstarch; Pinch of white pepper; 6 ounces fresh pork, diced into ⅛-inch pieces; 1½ teaspoons oyster sauce; 3 tablespoons peanut oil; 4 to 5 cups peanut oil for deep-fat frying

Preparation info

24 Pieces

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Dim Sum Book

By Eileen Yin-Fei Lo

Published 1982

About

Taro root is a traditional food during the Festival of the August Moon, when it is served plain after being boiled. At New Year’s it is finely sliced and fried in chips, similar to potato chips. At other times of the year it is made into dim sum—the fluffy, egg-shaped woo gok—after being steamed and then mashed. I have a particular fondness for woo gok now because I introduced my husband to it when we first met in Hong Kong. It became his favorite dim sum during our honeymoon, and after.