小笼包 Mystery - Solved!

People who have eaten 小笼包 with me would perhaps remember that I've always wondered how they get the soup inside and what its made of. I've found out! Passed by a supermarket on the way home today and saw how its done in a chinese cook book.

The answer is... LARD JELLY. Yes. Lard as in pork fat. There goes another of the foods that I thought were healthy enough to eat without guilt. Basically its melted pork skin and some people add a little agar to it so its solid before you actually steam the dumpling. Saw a picture of it in the book. It was whitish looking -_-" The lard is the reason why the dumpling is so fragrant. So its indispensable!

Maybe its really true that yummy things are unhealthy. After finding out that instant noodles were deep fried I couldn't look at them the same way again. Now its 小笼包 which is so delicious! We'll see what happens the next time I eat it. Luckily they come in small servings :)