Fuxin Buckwheat Donkey Meat Dumplings 阜新荞面驴肉蒸饺

Fuxin Buckwheat Donkey Meat Dumplings (阜新荞面驴肉蒸饺) are large steamed dumplings from Fuxin (阜新), Liaoning, with a wrapper of buckwheat flour and a filling of lean fresh donkey meat. The Liaoning Department of Culture and Tourism lists them among the featured foods of the eastern line of its dragon-culture study-tour route.

How it is made

The wrapper is made from buckwheat flour. The filling uses lean fresh donkey meat as its main ingredient, seasoned with more than ten supporting condiments, among them sesame oil, ginger juice and ground cumin.

How it is eaten

Once steamed, the big buckwheat dumpling is torn open. According to the provincial culture and tourism department, a thick, golden, oily juice then runs out of the meatball inside, which it describes as agate-coloured.

Where it comes from

Buckwheat flour, milled from ripe buckwheat grains with the hulls removed, is the base of a whole family of Fuxin foods. The Fuxin Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio and Television counts dozens of dishes made mainly from it in the Fuxin area and names the donkey meat dumplings first, ahead of bomian (拨面) noodles, "cat's ear" soup (猫耳朵汤), buckwheat potstickers, buckwheat pockets (荞面合子) and steamed buckwheat rolls. The bureau presents this buckwheat series as one of its Ten Best Fuxin Foods (阜新十佳美食).