Seagull at Southbeach & Rice Bar & Bowl

INGREDIENTS

Stuffing

• Onion (diced small)
• Minced pork
• Shrimp (diced small)
• Chinese sausage (diced small)
• Hot dog (diced small)
• Canned corn soup
• Oyster sauce (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
• Sugar (to taste)
• Black pepper (to taste)

Pastry

• Wheat Starch
• Margarine
• Sugar
• Taro / Yam (*old/matured)

COOKING

Stuffing

• Fry all stuffing ingredients together in a hot wok until slightly dry (cannot have liquid dripping as it will break the pastry skin).
• Oyster sauce, sugar, salt and black pepper can be adjusted to own preference.

Pastry

• Taro needs to be washed and cubed and then steamed to cook and soften the taro.
• Cooked taro is then mashed and mixed together with other pastry ingredients and kneaded into a doughball.

Assembly

• Knead the dough into small round shapes the size of the palm with an indent in the middle.
• Spoon the stuffing into the indent.
• Gather the edges and formed into desired shaped (usually elongated egg shape).

Frying

• Frying the shaped and filled woo kok is the hardest and most tedious part of the cooking.
• Tips from Chef Chor is to drop a small piece of the pastry dough into the hot oil to determine if the oil’s temperature is right as the spider web crust will not form if the oil temperature is too low or the crust will tear off if the oil temperature is too hot.
• Lower the woo kok into the toil slowly one by one using a slotted spoon.
• Another tip from Chef Chor is to immerse the woo kok once in a while during frying to ensure that the spider webbed pastry pattern is formed and not break off.
• Fry until golden brown and leave it on a frying rack to allow excess oil to drain off.
• Serve while hot

Chef’s Profile

Khun Tarit Wannadao was born in Songkhla, Thailand. He is more affectionately known as Chef Chor or Pa Chor (ป๋าชอ). He left schooling at a very young age due to poverty and found his passion for cooking at the young age of 13, when he first joined the famed restaurant group, Hai Tien Lo in Bangkok as a busboy.

Chef Chor demonstrated immense passion and was quick to learn. Within three years he was promoted to Chef De Partie, specializing in the steaming station. He became the youngest Chef De Partie at the time at only 16 years old.

Chef Chor then left for Khon Khaen after seven years with Hai Tien Lo and at Khon Khaen later joined Kosa Hotel as a Chinese Chef specialising in the Dim Sum menu. After 5 years with Kosa Hotel, Chef Chor then found the calling to travel.

He has travelled to countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan and China, working with different Chinese restaurants and competing in local competitions, all the time honing his skills and knowledge and building a rapport and reputation in the Chinese Cuisine industry. 

Chef Chor finally decided to come back to Thailand in 2020 due to the COVID Pandemic and joined HOMM Bliss Southbeach Patong as Chinese Chef in 2021.

Introduction / History

Crispy Taro Puff, Taro Croquettes or Woo Kok is a variety of dim sum and is one the standard dishes served or made available at most Chinese dim sum restaurants. The dish is believed to have originated either from Hong Kong or China’s Guangdong province. It can be simplified as puff pastry dumpling which is usually stuffed with char siew (minced Chinese BBQ pork) and the outer is made from mashed taro (yam).

Seagull @ Southbeach Woo Kok

When Banyan Tree Founders, Mr. Ho Kwon Ping and Madam Claire requested to taste Chef Chor’s dim sum, Chef Chor found out that Mr. Ho did not like the usual woo kok that was stuffed with minced Chinese BBQ pork. He therefore started to test with several different ingredients and finally came up with his own recipe for the stuffing of the woo kok that is sold at Seagull @ Southbeach today. Chef Chor’s own recipe proves to be a success as the dish is now a favourite with many customers.