I can imagine how radiant the smiles were when Dexter Chou and Linda Hung resumed their stall recently at the Mullumbimby Farmers Market. Radiance Kitchen and its dazzling display of dumplings had, like much in the region, been victims of the recent floods, their base, home and garden for the past 11 years in Mullumbimby inundated to the point where the couple were forced to flee. Currently in South Golden Beach, they are waiting for repairs to enable them to return, and the garden, source of many of their dumpling fillings, to be revived.
For now, it’s back to business as usual. Dexter and Linda’s exquisitely hand-rolled dumplings in their variety of colours – colours dyed naturally, using turmeric, butterfly pea flower, kale powder and dragonfruit – owe much of their success in the region to the fact their skins are gluten-free. Unsurprisingly, given the region, the most popular filling is the vegetarian one, followed by shrimp, chicken and pork. Dexter tells me that the best way to eat them is to wait a couple of minutes after steaming as ‘the dough will be more elastic and tasteful after the skin cools a little.’ He says he finds joy in new flavour discoveries and new visual appeal and, his customers will be pleased to hear, doesn’t think he will ever stop ‘creating new filling fusions or dumplings.’
You can buy takeaway packs of their frozen dumplings – a great idea for instant meals – though most people buy them freshly steamed, placed on a tray and provided with their home-made gluten-free kimchi and soy sauce.
As for that laborious, delicate handiwork– the rolling, folding, pleating, pinching of the silken dough – Dexter says he never gets bored, that the process ‘heals my body, mind and spirit.’ Being from Taiwan, he continues, dumplings are already an important part of their lives. ‘The gluten-free dumplings we make are exactly (how) we give dumplings a brand new start so that more people can enjoy them, and we hope that we can shine on this path like our name, Radiance Kitchen.’
