Sea Urchin Dumplings

Sea urchin dumplings are a Jiaodong-Liaodong seafood dish, the fresh urchin roe mixed with pork and egg into a filling wrapped in thin dough and boiled, the filling golden, smooth and sweetly savoury, one of Dalian's finer seafood noodle dishes.

Sea urchin dumplings grew from the use of urchin by fishing families along the Jiaodong and Liaodong coasts; Dalian's waters yield fine horse-dung and purple urchins, and locals mixed the roe with pork and egg into dumplings, making them a signature of the Dalian seafood table.

Boiled and eaten hot, with a little ginger-vinegar to lift the freshness, the golden filling is smooth and sweet without any fishiness, most often tasted in Dalian's seafood restaurants or specialist dumpling houses.

The golden smooth urchin-roe filling, the sweet, clean flavour and its place as a fine seafood noodle dish are what define sea urchin dumplings.