Siew Mai

Ingredients

40 to 50 large wonton wrappers

For the pork and shrimp filling -

700g minced fatty pork (I used pork neck steaks)

2 tablespoons corn starch

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons Shaoxing Huatiao wine

1 teaspoon Maggi Seasoning Sauce or Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

80g peeled water chestnuts (canned)

4 large Chinese mushrooms (soaked for 2 hours)

400g whole shrimp (cooked, peeled and de-veined)

1 small carrot or 3 tablespoons of salmon roe or 3 tablespoons of salted egg yolk

For the glutinous rice filling -

2 sticks of lap cheong (Chinese sausage)

200g raw glutinous rice

40g shallots (sliced)

1 small piece of ginger (minced)

4 tablespoons cooking oil

30g dried shrimps (soaked overnight in boiling water, chopped)

20g dried scallops (steamed for 20 mins, remove intestine if any, sliced)

5 pieces Chinese mushrooms (soaked and sliced)

3 tablespoons water (use the water used to soak the scallops)

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 tablespoons Shaoxing Huatiao wine

ground white pepper to taste

Preparation

To prepare the pork filling -

Mince 700g of pork and place them in a large mixing bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of corn starch, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of ground white pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of Maggie Seasoning Sauce or Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons of Shaoxing Huatiao wine and 2 tablespoons of sesame oil.

Roughly chop 80g of water chestnuts into fine pieces. I used canned ones.

Chop 4 large Chinese mushrooms into fine pieces too.

Add the water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pork mixture. Mix all the ingredients well to combine.

Finely dice a small carrot. These will be placed on top each pork siew mai to garnish. Use salmon roe or salted egg yolk if preferred.

Set aside the pork mixture and the diced carrots till ready to wrap dumplings.

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To make the glutinous rice filling -

Soak 2 lap cheongs (Chinese sausages) in boiling water until the skin is separated from the meat. Remove the skin from the lap cheong and cut them into small dices.

In a large sauce pan over medium-high heat, pan fry the lap cheong dices until they are golden but not brown. They should be a lovely red.

Follow the instructions at Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf (http://cooking.storyofbing.com/2010/07/glutinous-rice-in-lotus-leaf-2/) and prepare the glutinous rice. Once the rice and other ingredients are stir fried till fragrant, add the pieces of fried lap cheong and set aside to cool.

–

Prepare the ingredients necessary for the wrapping of the dumplings.

Start by placing a sheet of wonton wrapper on a flat surface. Place a small teaspoon of filling in the centre of the wonton wrapper.

Dap finger in some water and gently wet the sides of the wonton wrapper.

Gather the wonton wrapper with the filling in the palm of hand and squeeze gently while folding the wrapper skin upwards and against the filling so that the wonton wrapper wraps the filling tightly.

Make sure the dumplings are tight. Otherwise they may fall apart while being steamed. Use more water to seal them if necessary.

Place a large shrimp on the top of each pork siew mai.

Add a few pieces of chopped carrot or salmon roe or salted egg yolk to add a fresh colour to the dumpling.

Do the same for the glutinous rice siew mai, adding more lap cheong pieces on the top if preferred.

Place the dumplings in a steamer lined with baking paper. Cut some holes through the baking paper to let the steam through.

Place the steamer over boiling water for 14-15 minutes or until the filling is cooked.

Serve hot.

Uncooked dumplings may be frozen and steamed at a later date. Dust some flour in a container so that the dumplings won’t stick to it.

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About

I have to admit I was feeling quite out of my normal mind when I decided I was going to spend an afternoon doing this. But I had just had dinner at a friend’s house and she had served home-made siew mai and it had seemed easy enough. I’d thought it would be a special treat for the hubby.. so I made not one, but TWO types of siew mai. I made pork and shrimp ones, and glutinous rice ones.

They are slightly laborious but aren’t difficult to make. And they are absolutely delicious. Feel free to add your favourite ingredients or omit stuff you don’t like. That’s the marvelous part about making your own dumplings.

For a step by step tutorial on how to make these dumplings, go to - http://www.storyofbing.com/2012/11/siew-mai/