Shu Mai

I haven't been to proper yum cha in soooooo long. And despite lots of delicious food at the Langham buffet i went to this week (chocolate Naan anyone?), the shu mai were mushy and flavourless. Remedy: make my own!

To be honest, one might say i've never had much luck making dumplings. One new year i made pot stickers which stuck irrevocably to the pot, and a mushy, squishy shu mai, and have made xiao long bao that, despite being tasty, looked and had a texture more akin to steamed pork roll. Since then i've learnt that shu mai filling should never see the inside of your food processor! And with these shu mai, i didnt have to worry about getting the dumpling skin right.

Ingredients (Makes around 35)

• 350gm ground pork
• 350gm shelled and deveined prawns
• About 1 heaped tbsp canned bamboo shoots, chopped finely
• 5 shiitake, rehydrated and chopped finely
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 3 shallots, minced
• 1 tbsp corn flour
• 1 tsp sesame oil
  
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp mirin
• 35 wanton wrappers
  
• Carrot, for garnish
• Soy sauce for dipping

Method

Chop the prawns finely but do not resort to the food processor. 

In a large bowl, mix prawns, pork, bamboo shoots, shallots and ginger. Mix really well.

Add the wet ingredients and mix through.

Add corn flour and mix through.

Get a wanton wrapper and put one heaped tsp of the filling into the centre

Make a rough circle with your thumb and index finger, and place the wanton wrapper and filling ontop.

Push the filling through the hole between your fingers, to form a 'basket' around the filling.

Flatten out the top, and the place finished dumpling down to flatten the bottom.

Repeat until all filling / wrappers are used.

Steam in bamboo baskets for 20 minutes or until cooked.

Eat eat eat!