Steamed Pork & Shrimp Siu Mai 燒賣

Traditional Cantonese Siu Mai 燒賣 dumplings are steamed pork dumplings that often include shrimp and mushrooms and are topped with minced carrots, green pea, or fish roe. This type of dumpling is popularly enjoyed in Dim Sum restaurants or at street food stalls. They are called siu mai because in Chinese, Siu Mai means "to sell quickly" and they usually do because they are such a tasty food that is easy to make and even easier to eat! At the dim sum restaurant, they will usually come in a bamboo steamer, whereas in a street stall, they may be served in a cup with skewers to eat, or served already on a skewer for easy travel and eating!

For me and my hubby, siu mai is a dish that we always ordered whenever we went with our families and friends to dim sum, a staple that you simply need to get in order to have a complete and satisfying dim sum experience. Other dim sum staples include cheung fun (steamed rice noodles) and har gao (crystal skin shrimp dumplings). Since the start of the COVID19 pandemic, I have been slowly learning to recreate our favorite dim sum dishes at home, from ha cheung (steamed rice noodles with shrimp) to lo bak go (steamed/pan-fried turnip cake), and now siu mai!

Try some of my other dim sum recipes:
Shrimp Cheung Fun
Chinese Turnip Cake 

The filling for siu mai is very similar to our Shrimp & Pork Wonton filling in that it involves shrimp and pork and similar seasonings, and for the wrappers you can also use wonton wrappers. However, if you are able to find siu mai wrappers at your local Asian super market, I highly recommend using those as they are even thinner than wonton wrappers and lends to a much more authentic siu mai texture. 

​Some tips for making delicious siu mai ingredients:

• Ground Pork: When choosing your ground pork, find a 20% fat to 80% meat ratio--the more fatty the pork, the more juicy and tender the dumpling. Lean ground pork with 90-95% meat to fat ratio will cause you to have a dumpling with a dry and unpleasant mouthfeel.
• Shrimp: Frozen pre-peeled and deveined shrimp saves you a lot of work! Just defrost in the refrigerator the night before you decide to make your siu mai. I like to pound 3oz of the shrimp into a paste, and then mince the remaining 5 oz. This makes a great smooth and bouncy texture for the dumpling!
• Shiitake mushrooms: Use dried shiitake mushrooms and rehydrate them in a bowl of water for about 1-2 hours, or until softened. Fresh shiitake mushrooms are acceptable but for a more authentic and deeper mushroom flavor, the dried shiitake mushroom has more concentrated flavor and brings more umami to your siu mai dumpling. Reserve the liquid from rehydrating the shiitake mushrooms to use in your dumpling mixture instead of water or vegetable stock!
• When making the dumpling mixture, make sure to mix until the meat begins to break into fibrous strands--This process of mixing until the pork is "起膠" or "hei gao" in Cantonese, which means that it will have a good firm, and "bouncy" texture when cooked. When a dumpling filling does not "hei gao", it will have a loose texture that results in a bad mouth-feel when you eat it. Here's a photo of what "hei gao" looks like, most noticeably in the lower right hand side of the image.

Making siu mai is simple! After mixing all your dumpling filling ingredients, let it marinate for about 4-6 hours and then you are ready to wrap the siu mai. The siu mai are wrapped as an open faced dumpling, meaning you don't close all the edges as you would in a normal boiled or pan fried dumpling, and you see the meat filling. The dumpling is shaped in such a way that the bottom is flat and sits straight up in the steamer.

A batch of raw siu mai dumplings topped with fish roe and green pea.

Raw siu mai placed on a raised steam rack in a pot, water underneath

​Once your dumplings are made, you top it with your choice of either finely minced carrots or fish roe. This gives extra flavor to your dumpling with subtle sweetness (for carrot), whereas the fish roe adds a bit of saltiness with the briny ocean flavor. It is minor, but it definitely levels up the variety of flavors and textures of your siu mai and is so delicious! I also like to add a single green pea on top of each siu mai for color, and honestly it doesn't add a whole lot to the flavor, but it looks cute and is what I see at many dim sum restaurants so it make the siu mai feel more legit when eating it at home, haha!

Now that I have mastered making siu mai at home, I want to try frying them in a tempura-like batter for added crispy texture outside--I have a feeling it would be dangerously delicious! I hope you enjoy this steamed siu mai recipe as much as we do and try it out at home!

Cooked siu mai on a plate.

Taking a bite out of the meaty siu mai dumpling!

Delicious if eaten with Lao Gan Ma Fried Chili Crisp

STEAMED SHRIMP & PORK SIU MAI

INGREDIENTS:

• ​16 oz ground pork
• 8 oz minced shrimp (peeled and deveined) - (5 oz minced, 3 oz of the shrimp pounded into shrimp paste)
• 5 rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, minced
• siu mai wrappers (or wonton wrappers)
• green peas
• masago fish roe or minced carrots
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 4 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1.5 tbsp sugar
• 1. tsp white pepper
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
• 4 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 4 tbsp shiitake mushroom water or vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. ​In a large mixing bowl, add the ground pork, shrimp paste and minced shrimp, minced rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, white pepper, chicken bouillon powder, cornstarch, baking soda, shiitake mushroom water (you can also use water or vegetable stock), sesame oil and olive oil. Mix it until it becomes sticky and you can see the meat fibers breaking apart. Cover with cling wrap and put into the fridge, allow to marinate for 4-6 hours. 
2. To wrap the siu mai, place the square wrapper in the palm of your hand and place about 1 tbsp of filling into the center of the wrapper. Bring the edges of the wrapper upwards and cup the filling in your hand while forming a circle with your index finger and thumb, using those two fingers to hold the wrapper edges of the dumpling upwards. Continue adding filling into the "cup" you have formed until the filling reaches the top. Tap it down with a butter knife or spoon. Then place the dumpling down onto a sheet of parchment on a plate to prevent sticking, when you place it on the flat surface, push the dumpling down a little so that the bottom of the dumpling flattens to stand up straight.
3. Once all the dumplings are made, add your dumpling topping (minced carrots or fish roe. Optional: add a single green pea on top, in the center of your carrots or fish roe.)
4. At this point you can put the siu mai into the freezer and freeze until hard--then you can place them all into a ziploc bag and take them out to freeze whenever you feel like eating siu mai! Or, you can steam them freshly made. Whether you are steaming them fresh or from frozen, they only take about 12-13 minutes to steam.
5. If you don't have a steamer, you can put a rack into a pot of water and place the siu mai on a plate on top of the rack. Steam for 12-13 minutes, allow to cool for about 1-2 minutes and then enjoy!

Until next time,
​Jenny