Arrange the siu mai in the steamer and steam for 7 to 8 minutes. Brush the steamer with some oil or line with perforated parchment paper. Top the siu mai with a tiny bit of tobiko if you’re using it. Place the dumpling on a parchment lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dumplings.

Pat the top of the dumpling flat with a knife and make sure the filling is nicely packed in there. Rotate the dumpling and tuck the corners of the wrapper in as needed. Pinch the dumpling together between your thumb and index finger, leaving the top of the filling exposed. Dab your finger in some water and wet the area of the wrapper around the filling to help the wrapper stick together. To assemble your dumplings, place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center of your dumpling wrapper. In a medium bowl, mix to combine shrimp, pork, oyster sauce, shaoxing wine, cornstarch, sesame oil, salt, and white pepper. Alternatively, pulse a few times in a food processor. Smash the shrimp with the side of a flat cleaver and roughly chop until it forms a rough paste. These are debatably the easiest dumpling to make, no fancy pleating involved. Those are little fish eggs, but if you can’t find those you can just leave the tops of the dumplings bare or top with minced carrots or sliced green onions. Siu Mai are open faced dumplings that are filled with pork and shrimp and then topped with a little bit of tobiko. You have to order it alongside some har gow, cheung fun, and a basket of char siu bao for a complete experience. And wow, it’s so tasty! I consider Siu Mai part of the Dim Sum starter pack. Technically this week’s recipe also lives in Mooncakes and Milk Bread, but it’s in Rose Siu Mai form.

Most of the recipes are from my cookbook. I havent tackled har gow at home yet, possibly because even 95 of all restaurants I visit fail at the texture of the translucent wrapper. I’ve also started a Dim Sum Series on IG and Tiktok! We’re going on week 5 now and it’s been so much fun to share and eat some of my favorite bites of Dim Sum. Aside from har gow, shumai is possibly the most requested dim sum standard in my family, with the reliable crinkly yellow wonton wrappers snugly encasing the pork-dominant filling. We’ve been here for about 2 weeks now and I’m finally starting to not be so afraid of the woods and accept the fact that hearing coyotes and occasionally seeing bats is not so scary (it sort of is though…). For the next few months we are living in this peaceful house in the woods that feels like we’re living in a whole other world, but still within 30 minutes of San Francisco (with no traffic). I’ve never been so excited for destruction of my kitchen. We have finally started construction at our house and my kitchen has been totally gutted down to the studs. Hello! It has been a while, hasn’t it? The last month has be quite busy! We moved! Just for a few months though.

Pork siu mai