Siew Mai

Step 1

To prepare the pork filling -

Step 2

Mince 700g of pork and place them in a large mixing bowl.

Step 3

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.

Step 4

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

Step 5

Chop 4 large Chinese mushrooms into fine pieces too.

Step 6

Add the water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pork mixture.

Step 7

Mix all the ingredients well to combine.

Step 8

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.

Step 9

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

Step 10

To make the glutinous rice filling -

Step 11

Soak 2 lap cheongs (Chinese sausages) in boiling water until the skin is separated from the meat.

Step 12

Remove the skin from the lap cheong and cut them into small dices.

Step 13

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.

Step 14

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.

Step 15

Prepare the ingredients necessary for the wrapping of the dumplings.

Step 16

Start by placing a sheet of wonton wrapper on a flat surface.

Step 17

Place a small teaspoon of filling in the centre of the wonton wrapper.

Step 18

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

Step 19

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.

Step 20

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

Step 21

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

Step 22

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

Step 23

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

Step 24

Place the dumplings in a steamer lined with baking paper.

Step 25

Cut some holes through the baking paper to let the steam through.

Step 26

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

Step 27

Serve hot.

Step 28

Uncooked dumplings may be frozen and steamed at a later date. Dust some flour in a container so that the dumplings wont stick to it.