How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings 9 Jul 2008 by maki Shuumai or shumai dumplings （焼売）are a standby for dim sum, and are very well suited to bentos. They are small, freeze very well, and are a lot easier to make than gyoza dumplings. You’ve probably encountered shuumai dumplings in the freezer section of Asian or Japanese grocery stores. Frozen ones are usually pretty good, but if you make them yourself you know exactly what you put in them. I just make a double or triple batch whenever I decide to make shuumai for dinner. (I sit myself down in front of the TV with my dumpling ingredients and go at it.) Just follow along with the photos and you’ll be turning out lots of shuumai yourself. Step-by-step: Basic shuumai You will need: • Shuumai skins. Shuumai skins are square, and are a bit smaller than wonton skins. This is a Japanese brand, but there are Chinese brands too. They are made simply of flour and water. (I guess you could make your own skins, but to me that crosses the line into Too Much Work.) • Filling of your choice. I made two type of shuumai here, shrimp and vegan tofu. The recipes for both fillings are at the end of this article. Whatever filling you use, it should sort of stick together when formed into a ball. Place a skin on your hand. (The skins do tend to dry out and become brittle quickly, so keep the rest covered with a damp cloth or under an upside down bowl while you work.) Put about 1/2 tablespoon of filling in the middle of the skin. Make a circle with your thumb and forefinger. Push the shuumai skin down into the circle formed by your finger and thumb. Squeeze the dumpling gently from the sides, while pressing the top and bottom. Here is a shuumai from the side. A completed shuumai. It should be a little cylinder shape that is taller than it’s wide, since it will spread out a bit horizontally when you cook it. Optionally decorate the top with a green pea or an edamame. Frozen is fine. To cook, oil the bottom of a steamer and place the shuumai in there so that don’t touch. (If you squish them in too tightly they will get stuck to each other.) Steam for 10-15 minutes. Alternatively, you can steam-panfry them in a non-stick frying pan. Add a little oil to the pan, put in the shuumai, add water to about half the height of the shuumai, and cook with a lid on for about 10 minutes. This steam-panfrying method is similar to the one used for gyoza dumplings. Here are the two types of shuumai I made. The vegan ones are decorated with green peas to differentiate them from the undecorated shrimp shuumai. Freeze the steamed shuumai after they have cooled down to room temperature. You can then just microwave them for a few minutes covered with plastic wrap, steam them, or steam-panfry them to use for bento. You can also deep fry them for crispy dumplings. You can eat shuumai just as they are, or with a dipping sauce. My favorite is plain mustard (mustard powder reconstituted with water) with soy sauce. Soy sauce with vinegar is also good. Recipe: Shrimp shuumai filling This makes about 25 to 30 shuumai, depending on how much you pack into each skin. • 225 g / 1/2lb uncooked shrimp (fresh or frozen), roughly chopped • 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped • 120 g / 4 oz ground pork • 1 tsp. grated ginger • 1 Tbs. soy sauce • 1 Tbs. shaoxing wine or mirin • 1/2 Tbs. sesame oil • Pinch of salt • Ground pepper • 1 Tbs. cornstarch or potato starch Combine the pork, ginger, seasonings and cornstarch, and mix well until it forms a paste. Add the onions and shrimp and mix very well. Use to fill shuumai skins. (Shaoxing wine is type of Chinese rice wine. Mirin or sake can be substituted, or sherry.) Recipe: Vegan tofu filling This makes enough to fill 25-30 dumplings. • 1/3 cup cooked whole grain (such as brown rice, barley, wheat berries) • 120 g / 4 oz extra firm tofu, very well drained • 4 large fresh shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped • 1/2 onion, finely chopped • 1 tsp. grated ginger • 1 Tbs. miso • 1 Tbs. soy sauce • 1 Tbs. sesame oil • Ground pepper • Pinch of sugar • 1-2 Tbs. cornstarch or potato starch Lightly fry the cooked grains in half of the sesame oil until the grains are a bit toasty. Let cool. Mash the tofu until it’s quite smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. If it seems too wet, add a little more cornstarch or potato starch. Use to fill shuumai skins. Shuumai made with this filling will be softer than the shrimp shuumai. This mixture has quite a lot of flavor so you probably don’t need a dipping sauce. Any filling that holds together when formed into little balls will work as a shuumai filling. Experiment! ‹ Homemade Sakura Denbu - sweet, pink, fluffy fish flakes up How to: Homemade shio kombu or kombu no tsukudani › For more bento recipes, ideas and tips, subscribe to Just Bento via your newsreader or by email (more about subscriptions). And visit our sister site, Just Hungry for great Japanese home recipes and more. Filed under: • recipe • Time required: 20-30 minutes • fish • johbisai • meat • staples • vegan • Printer-friendly version • Quote • ShareThis Search for bento supplies at JList.com! Top of Form bento Bottom of Form 39 comments Top of Form Comment viewing options Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes. Bottom of Form Wed, 2008-07-09 17:24 by SBS Photos Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate these (and many other foods) with your photos. Without the step-by-step lesson, I doubt I would try these. You make it enticing — and easy. We appreciate your efforts, worldwide! • reply • quote Wed, 2008-07-09 23:16 by Fran Magbual My husband loves these! For some reason I never thought about doing this at home. Definitely something I should try. • reply • quote Thu, 2008-07-10 00:28 by Cheezaholic Thanks for the recipe!!! Thank you so much for posting the vegan recipe! I tried to make a seitan version of these a couple of weeks ago and failed miserably. I’ll try your tofu version. Is there anything you can suggest to use as subs for miso and mustard? • reply • quote Thu, 2008-07-10 13:52 by maki For the mustard in the For the mustard in the dipping sauce, I’d just use another dipping sauce like a little vinegar in soy sauce, or just soy sauce. The shuumai are flavorful enough so you don’t necessarily need dipping sauce. For the miso it’s a bit difficult, since the miso adds lots of umami. I guess I might try just leaving it out and perhaps adding a bit more soy sauce, or some oyster sauce perhaps. • reply • quote Thu, 2008-07-10 10:18 by petite poucette MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm!!!!! I MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm!!!!! I love it so much. Thank you for the recipe. • reply • quote Thu, 2008-07-10 16:31 by ChristianHomekeeper How Delicious! I love these things but I would never have tried making them without your wonderful instructions and photos. Thank you! Sylvia • reply • quote Thu, 2008-07-10 17:18 by Becca My husband (japanese) and i My husband (japanese) and i have just discovered your great site..we`ll definately try these..they look divine…our mouths are watering. Thank you! • reply • quote Mon, 2008-07-14 09:38 by anon. two questions - could you two questions - could you steam these in a colander in a big pot? I don’t have a steamer. where on earth can I find Shuumai skins? there’s nothing locally here and a google search doesn’t turn up anything (this page comes up first! :)) ANYWHERE online I can get these? Thank you so much!!! these look scrumptious! • reply • quote Mon, 2008-07-14 11:58 by Loretta 2nd question “where on earth can I find Shuumai skins? there’s nothing locally here” You’ve not indicated which country you come from, let alone which area. But not to worry, Maki has already anticipated your query in her other site, just follow this link: http://www.justhungry.com/handbook/just-hungry-handbooks/japanese-grocer... • reply • quote Mon, 2008-07-14 16:26 by maki Sure, as long as you can Sure, as long as you can suspend the colander over boiling water (water shouldn’t touch the dumplings) they should be fine. As Loretta said you can get the skins at any Japanese grocery store. Chinese grocery stores have them too, usually in the refrigerated or frozen sections (they might also be spelled siumai) If you can’t find skins, you can make sort of pseudo-shuumai. Make little balls of the filling, and then coat them rather thickly in a mixture of white flour and cornstarch. You may need to double-coat them (coat them first, shake off the excess, dip in water and then coat again). Then steam them. This is a lot messier than using skins, but makes pretty tasty little dumplings with a very similar texture/flavor! • reply • quote Tue, 2008-07-29 00:38 by anon. could you use wonton skins could you use wonton skins if you put a little bit more filling in there? the store I go to has wonton but not shuumai skins… • reply • quote Wed, 2008-07-30 13:37 by maki Sure, you can use wonton Sure, you can use wonton skins - the shuumai will be on the large size though,.