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Home , Dim sum, Double steaming, Japanese Chinese cuisine, Shumai, Wonton

How to make shuumai / 9 Jul 2008 by maki

Shuumai or shumai dumplings （焼売）are a standby for , and are very well suited to . 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 . (I sit myself down in front of the TV with my 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 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 . 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 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 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 . You can also deep fry them for crispy dumplings. You can eat shuumai just as they are, or with a . My favorite is plain (mustard powder reconstituted with water) with . 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 • 1 tsp. grated • 1 Tbs. soy sauce • 1 Tbs. or mirin • 1/2 Tbs. 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 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, berries) • 120 g / 4 oz extra firm tofu, very well drained • 4 large fresh mushrooms, finely chopped • 1/2 onion, finely chopped • 1 tsp. grated ginger • 1 Tbs. • 1 Tbs. soy sauce • 1 Tbs. • 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!

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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 ) 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 . I guess I might try just leaving it out and perhaps adding a bit more soy sauce, or some 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 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,. • reply • quote Wed, 2008-07-30 07:07 by marissa ooh I love these I’ll ooh I love these I’ll definitely need to be trying these recipes out • reply • quote Sun, 2008-08-03 21:48 by Dianne Other skins I could find no other wrapper except egg roll wrappers. I cut them into quarters and they worked like a charm. Thanks so much for your continued inspirations! • reply • quote Tue, 2008-08-19 07:10 by Hoshi I made the shrimp shuumai, I made the shrimp shuumai, and it was yummy!! Very easy, too! Oddly enough, I used wonton wrappers (from walmart) and they were the perfect size. They weren’t too big at all, and if anything might have been a tad smaller than the shuumai you show. They taste just like steamed gyoza to me. I just steamed it in my rice cooker, so the actual prep time was like…5 minutes or less, then 15 to cook. So easy! Thanks a ton! • reply • quote Mon, 2008-09-15 09:22 by Trang super good! thanks for the recipes. i made the shrimp one first and the next day i made the tofu ones. they are so good! definitely will be making more soon. • reply • quote Sat, 2008-09-27 03:07 by BarbJ Great pictures! I used the Great pictures! I used the technique for Shumai but used your Chicken Tsukene recipe from “Just Bento” for the filling, as I had boneless chicken thighs and not pork. They were fantastic!! Now I have to try the fillings above too! Thanks! • reply • quote Tue, 2008-12-16 07:15 by Jessica Ruth wow i was looking for a wow i was looking for a recipe like this! I think i’ll stick to …the last time i tried the steam fry thing I nearly died of a heart attack as a 3 foot flame shot up from my pan..my microwave is still slightly darker where the flame hit it…annywhooo thanks! • reply • quote Tue, 2009-01-06 18:58 by Sakura Substitute: What kind of wantan skin Great tutorial. I'll try them out. Sadly, my asian grocery has no shuumai skins, but two kinds of wanton skins. I'm going to try them with wanton skins for soup wantons, or do you think wanton skins for fried wantons would be better (I have no clue how they differ, they look the same to me)? • reply • quote Thu, 2009-01-08 18:34 by maki Re: Substitute: What kind of wantan skin It just depends on how big the skins are. For small shuumai select the smaller, for larger ones the larger. Basically wonton skins are the same as shumai skins, made of flour and water. • reply • quote Thu, 2009-05-07 03:25 by littlepoko Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings i also found another technique for the filling. ground (: http://www.recipezaar.com/Shu-Mai-Japanese-Steamed-Wontons-46466 here is the link if anyone is interested. i can't wait to try this • reply • quote Thu, 2009-05-07 03:51 by littlepoko can you freeze them? after making the shumai can i freeze them because i would like to fry them and turn them into mini japanese burgers • reply • quote Sat, 2009-05-09 04:29 by faechildmom Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings I was wondering is there any way you can subsitute the shrimp for something else like chicken? My husband is allergic to shirmp and shell fish. • reply • quote Sat, 2009-05-09 05:30 by maki Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings faechildmom: Sure, you can substitute chicken, or increase the amount of pork. Of course it won't have the same taste and texture, but it should still be good. littlepoko: yes you can freeze the shuumai (though why not just make mini hamburgers and freeze those?) • reply • quote Sat, 2009-05-30 01:23 by faechildmom Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings Hi, Just wanted to post that the chicken worked perfectly with the ground pork. Next time I'll chop the chicken up in littler pieces but it was still really good. About to try using ground beef since it's before payday and thats all I have left in the house... lol. Thanks so much, Fae • reply • quote Thu, 2009-08-13 03:04 by lilxixi Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings hum...... I tried it the other day but it was an epic fail. Somehow when i steamed my pork and shrimp shumai the stuff came loose and tasted as if shrimp were overcooked and pork was undercooked. I don't really understand why it didn't work. too little starch? • reply • quote Thu, 2009-08-13 08:12 by maki Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings You really need to mix it very well (preferably with your hands), so that it all comes together as one and forms a paste-like consistency. That is how that sort of springy-chewy texture of shumai happens. (The veg. shumai don't have that texture as I stated in the recipe, and are softer and more crumbly, but you are talking about the pork/shrimp shumai.) • reply • quote Thu, 2009-08-13 08:42 by maki Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings You really need to mix it very well (preferably with your hands), so that it all comes together as one and forms a paste-like consistency. That is how that sort of springy-chewy texture of shumai happens. (The veg. shumai don't have that texture as I stated in the recipe, and are softer and more crumbly, but you are talking about the pork/shrimp shumai.) • reply • quote Fri, 2009-08-14 05:36 by lilxixi Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings thanks for the reply. I tried it again, little bit better this time, did not completely fall apart but not the same as texture either. the filling definitely was more paste like this time. Maybe I should cut the shrimp smaller so it blends better with the pork. • reply • quote Fri, 2009-08-14 08:48 by maki Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings If you want the texture to be very bouncy/rubbery (not in a bad way - I know this is how many dim sum have it) you may want to grind up the shrimp to a paste. Or, to enjoy the texture of shrimp two ways, chop up some and grind up the rest, and mix very well with the pork. • reply • quote Mon, 2009-08-17 04:36 by Torta Storage Looking at this recipie instructions answered many questions, but how long do they last in the freezer since they are made fresh? • reply • quote Tue, 2010-06-08 04:09 by PatriciaM Using ? Thank you for this recipe! I used ground chicken instead of pork and it turned out pretty well. I even forgot to season my first batch with and it still tasted great. My daughter loves it! I steam mine for around 25-30 mins because it doesn't stay together yet at 15 mins. I have a question though, would this work using nori? Some of the siu mai vendors here sell nori-wrapped siu mai and call it "Japanese siomai" and I was wondering if this is actually done in . • reply • quote Wed, 2010-08-04 06:11 by Trisha Re: Using nori? I have made similar rolls using nori. I made a fish and shrimp filling flavoured with spring onion, lemon zest, and a little chilli - a bit like a Thai fish cake. I bound it with egg. Then I spread it on a nori sheet leaving one edge bare. I rolled it up and used a little water to seal the edge. I steamed the rolls for about 10 minutes. Slice across like norimaki to serve. They look very pretty. Serve either hot or cold with a Thai style dipping sauce or a ponzu sauce. Maki's recipe may work just as well. I use them as an appetiser. I never thought of using them in an obento. A good idea though. • reply • quote Sat, 2010-07-31 03:03 by anon. I don't have a steamer but... I don't have a steamer, but couldn't I just make the filling and put them in waton wrappers, closing them all the way, and boil them in water? • reply • quote Sat, 2010-07-31 06:37 by maki Re: I don't have a steamer but... Sure, you can do that, though then you will have wonton dumplings, not shuumai ^_^ • reply • quote Sat, 2010-10-30 01:58 by anon. Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings wow... just made these tonight and they are AMAZING!!!! Thank you for the recipe! • reply • quote Mon, 2011-01-24 14:39 by Kelley Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings Hmmm...I tried to make these with Quorn and springroll wrappers. They didn't work. Taste lovely but the wrappers wouldn't hold shape and they all stuck together in the pan so now I have one very large mass of Shuumai. The skins didn't seem to soften either. Any suggestions? Thanks :)k (very new to bento) • reply • quote Mon, 2011-01-24 18:23 by maki Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings Springroll wrappers are too thick to use for shuumai, since they are designed to just wrap around the contents, not stick to them. I suspect the Quorn is not stick-together enough either. Shuumai are essentially with a very thin wrapper around them. Try using shuumai or, in a pinch, wonton wrappers. • reply • quote Tue, 2011-01-25 12:20 by Kelley Re: How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings Thanks for that. The quorn worked fine actually. I just used a bit more of the cornstarch mix and they formed lovely little balls. I'll find different wrappers and try it again. :)k • reply • quote Post new comment Top of Form anon. Your name: *

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