Pork Siomai

Siomai or Shumai is a traditional Chinese dumpling and is also known as pork dumpling. There are a lot of variations on its ingredients since others are modifying it according to their taste and sometimes according to the availability of the ingredients. Though Siomai is a Chinese food, we can't deny the fact that this food has made its way to the heart of the Filipino’s. We can see a lot of stalls in the streets, malls, schools and restaurants who are serving this food.

This Siomai recipe is more on a Cantonese variation. Cantonese Siomai is basically made of ground pork, minced mushrooms, and shrimps, thus it sometimes known as pork and mushroom dumpling.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lbs ground pork
1 1/2 cups white mushroom, minced
1 cup shrimp, minced
2 cups water chestnuts(singkamas), minced
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 cup onion, minced
1 cup carrots, minced
1/4 cup scallions, minced
2 tsp salt
1 piece egg
5 tbsp sesame oil
1 pack wanton or siomai wrapper

Chili Paste
1/8 kilo chilies (Siling Labuyo)
3 tbsp cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

Cooking Procedure:

1. Combine all the ingredients except for the chili paste ingredients and the wanton. Mix until well blended.

2. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of mixture in the center of each wanton wrapper. Press down gently to make sure there's no air.

3. Press wrapper up and around all the sides of the siomai leaving the center open.

4. Grease steamer plate and arrange siomai that won't stick with each other. Steam for 15 to 20 minutes on medium heat. Be careful not to overcook so siomai would not end up too dry. If you don't like your siomai to be steamed, you can dip fry it, just don't overcook.

5. Serve with calamansi/soy sauce dip and chili garlic paste.


Chili Paste Preparation:

1. Combine chopped chilies and minced garlic, then simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Add oil, simmer and stir well.