Siu Mai /Shao Mai 烧卖

Here in Australia, these are sold as Dim Sims, they come steamed or deep fried. I had my first taste of this shock horror Aussie rendition of this traditional Chinese delicacy from a stall in Victoria Market. It was my second day in Australia, I thought I had eaten some dead rats, it was foul.

Thankfully there are many Chinese restaurants here now serving excellent Yum Cha’s. I still can’t get over people willingly eating the mass produced frozen variety. I had leftover pork mince from the wontons, so I thought I’d illustrate how easy it is to make these little treats.

Ingredients

300g pork mince

150g uncooked fresh prawns, mince

2 tsp grated ginger

1 clove garlic, finely diced

1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

2 tbsp light soy sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Half a packet of wonton skins

Method

1.          Mix all the ingredients together until the mince sticks well together.

2.          Place a big dollop of mince in the middle of the wonton skin and scrunch the sides up around the mince.

3.          Tap the base lightly on the table a couple of times to flatten it.

4.          You can place a small piece of carrot/green pea/crab roe etc in the middle of the top as a garnish.

5.          Line steamer with non stick paper.

6.          Steam on high heat for 15 minutes.