I grew up in a town in Malaysia that was known for Hong Kong Dim Sum 點心.
Dim sum can be considered as Cantonese cuisine. It is generally prepared in a small bite-sized portions, either in a small plates or a small steam basket. Back in Malaysia (it is the same in some of the restaurants in US), there is always a server, running around the restaurant with carts that are full with dim sum!! When the server comes to you, you just pick whatever you like, as many baskets/plates as you like. So basically, you can enjoy the fresh out from the kitchen DIM SUM warm with your family or friends.
MY STORY WITH DIM SUM
Dim sum is normally served as breakfast. The restaurants start to serve as early as 6am in the morning. However, it is very popular and becomes one of the favorite brunch places! Every weekend, the town will be flooded with travelers, standing in line, waiting for a table to enjoy the Dim Sum. With Malaysia’s tropical weather, humid + hot, can you imagine yourself, standing under the hot sun, sweating with crowds….
So as a local, I hate to be in that kind of scenario and usually will search for some more authentic dim sum places but less crowded. YET, now I do not even have the right to complain about anything above….because I’m not living in my hometown, getting access to DIM SUM has become a challenge for me. Haha.
So, what happens when I miss Dim Sum? Normally, I have two options :
(1) Frozen packages from Asian grocery
(2) Get some from Chinatown
They may not be as authentic and good as what in hometown but at least this solves my cravings for a while.
INSPIRATION FOR THE RECIPE
One day, when I was randomly browsing for recipes and cooking videos (that was one of my hobbies), I saw people making wonton and I thought.. Hmm would I be able to transform them to Siu Mai? Instead of wrapping them in a closed loop, I can just do it open ended and steam it? Guess what happened next?
I decided to try it out! I got myself some wonton skins from Asian grocery store and from there, my experiment began… With simple three steps, you will be able to make your own Siu Mai at home!!
Recipe
Time : 20 minutes active
Yield : 15 pieces
Ingredients
- 15 wonton skins
- 200-250g grounded pork
- 10 pieces of shrimp (grounded / minced)
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- Soy sauce, salt and white pepper
Cooking Instruction
- To marinade, use sesame oil, salt and white pepper.
- Wrap it with the wonton skin.
– Use your index finger and thumbs to form a “O” shape.
– Lay the wonton skin on top.
– Fill the wonton skin while poking it down the O shape. - Steam for 10-15 minutes
Siu Mai fresh out form the kitchen! Let me know if you like dim sum!
