I love Dim Sum – there is no doubt about it. Tonight I decided I was going to attempt to make Shiu Mai, Pork Dumplings. 

I don’t really have a recipe for you, I kinda eye’d everything (this should be a hint) but the basic ingredients were:

Ground Pork
Scallions
Grated Ginger
Soy Sauce
Salt and Pepper
Round Gyoza Wrappers (Won Ton Wrappers)
Steamer

I started with about a pound of ground pork.  I seasoned with salt and pepper and about 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce. I added about 2 scallions, chopped and about 1 teaspoon of grated ginger. 

I mixed all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Next I started the water boiling for the steamer. I didn’t have a bamboo steamer, just a metal double stacker.

I formed the Shiu Mai by placing about 3/4 teaspoon of the ground pork in the center of one of the won ton rounds. Then forming a cirlce with my index and thumb I begin to press down on the meat filling while the wrapper forms a wall around the mixture. All the while, making sure to crease the wrapper as evenly as I could. Once I got the meat mixture even with the top, I placed it on my cutting board and flattened the bottom. I was able to get about 14 dumplings with the mixture I had.

Once the water started to boil, I lowered the heat to medium and placed about 6 dumplings per level making sure that they weren’t touching each other and had plenty of space around each one. I think I steamed them for about 8 minutes. 

The filling was cooked and the won ton skin was cooked, but not falling apart from too much moisture. Instantly I knew something was wrong. The color looked off. Pork is basically the “other white meat” remember? Well that how they turned out. The form factor looked right, but the meat didn’t have any color. I pulled them out of the steam. I added one or two drops of soy sauce on the top and tasted it. It could have used alot more salt.I should have tested one and then adjusted the seasoning. In my haste, I used all the meat mixture already. The soy helped, but not much.

Afterwards, I went online and found many variations for the filling. I’m not sure what possessed me not to use a recipe in the first place. So I will attempt these again this weekend and let you know how they turned out!

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