Although it uses almost the same ingredients as normal shumai (shao mai) and is cooked in the same way, Special Occasion Dumpling looks like a flower with a wow factor. It’s a perfect crowd pleaser. See the video.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 250g/8.8oz pork mince (ground pork)
- 50g/1.8oz raw prawn finely chopped (note 1)
- 100g/3.5oz onion very finely chopped
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms rehydrated and finely chopped (note 2)
- 2½ tbsp corn flour/cornstarch
- 30 shumai sheets (note 3)
- Boiled egg yolk (less than 1/2 yolk is required)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp ginger juice (by squeezing grated ginger)
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
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Place a pile of shumai sheets and cut the pile into about 3mm/⅛" wide strips.
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Loosen up the strips of shumai sheets, separating each strand, and place them in a bowl or on a small tray.
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Make granular yolk by putting the boiled yolk through a sieve. Use a sieve that has larger holes than the sieve used to sift flour. Granular egg yolk is fluffy and easier to pinch to decorate the shumai (note 5).
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Put all the Shumai Mixture, excluding onion and corn flour/cornstarch, in a bowl. Mix well until the mixture becomes sticky and almost like a paste.
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Add onion and corn flour/cornstarch to the bowl and mix well. Cover and leave for 1-2 hours in the fridge to let the mixture rest.
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Wet your hands with water. Scoop about a tablespoon of meat mixture and make a ball around 3cm/1⅛" in diameter. Place the ball on a tray lined with baking paper (note 6 for speedy method).
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Taking one meatball at a time, place several strands of shumai sheet around the meatball, gently pressing so that the strips stick to the meatball.
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Remove excess strips so that the meatball is coated with no more than a couple of layers of the strips.
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I used bamboo steamers to steam the shumai dumplings, but there are other methods of steaming them.
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Please refer to Shumai Recipe Card for three different ways of steaming shumai. Please follow the instruction for one of the steaming methods.
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After steaming the dumplings, place a pinch of granular egg yolk on top of each flower shumai.
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If you are using a bamboo steamer, you could serve shumai in the bamboo steamer. If using a steamer pot/pan, transfer the shumai onto a plate. If steamed on a plate using a pot, serve the steaming plate with the shumai on.
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Serve with soy sauce and mustard.
1. If you prefer, you can omit the prawns and increase the quantity of pork to 300g/10.6oz.
2. My shiitake mushrooms were medium size. When rehydrated and water squeezed out, they weighed about 50g/1.8oz. If your mushrooms weigh slightly less/more, adjust the quantity of onion so that the total weight of onion and mushrooms becomes 150g/5.3oz.
3. I used Japanese shumai sheets, which are thinner than the Chinese wonton skin. The texture of the steamed shumai made with Japanese shumai skin is softer than the one made with wonton sheets. Please see the sample photos of different shumai sheets in the section Shumai Sheets in the post Shumai.
4. In Japan, shumai is typically served with soy sauce and Japanese karashi mustard. But some people eat it with soy sauce, vinegar, and chilli oil, just like Gyoza.
5. Instead of making fluffy boiled egg yolk, you can break the boiled egg yolk with a fork and use small bits if you prefer.
6 I used a 3.5cm/1⅜" cookie scoop to measure and drop all the mixture on a tray, then roll them. A cookie scoop makes the size of the meatballs consistent and speeds up the process.
7. Nutrition per piece. It assumes that the recipe makes 20 shumai pieces using Japanese shumai sheets.
serving: 28g calories: 57kcal fat: 3.3g (4%) saturated fat: 1.1g (6%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 0.4g monounsaturated fat: 1.4g cholesterol: 17mg (6%) sodium: 203mg (9%) carbohydrates: 3.4g (1%) dietary fibre: 0.3g (1%) sugar: 0.5g protein: 3.3g vitamin D: 0mcg (0%) calcium: 7mg (1%) iron: 0.3mg (2%) potassium: 68.5mg (1%)