Siu mai
Open-topped dumplings of pork and prawn in a thin yellow wrapper, steamed, and often dotted on top with fish roe or a little carrot.
What makes it siu mai
- A thin wheat-and-egg wrapper, gathered round the filling and left open at the top.
- Pork and prawn, chopped rather than minced smooth, with shiitake — springy when bitten.
- Steamed in bamboo, with a dot of orange on top.
Where it comes from
Steamed dumplings called shaomai are made across China, many of them filled with sticky rice. The Cantonese one, filled with chopped pork and prawn and left open at the top, became a fixture of Guangzhou's teahouses and, with har gow, one of the two dumplings a dim sum table orders first.
How it varies
- Sticky rice shaomai
- Filled with glutinous rice, as in much of eastern and northern China.
Be the first here
Start your own siu maiNo one here has made siu mai yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.
Near it
CantoneseHar gowPrawns in a thin, translucent, pleated wrapper, steamed in a bamboo basket.No one here has made it yetCantoneseChar siuStrips of pork shoulder in a sweet soy marinade, roasted hot and glazed until the edges char.No one here has made it yetShanghaineseXiaolongbaoSmall, thin-skinned steamed buns of minced pork, pleated at the top and full of hot soup, served in the bamboo basket they cooked in.No one here has made it yet