Shu Mai

The dumplings were beautiful and delicious, but take a fair amount of patience to assemble. You will need to practice a bit on the technique to pinch together the pleats; a total of 8 pinches per dumpling and then rotating the dumpling so that the pleats all swirl in the same direction. It’s definitely worth the effort. Chris Kimball recommends serving with a chili oil. While the chili oil was fine, I found it unsatisfying and would recommend skipping it altogether. If you decide to make the chili oil start immediately after putting the mushrooms to soak in Step 1.  I enjoyed a more traditional soy-sauce-based-dipping-sauce. I threw my sauce together without a recipe, but Chris Kimball has a few good alternatives; e.g. here and here.  Overall, the dumplings were a big success; 4-1/2 stars. Delicious flavors, and the cutest dumplings I’ve ever seen.

Delicious but needs dumpling sauce

Comments / Issues:

1. The Chili oil recipe yielded about four times as much as necessary, so I modified the recipe (given below) to yield a more reasonable amount. The Chili oil is quite hot, so be careful if you have a delicate palate.
2. Fortunately, I was able to use my 3-1/2″ biscuit cutter and still get two full-size cut-outs for each 5-1/2″ egg roll wrapper. The original recipe calls for a 3″ biscuit cutter (but I wanted to use the one I already had in my kitchen).
3. My local Chinese take-out charges $6 for 8 dumplings, so my $12 work of dumplings would cost me $30. However, these are much cuter, and I am always suspicious of the ingredients my local Chinese restaurant uses.

Rating: 4-1/2 stars.
Cost: $12 for 42 dumplings.
How much work? Medium.
How big of a mess?  Medium.
Start time 4:30 PM. Dinner time 6:30 PM.

Chris Kimball’s original recipe is here. The Chili Oil recipe is here. The descriptions of how I cooked both the Shu Mai and the Chili Oil today are given below:

Steamed Dumplings:
4 dried shiitake mushroom caps (3/4 ounce)
1 pound boneless country-style pork ribs
1/2 pound shrimp
1/4 cup water chestnuts, chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro leaves
2 teaspoons grated ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon unflavored powdered gelatin
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine or can substitute dry sherry
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 package 5-1/2 inch egg roll wrappers (1 pound)
2 carrots

1. Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Defrost shrimp, peel and remove vein. Cut eat shrimp in halved lengthwise. Cut the pork ribs into 1″ pieces. Chop the water chestnuts, and mince 2 tablespoons of cilantro. Finally, grate 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger. After the mushrooms have soaked for 30 minutes, squeeze then dry, and cut into then 1/4″ pieces.
2. Add the soy sauce to a small bowl, sprinkle in the gelatin and let it bloom for 5 minutes. Finely grate carrots on the small holes of a box grater.
3. Meanwhile, place half of pork cubes into a food processor and pulse ten 1-second pulses (should be ground into 1/8-inch pieces). Put ground pork in a large bowl.
4. Add 1/2-lb shrimp and remaining pork to food processor and pulse five 1-second pulses (should be ground into 1/4-inch pieces). Add to the same bowl with other ground pork.
5. Add soy sauce mixture, chopped water chestnuts, mushrooms, cornstarch, cilantro, sesame oil, wine, vinegar, sugar, ginger, salt, and pepper to the bowl and mix until well combined.
6. Use a 3-1/2″ biscuit cutter to cut two rounds from each egg roll wrapper. You can cut in stacks of 6 to 7 wrappers at a time. Cover rounds with moist paper towels to prevent them from drying out.
7. Lay out 6 rounds at a time, brush the edges lightly with water. Place a heaping tablespoon of the filling mixture in the center of each round. With each hand, lift opposite sides of wrapper and pinch to form two pleats. Rotate 90 degrees and pinch again to form two more pleats. Continue two more times until you have eight folds.
8. Pick up the dumpling. Using your thumb and index finger (as if to form the OK sign, but with the Shu Mai in the middle) gently squeeze near the top of the dumpling to form a “waist.”
9. Use your middle finger to support the bottom of the dumpling and pack down the filling using your other hand (or a butter knife). Place on a piece of parchment paper sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Immediately cover with damp paper towel to prevent them from drying out. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.
10. Place a small pinch of grated carrot on the center of each dumpling; mostly for appearance. I have also seen a single pea used.
11. Cut a round piece of parchment slightly smaller than your dutch oven and poke 20 holes, and put it over your improvised steamer. Spray the parchment with non-stick cooking spray. I had to cook the dumplings in two batches, to make sure that they don’t touch. Be careful because they will plump slightly during steaming. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes per batch. Serve immediately with chili oil.

Chili Oil:
3 tablespoons peanut oil
3 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1-1/2 small garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1-1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
3/4 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt

1. Heat oil in small saucepan over medium heat until it measure 300 degrees on and instant-read thermometer.
2. Remove pan from heat and stir in pepper flakes, garlic, soy sauce, soy sauce, sugar and table salt.
3. Let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Discard garlic before serving.

Worth the effort