Monday, May 28, 2012

HOW TO MAKE PORK SIOMAI





                                                              PORK SIOMAI
 

Pork Siomai
Siomai is a traditional Chinese dumpling. This popular dumpling has made its way to the heart of the Filipino’s as evidenced by the hundreds of stalls, eateries, and restaurants who serve them. Traditionally cooked through steaming, siomai nowadays are also served fried complimented with soy sauce and calamansi.
In Baguio City , the best siomai can be found in the PHR Building (which is the new food cart at the food court in the PHR Building at Bonifacio road front of SLU ). Several Chinese restaurants and even stalls serve different siomai varieties. Inside of PHR Building, would be the best one for me.
 
This recipe that I have for you is the Cantonese variety. It basically makes use of ground pork, shrimps, and mushrooms as the main ingredients. I liked this recipe for its oriental taste.
Try this delicious Siomai recipe
Ingredients:
2 ½ lbs ground pork
1 cup shrimp, minced
2 cups water chestnuts, minced
5 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 cup onion, minced
1 cup carrots, minced
1 ½ cups white mushroom, minced
1 pack won ton wrapper
¼ cup scallions, minced
2 tsp salt
1 piece raw egg
water for steaming
Watch the cooking video:
Cooking procedures:
1. Combine all the ingredients except for the water and wanton wrapper and mix throughly.
2. Wrap the mixed ingredients using the won ton wrapper. (watch the video for easy procedure)
3. Using a steamer, steam the wrapped siomai (shaomai) for 15 to 25 minutes. The time depends on the size of each individual piece (larger size means more time steaming).
  1. Serve hot with kikkoman soy sauce and calamansi or lemon dip. Share and enjoy!




HOW TO MAKE DUMPLING


How to make shuumai / shumai dumplings

 

Shuumai or shumai dumplings are a standby for dim sum, and are very well suited to bentos. They are small, freeze very well, and are a lot easier to make than gyoza dumplings.
You’ve probably encountered shuumai dumplings in the freezer section of Asian or Japanese grocery stores. Frozen ones are usually pretty good, but if you make them yourself you know exactly what you put in them. I just make a double or triple batch whenever I decide to make shuumai for dinner. (I sit myself down in front of the TV with my dumpling ingredients and go at it.) Just follow along with the photos and you’ll be turning out lots of shuumai yourself.

Step-by-step: Basic shuumai

You will need:

Shuumai skins. Shuumai skins are square, and are a bit smaller than wonton skins. This is a Japanese brand, but there are Chinese brands too. They are made simply of flour and water. (I guess you could make your own skins, but to me that crosses the line into Too Much Work.)
  • Filling of your choice. I made two type of shuumai here, shrimp and vegan tofu. The recipes for both fillings are at the end of this article. Whatever filling you use, it should sort of stick together when formed into a ball.
Place a skin on your hand. (The skins do tend to dry out and become brittle quickly, so keep the rest covered with a damp cloth or under an upside down bowl while you work.)


Put about 1/2 tablespoon of filling in the middle of the skin. 
 
Make a circle with your thumb and forefinger.

 
Push the shuumai skin down into the circle formed by your finger and thumb. 
 
Squeeze the dumpling gently from the sides, while pressing the top and bottom.
 
Here is a shuumai from the side. 
 
A completed shuumai. It should be a little cylinder shape that is taller than it’s wide, since it will spread out a bit horizontally when you cook it. 
Optionally decorate the top with a green pea or an edamame. Frozen is fine. 

 
To cook, oil the bottom of a steamer and place the shuumai in there so that don’t touch. (If you squish them in too tightly they will get stuck to each other.) Steam for 10-15 minutes. 
 
Alternatively, you can steam-panfry them in a non-stick frying pan. Add a little oil to the pan, put in the shuumai, add water to about half the height of the shuumai, and cook with a lid on for about 10 minutes. This steam-panfrying method is similar to the one used for gyoza dumplings.
Here are the two types of shuumai I made. The vegan ones are decorated with green peas to differentiate them from the undecorated shrimp shuumai.





Recipe: Shrimp shuumai filling

This makes about 25 to 30 shuumai, depending on how much you pack into each skin.
  • 225 g / 1/2lb uncooked shrimp (fresh or frozen), roughly chopped
  • 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 120 g / 4 oz ground pork
  • 1 tsp. grated ginger
  • 1 Tbs. soy sauce
  • 1 Tbs. shaoxing wine or mirin
  • 1/2 Tbs. sesame oil
  • Pinch of salt
  • Ground pepper
  • 1 Tbs. cornstarch or potato starch
Combine the pork, ginger, seasonings and cornstarch, and mix well until it forms a paste. Add the onions and shrimp and mix very well. Use to fill shuumai skins.
(Shaoxing wine is type of Chinese rice wine. Mirin or sake can be substituted, or sherry.)

Recipe: Vegan tofu filling

This makes enough to fill 25-30 dumplings.
  • 1/3 cup cooked whole grain (such as brown rice, barley, wheat berries)
  • 120 g / 4 oz extra firm tofu, very well drained
  • 4 large fresh shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 1/2 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp. grated ginger
  • 1 Tbs. miso
  • 1 Tbs. soy sauce
  • 1 Tbs. sesame oil
  • Ground pepper
  • Pinch of sugar
  • 1-2 Tbs. cornstarch or potato starch
Lightly fry the cooked grains in half of the sesame oil until the grains are a bit toasty. Let cool.
Mash the tofu until it’s quite smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. If it seems too wet, add a little more cornstarch or potato starch. Use to fill shuumai skins. Shuumai made with this filling will be softer than the shrimp shuumai. This mixture has quite a lot of flavor so you probably don’t need a dipping sauce.
Any filling that holds together when formed into little balls will work as a shuumai filling. Experiment!




chicken feet dimsum

                                                                chicken feet


Chineese Dim Sum Chicken Feet Recipe
Dim sum lovers have you tried eating a chicken feet dim sum? well I suggest trying the chicken feet dim sum as it could make our body especially healthier and stronger bones. If you haven’t had the time to go to your nearest dim sum restaurant then I hope this recipe could help you prepare the benefits of chicken feet in a very delicious cuisine.. here’s how.. 
 
Main Ingredients:
  • 1 Kg (2.2 pounds) of chicken feet, deep fried until they’re dry, while hot soak them in a ice cold water
Ingredients for First Seasoning:
  • 5 clover of garlic, smashed
  • 4 pcs of star anise
  • 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
  • 2 tablespoon of soysauce
  • 2 tablespoon of vinegar
  • 3 tablespoon of sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of salt
  • ½ teaspoon of pepper
  • 1,500 cc of water
  • 50 grams (0.1 pounds) of red yeast rice for some coloring
Ingredients for Second Seasoning:
  • 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
  • 2 pcs of big chilli, roughly cut
  • 3 tablespoon of salted black bean
  • 2 tablespoon of sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoon of sago
Directions:
Start by making seasoning from the first seasoning list
  1. Heat some oil then saute some garlic until they smells good
  2. pour in the vinegar then add some adequate water and pour in the rest of the first seasoning ingredients, stir well until they boil
  3. Pour in the fried chicken feet and cook until they tender and the water shrinks (use a presto to fasten up the process)
After you done all of the steps above, continue to make the second seasoning
  1. Saute the minced garlic until they smell good, pour in the salted black bean and red chilies, stir well
  2. Pour the tender chicken feet and add some sago water, stir well
  3. add some sesame oil, stir well, and then ready to serve.

SIOPAO

                                                                     SIOPAO


Siopao Asado or Hot Buns is a type of dumpling with sweet pork filling. Often referred to as Steamed Dumplings, this tasty bun is so popular that it needs no introduction of any sort.
This reminds me of I LOVE DIMSUM or better yet LEONIDA L.  Whenever I dine-in these joints, I order siopao along with beef mami or maki. I don’t know if the combination sounds appealing but it really works for me. How about you? Do you have some food in mind that goes well when eaten with siopao?
This recipe is not complicated at all. Just be sure to have the ingredients on hand and follow all the steps. It won’t be long before you enjoy your own home made siopao asado.
Try This Siopao Asado
Ingredients:
Dough:
2 cups warm water
2 ½ tbsp sugar (added to yeast mixture)
½ cup sugar (added to the flour mixture)
1 pouch dry yeast
5 cups all purpose flour
1 ¼ tbsp baking powder
6 tbsp shortening
Asado Filling:
2 lbs pork, chopped into small pieces
3 tbsp lard or shortening
2 tbsp garlic, minced
1 large onion, minced
2 tbsp cornstarch, diluted in 1/4 cup water
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
Cooking procedure:
1. Cook the Asado filling
1.1 Heat the shortening in a pan
1.2 Saute the garlic and onions
1.3 Put-in the pork and cook until the color of the outer part turns light brown
1.4 Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, and sugar then mix well. Simmer for
40 minutes
1.5 Put in the corn starch (diluted in water) and mix until the texture of the sauce becomes
thick then set aside
2. Make the dough
2.1 Place warm water in a bowl then add the yeast and sugar and mix well.
Leave the mixture for 10 to 15 minutes
2.2 In a mixing bowl, put-in the flour, baking powder, shortening (or lard), and the yeast-
sugar-water mixture then mix well (bubbles should have formed on top by then).
2.3 Knead the combined mixture until the texture of the dough becomes fine. Let the dough
rise by setting it aside for at least an hour (place in the mixing bowl and cover the top ).
2.4 Knead the dough again then cut into individual slices (this will be the dough per
individual siopao).
3. Flatten the dough until a round shape is formed using a rolling pin.
4. Put the asado filling on the middle of the flattened dough and wrap. (refer to the video for the technique if interested)
5. Place the siopao in a steamer and steam for 15 minutes.
6. Serve hot. Share and enjoy!