The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (2024)

2 May 2020

Last updated by Wes Radez on | 9

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This recipe is part of our collection of Steamed Dim Sum Dishes. Sign up for our newsletter to get recipes, dining tips and restaurant reviews throughout the year!

Traditional siu mai are filled exclusively with chopped pork, though some restaurants will include shrimp in the filling. Siu mai are wrapped in a fresh pasta skin that is left open, so that the filling peeks out of the top of the dumpling when served at the table.

Pork siu mai are one of the “Guangdong Big Three,” along with shrimp dumplings and steamed pork buns, a true staple of the original Cantonese dim sum tradition. The quality of a restaurant’s siu mai says a lot about how seriously it takes its dim sum.

Whether at the restaurant or at home, making great siu mai is all about the filling, which should retain a bright, fresh crunch out of the steamer. Start with the recipe below and then tweak to suit your own taste.

Can you share any expert tips from your experience making pork siu mai? Want to ask a question before you try making it yourself? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!

Pork Siu Mai Recipe

Makes: 30 | Prep Time: 30 Minutes | Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Adapted From: The Food of China: A Journey for Food Lovers

Ingredients

6 ounces shrimp
1/2 cup peeled water chestnuts
1 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped ginger
1 green onion, finely chopped
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons cornstarch
30 square or round egg dumpling wrappers

Directions

1. Peel and devein the shrimp, squeeze out as much moisture as possible and then roughly chop.

2. Blanch the water chestnuts for 1 minute, drop into cold water and then roughly chop.

3. Combine the shrimp, water chestnuts and the remaining filling ingredients (everything except the wrappers) in a large bowl and stir until well-combined.

4. Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper. Form a circle with your thumb and forefinger and shape the dumpling, so that it forms a fat cylinder with an open top. Pat the top and bottom of the dumpling to create flat surfaces on either end.

5. Steam the dumplings standing up in bamboo steamers on top of oiled paper punched with holes for 15 minutes. Serve with soy sauce or chili sauce for dipping.

Learn more about Pork Siu Mai from these Experts

Watch Cooking Tips TV rather adoringly make Pork Siu Mai from their Hong Kong studio (VIDEO)
Thirsty for Tea makes Pork Siu Mai
The Dumpling Sisters make Pork Siu Mai in their home kitchen

HT: Photo by young via Wikimedia Commons.

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About The Author
Hi! I’m Wes, a dim sum lover in Oakland, California. I launched Dim Sum Central as a hobby and I’ve loved watching it grow to become an online home for people around the world who are passionate about eating and making dim sum! Get started »

The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (3)

The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (4)

The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (5)

9 Responses

  1. The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (6)
    • The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (7)
      Dim Sum Central

      |Reply

      Hi Boo, thanks for your note. If you’ll please look in the recipe ingredients, you’ll find the amount noted: 1lb of ground pork! ~Wes

  2. The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (8)
    Kathleen QuongVermeire

    |Reply

    Can i use rice paper as the wrapper.
    I have celic and cannot tolerant wheat

    • The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (9)
      Dim Sum Central

      |Reply

      I’m not sure, Kathleen! Give it a try and let us know! ~Wes

  3. The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (10)
    Inez

    |Reply

    I can’t eat shrimp. Can I replace the shrimp with 6 oz of more pork

    • The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (11)
      Wes Radez

      |Reply

      Hi Inez, yes, you can do that. In fact, all-pork variations of pork sui mai are quite common. The difference you may notice is that the final product is just very…dense and meaty. You may want to break up the consistency of the filling with Chinese mushrooms or water chestnuts. ~Wes

  4. The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (12)
    Rosalina Fletcher

    |Reply

    Hi Wes. I can’t shrimp. Can I replace it with fish instead.

    • The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (13)
      Wes Radez

      |Reply

      That should work, Rosalina. Use a firm fish that will hold together well. ~Wes

  5. The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (14)
    Camilla

    |Reply

    Great recipe. I’ve been using it for almost a year!

Leave a Reply

The Best Pork Siu Mai Recipe | Dim Sum Central (2024)

FAQs

What is the orange dot on the siu mai? ›

The center is usually garnished with an orange dot, made of crab roe or diced carrot, although a green dot made with a pea may be used. The decorative presentations vary. A fish paste variety of siumaai is sold as a popular street food in Hong Kong, usually alongside curry fishballs.

What is the difference between dim sum and siu mai? ›

Dim Sim is the name of a Chinese-inspired snack that is shaped like a Siu Mai – i.e. a cylinder of meat and vegetable filling, partially wrapped in a pastry. Although the appearances are similar, Dim Sims and Siu Mai have different ingredients and taste completely different to one another.

What is shumai sauce made of? ›

Sauce for Siu Mai

You'll find dumpling joints provide a selection of soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar or white vinegar and some kind of Chilli Paste, then you make your own. I usually do: 3 parts soy sauce. 1 part vinegar.

What is siu mai made of? ›

Most of the people are commuters stopping by on their way home from work. They've come to grab a box of the store's speciality: siu mai, a steamed dumpling made with pork, shrimp, mushrooms and, sometimes, fish paste.

Is siu mai healthy? ›

Fish siu mai

Don't let its name fool you into thinking that fish is the main ingredient. The ugly truth is that this item is made up of flour, lard and a meat mixture with only a small amount of fish. A seven-piece serving packs 12 grams of fat and about 300 calories – more than twice as many in a bowl of cooked rice.

Why are siu mai wrappers yellow? ›

The yellow is because egg is used in the dough; if it's white in colour then no egg. Dumpling wrapper for shumai comes in yellow or white, usually a square or circle of dough rolled out thinly, then frozen for pliability and preventing it from drying out.

What is siu mai called in English? ›

/ʃuːˈmaɪ/ plural shumai. a small Chinese or Japanese dumpling (= a small piece of dough filled with meat or fish) cooked in steam: The chicken was a little overcooked, but the shumai were very good.

Is siu mai Cantonese or Mandarin? ›

The name “Siu Mai” (燒賣) is Cantonese, but variations of this dumpling are found throughout China under different names. In Mandarin, it's called “Shao Mai” (烧卖). Each region in China has its own take on Siu Mai, with variations in fillings and wrappers.

What is the difference between Japanese and Chinese shumai? ›

Shumai (シュウマイ) in Japan contains ground pork and finely chopped onion and is seasoned with a few Japanese condiments. The original Chinese Shaomai or Siumai (燒賣) commonly includes ground pork, chopped shrimp, and sometimes shiitake mushrooms seasoned with oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, and white pepper.

What kind of vinegar for dumplings? ›

Make Your Dumpling Dipping Sauce

In a small bowl, mix together soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, chili oil, sesame seeds and chopped scallion.

What is inside hoisin sauce? ›

Hoisin is made with sugar, water, soybeans, salt, sweet potato, sesame seeds, cornstarch, garlic, wheat flour, chili pepper and spices.

What is the orange on top of shumai? ›

The better quality shumais will likely use a fish roe as a topper, which steams into tiny orange pearls. You won't taste it; it's purely ornamental. Some dim sum parlors, however, may choose to save money by using minced carrots or dried goji berries. Other times you may see shumai topped with a green pea.

What to eat with siu mai? ›

Here are some are of our favorite foods to enjoy with shumai:
  1. Chinese smashed cucumber salad.
  2. Dumplings - Pork and chive dumplings or pork and cabbage dumplings.
  3. Cheung fun (rice noodle rolls)
  4. Lo bak go (turnip cakes)
  5. Char siu pork and baked BBQ pork bao.
  6. Salt and pepper tofu.
Nov 16, 2023

What is interesting about siu mai? ›

Siu mai, also known as shumai, literally means 'cooking and selling'. The name shows that it was originally a restaurant dish, something to sell, not to make at home. Siu mai were first prepared and sold in teahouses along the Silk Road, where hungry salesmen stopped for tea.

Why is Siew Mai called Siew Mai? ›

Instead of pork, suumai consisted of a mutton filling with scallion and ginger. Mr Chu has another story for where the name siew mai comes from. "I think what the chef meant by suumai was that he wanted them to sell like hot cakes," Mr Chu says. In Chinese, siew means "burn" and mai means "sell."

Why does Kokichi call Shuichi shumai? ›

He also once called Shuichi "Shumai", as a parody to Kaito's "Maki Roll" nickname for Maki. Kokichi enjoys his company, finding him one of the most interesting person in the group and praises him often.

What is the Chinese symbol for dim sum? ›

Dim sum (traditional Chinese: 點心; simplified Chinese: 点心; pinyin: diǎn xīn; Jyutping: dim2 sam1) is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch.

How to know if siomai is cooked? ›

Make sure that the siomai is grouped per variant when put in the steamer. STEP 4: After 6 minutes, check if dimsum are moist and firmly cooked by poking with a toothpick, if the toothpick comes out with crumbs in it, the dimsum is not yet cooked but if the toothpick come out clean, the dimsum is already cooked.

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