Siu Mai

Ingredients

• 400g pork shoulder, with some fat
• 200g raw peeled prawns
• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 3 tbsp cold water
• 36 round yellow siu mai wrappers
• 2 tbsp tobiko or finely diced carrot, to top

Before you cook

• Soak the dried shiitake in hot water for 30 minutes until completely soft, then squeeze them dry and cut off the stems.
• Dice the shiitake caps into 3mm pieces.
• Cut the pork shoulder into thin slices, then strips, then chop it by hand with a cleaver until coarsely minced with visible flecks of fat.
• Chop the prawns into rough chunks, leaving them chunkier than the pork.
• Combine the pork, prawns and mushrooms in a large bowl with the light soy, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, sugar, salt, white pepper, sesame oil and cornflour.
• Stir the mixture in one direction with chopsticks for 3 minutes, adding the cold water a tablespoon at a time, until it turns tacky and slaps against the side of the bowl.
• Chill the filling for 30 minutes.
• Trim the wrappers with scissors into rough circles if they came square.

Steps

1. Make a loose circle with your thumb and forefinger and lay a wrapper across it.
2. Push a generous tablespoon of filling down into the wrapper so the sides gather up into a cup.
3. Squeeze the middle gently to give the dumpling a waist, then flatten the top with a wet spoon.
4. Tap the base on the work surface so the dumpling stands upright, and set it aside.
5. Repeat until all the filling is used, keeping the finished dumplings under a damp cloth.
6. Press a small pinch of tobiko or diced carrot into the centre of each one.
7. Line a steamer basket with perforated paper or oiled cabbage leaves.
8. Arrange the dumplings in the basket with a finger's width between them.
9. Bring the steamer water to a hard boil and set the basket in place.
10. Steam over high heat for 9 minutes, until the pork is firm and the juices run clear.
11. Rest the dumplings for 2 minutes off the heat, then serve with chilli oil and light soy.