Crafting versatile siew mai from scratch

DIM SUM is a Chinese classic that involves serving small portions of various savoury and sweet dishes, typically accompanied by tea.

Whenever we indulge in dim sum, it is customary to savour the three most popular dishes of har gow, siew mai and char siew pau along with the sweet dessert of egg tart, as these make up what is known as the four heavenly kings of dim sum.

Such an integral part of our culinary experience has dim sum become that we take it for granted until we find ourselves in a place where it is not readily available.

Then, we long for the communal dining experience that dim sum brings.

Out of the four heavenly kings, siew mai stands out as one of the simplest dim sum delights to prepare.

It is a dish I often made during my time studying in the US.

Back then, only wonton wrappers were available at the oriental market in Austin, Texas, and I remember I had to reappropriate these by meticulously cutting circles out of the square pastry.

This humble interpretation is thus a recipe borne out of necessity.

I didn’t know that the sprinkles over authentic siew mai were supposed to be shrimp roe and not finely diced carrots.

In spite of this misstep, my creations were quite well received and I was even able to sell a few batches to represent the Malaysian Students Association during my university’s International Student Week.

Traditionally, siew mai filling comprises pork and shrimp, but I’ve experimented with substitutes including minced chicken and turkey.

However, incorporating some fat is essential because lean poultry tends to yield dry siew mai.

Serve siew mai with bottled sauces such as sweet garlic chilli sauce and hoisin sauce for convenience, or concoct your own if you have time. — Photos: YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

One of the factors that makes this dish so versatile is its ability to be frozen in raw form or after it has been steamed.

Frozen raw siew mai can be quickly thawed and steamed while cooked siew mai just needs to be reheated, and served immediately.

While it is easy to whip up dipping sauces to go with dim sum, it is fine to opt for the convenience of bottled sauces.

A sweet garlic chilli sauce and hoisin sauce will suffice as two dipping sauces to complement this simple creation.Siew mai

Season the meat and diced shrimp with soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and cornstarch.

Ingredients

500g minced pork or chicken

250g prawns, shelled and diced

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp castor sugar

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

15g fresh ginger, minced

20g carrot, finely diced

100g siew mai wrapper

In the wrapper, pack in two teaspoons of filling with a spoon and then sprinkle with finely diced carrots.

Directions

In a mixing bowl, stir together minced meat, prawns, pepper, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger until combined.

Place two teaspoons of the filling on to a siew mai wrapper, then gather the wrapper around the filling while pressing down with a spoon to smooth the top.

Sprinkle finely diced carrots over the top and press down to embed them into the filling.

Continue wrapping until all the filling is used up.

Steam the siew mai for 10 to 15 minutes until cooked and serve hot.

You should be able to make about two dozen siew mai.

Place three to four siew mai into a dim sum basket and steam for 10-15 minutes until cooked.

Serve immediately with chilli and sweet dipping sauces.