Shanghai-style Sticky Rice Siu Mai Dumplings

Merry Christmas dear readers! Here's a little "present" for you. :)


Aren't they cute? While I was more familiar with ground pork siu mai dumplings at dim sum restaurants, a while back Amy of Nook & Pantry had made Shanghai-style sticky rice siu mai dumplings. They were so darling that I knew I would attempt to make them at some point.

And so it was that on Christmas day, I was floundering for ideas on what to post. I figured tying a chive leaf around each dumpling would make them look like little "presents." This all came together very quickly and easily due to my tried-and-tested method of lazy cooking. ;)




Shanghai-style Sticky Rice Siu Mai Dumplings

For about 2 dozen dumplings, although the recipe can easily be doubled, you'll need:
1 cup sticky rice
1 lap xuong (Chinese sausage), diced
1/2 cup mixed frozen vegetables
1/4 cup dried shrimp
1 package wonton wrappers
2 dozen chive leaves

Put 1 cup sticky rice, 1 diced Chinese sausage, 1/2 cup mixed frozen vegetables, and 1/4 cup dried shrimp in the rice cooker to cook (1 rice cup is equivalent to 3/4 baking measuring cup). My rice cooker cooks in 15 minutes. If you don't have a rice cooker, add all the ingredients with 1 cup water and nuke it in the microwave for 10 minutes. Don't worry if everything isn't fully cooked as the filling will get re-steamed again in the dumplings.

Put a pot of water on to boil while you're assembling the dumplings. If you don't have a bamboo steamer, you can substitute with any mesh steamer or colander. If you don't have that, you can try upending a bowl into the bottom of the pot, and put a plate on top. Make sure you oil the plate so the dumplings don't stick. Actually, I also use oil spray on the bottom of my bamboo trays as well.

Your work station should have bamboo or any other type of steam trays, your sticky rice mixture, chive leaves, and wonton wrappers. I like using square wrappers for the fold-over effect on the top of the dumpling, but round wrappers would work too.


Place a small spoonful of the mixture into each wonton.


Gently tighten your fingers around near the top of the dumpling.


Tie a chive around the dumpling. You can stop at this point if you want a closed dumpling. But I like how colorful it looks with some of the vegetables spilling out over the top.


So if you like that too, gently open the top again.


And place a bit of the sticky rice and vegetables on top of that. You can alternatively overstuff the wonton wrapper, and basically do the same steps. But I think this method offers a little more control so the filling doesn't burst through the wrapper.


And now they're all ready to be steamed.


Steam for about 15 minutes or until the wrappers become more translucent.


Here's the other method of the dumplings all enclosed.


I think the dried shrimp and Chinese sausage already adds plenty of flavor, but if not, you can serve this with small dipping saucers of soy sauce and rice vinegar.

Enjoy!

*****
1 year ago today, I cooked Christmas colors - insalata caprese and baked goat cheese on pesto and tomato sauce.