Sui Mai: Chinese Pork Dumplings

Chinese pork dumplings offer so much flavor and satisfaction and, for all their complexity, they’re not too difficult to make.

Sure, you may need to shop for a few key ingredients like oyster sauce and sui mai dumpling wrappers. But once you have all you need, making this Chinese pork dumpling recipe is a matter of a few easy steps.

Here, we use a bamboo steamer, but you can use any steamer or steaming mechanism you have on hand. The idea is to steam the meat and dumplings, so do whatever works with your kitchen supplies.

The key ingredients you’ll need for the marinade for the pork/shrimp/mushroom mixture are:

• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoon oyster sauce
• 2 Tablespoon corn starch
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon palm sugar (or white sugar)
• ½ teaspoon white pepper

Looking for a scrumptious flavorful dinner dish? Try Red Curry Chicken or Oscar Style Steak.

Then, to make the actual dumplings you will need:

• ½ lb pork shoulder or pork butt
• ½ lb shrimp (peeled and de-veined)
• 5 dried shiitake mushrooms
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 Tablespoons water for shiitake mushrooms
• Sui mai wrappers (or any dumpling wrappers that are thin and round)

How to Make Pork Dumplings

Mix marinade sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.

Pork

Then, mince the pork very finely, cutting into strips and small cubes, essentially making ground pork.

Rinse the pork in cold water, but don’t over rinse. Then, wrap the pork in a towel to dry it as much as possible. Add pork to a bowl and add the marinade, stir together, but only in one direction, until the mixture becomes sticky. Let the pork marinade for 10 – 15 minutes.

Shrimp

Mix shrimp with ½ teaspoon of baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt. Let sit in a bowl for 1 hour. Thoroughly rinse the shrimp in cold water for 4- 5 minutes until all off the baking soda and salt are removed. (This helps the shrimp become crispier and not mushier, improving its texture.)

Dice the shrimp into fine pieces, similar to the size of the pork pieces. Mix into the pork in the same direction until it is incorporated.

Re-hydrate mushrooms for 4 – 8 hours by covering them with water until they are re-hydrated. Squeeze the mushrooms in a tea towel to remove moisture then dice them very finely. Mix into the pork and shrimp in the same direction until it is incorporated.

Final steps of making pork dumplings

Let the pork, shrimp, and mushroom mixture marinate for 4 hours in the refrigerator.

After the mixture has marinated, prepare the steamer by boiling water.

Brush the dumpling wrappers with water on one side, fill with about 1 ounce of the pork mixture, then shape the dumpling into a cup form, like a little shot glass. Ensure the filling goes to the top of the wrapper so it does not dry out.

Line the steamer with cabbage leaves or parchment paper. Steam the dumplings for about 12 minutes.

Garnish with chopped spring onions or chopped carrots. Serve hot with a sauce such as soy sauce.

Also try: Coconut Lime Chicken Thighs.