Sew Mai Dumplings

  • Level: Intermediate
  • Yield: 8 to 10 dumplings
  • Total: 1 hr 30 min (includes chilling time)
  • Active: 30 min
Dim sum literally translates to "fill the heart." I love filling my belly with this Cantonese breakfast! It originated in little tea houses in southern China that served steamed and fried bites with your choice of tea and is the modern version of a culinary swap meet. Masses of people all competing for fresh cooked bites of food auctioned off carts. These are my favorite type of dumpling. Shaped like drums, stuffed with shrimp and pork, they are the best.
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Ingredients

5 Chinese dried black mushrooms

3/4 pound (340 grams) coarsely ground pork (pork butt)

1/2 pound (240 grams) shrimp, peeled, deveined, and coarsely chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons (22 milliliters) oyster sauce

1 tablespoon (15 milliliters) sesame oil

2 teaspoons (10 grams) sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pinch white pepper

1 package round Hong Kong-style dumpling skins

Soy sauce, chile garlic sauce and hot mustard, for serving

Directions

  1. For the filling: Reconstitute the mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Rinse them, remove the stems and chop them into small dice.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the mushrooms with the pork, shrimp, oyster sauce, sesame oil, sugar, cornstarch, salt and pepper and mix until well combined. (You may also use a mixer with a paddle attachment.) Cover the mixture and let it rest for at least 1 hour and up to overnight in the refrigerator.
  3. To assemble the dumplings: Lay a dumpling skin on your work surface. Place about 2 tablespoons filling in the center. Hold the filling in place with your fingers and use the other hand to twist the skin around the filling. While twisting, make sure to flatten the top of the filling into the skin. Place the bottom of the dumpling on the work surface and flatten it out. Repeat this process until all the filling is gone.
  4. Steam the dumplings in a steamer basket on high heat until cooked through, about 7 minutes.
  5. I love eating these with soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, and hot mustard.

Let's Get Cooking!

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Mimi

Like the others, I found the recipe for the filling itself super easy. The challenge was the pleated wrap. I watched and rewatched Jet easily put it together and I even watched some YouTube videos. But you just really have to try and it’s much easier and forgiving than you think. I was too lazy to go the the store and all I had was frozen ground chicken and found some frozen shrimp. Yessss. I happened to have all other ingredients on hand. This came together so quickly and I have to say using chicken instead of pork made them a little lighter. This is definitely going to be part of my regular recipe rotation. <br />Yay to Chef Jet. Lovesl the recipes he showcase on his amazing show and I truly appreciate how he walks you through what he is doing and why he is doing it. Keep those inspiring episodes coming!

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