Everyone loves dumplings, that’s just an undisputed fact. Not everyone feels confident making them from scratch though. These Cantonese Shumai are little juicy bundles of delight, they are a dim sum favorite for a reason after all, but they are also an excellent way to dive into dumpling making for the first time. There’s no complicated pleating, or fancy crimping, or exploding seams to worry about. They still look elaborately impressive, and the savory filling is umami perfection! Combining the classic flavors of pork and shrimp with some simple seasonings, these Shumai are so delicious, you’ll come back for them again and again.

Whether you’ve eaten ravioli, tortellini, wontons, gyoza, or potstickers, you’ve had a version of dumplings. Luckily for home cooks, Shumai are the dumping equivalent of a free form tart. They are virtually impossible to screw up and any less than perfect shapes only add to the charm. Plus, you get a mouthful of the best part, the amazing filling. Nothing is worse than biting into a dumpling and wondering what happened to the filling. Shumai will never disappoint you because they are jam packed. The open top means you can cram a generous amount without worrying about how you’re going to seal it closed. So let’s get your freezer stocked with some of these lovelies.

Making the Shumai Filling

Shumai are stuffed with a divine mixture of rich and juicy pork, savory shrimp, earthy dried shiitake mushrooms and some of my favorite flavor bombs like Shaoxing wine, white pepper, toasted sesame oil, and oyster sauce. Hopefully these items are already part of your pantry. If not, you can always substitute with some good (if slightly different) results. You can use other dried or fresh mushrooms for the shiitake. Dried shiitakes are best for intense authentic flavor, but some fresh shiitakes or portobellos would work fine too.

Don’t have any Shaoxing cooking wine? Try some dry sherry (my first choice), sake, or even mirin instead. If you don’t have any oyster sauce, a little fish sauce or even more soy sauce would work. And if you’re out of toasted sesame oil, my heart breaks for you as nothing can match the deep toasty flavor, but a little neutral oil can still boost the juiciness of your dumplings.

I start by submerging the dried mushrooms in boiling water until softened:

While I’m waiting for them to soften, I start making the pork mixture. Just a quick note on ground pork. When you go to the grocery store you are looking for a fatty grind, the kind you would use for making sausages. Please don’t buy lean ground pork. You will sacrifice flavor, juiciness, and happiness. A dry dumpling is a sad dumpling ;)

Mixing the pork until it is a fine paste is essential to get the right springy texture that is characteristic of Shumai. Once you add the flavorings, you’re going to want to mix and slap the mixture. At first the meat will break apart but as you continue to work it, it will get sticky and pasty. This takes about two minutes so keep kneading and mixing.

Mix it all thoroughly together and then the filling is ready.

Make the Shumai

To make the most traditional shumai, I seek out a Hong Kong style wonton wrapper. They are quite thin and have the yellow color shumai are famous for, but if you can’t find them, any wonton wrapper will work. I used the square wrappers because they are the easiest to find in my area but round would work even better. Take out a small stack of wrappers from the pack and keep the rest covered so they don’t dry out. Have a small dish of water ready to adhere the corners of the wrapper to the dumpling.

Start by putting a generous tablespoon of filling into the center of a wrapper, and then use one hand to cup and hold it upright (I put my fingers together to form an “O” ) while you use the other hand to gently push the filling down with a spoon or butter knife. Gently smooth the surface of the dumpling and then fold the corners of the dumpling down (if you are using square wrappers) and stick it to the side of the dumpling using a little water as glue.

Place the Shumai on the counter and continue shaping it so you have a nice compact mini cylinder. Finally, put the completed shumai on a tray and proceed with filling and shaping more Shumai until you have used up all of the pork mixture. You will yield approximately 30 pieces. Freeze any unused wrappers in an airtight container for future use.

Once your dumplings are completed, they are usually garnished with a little orange caviar for color. This is not necessary but a nice touch if you have it. Pro tip: Order 1 piece of Masago or Tobiko caviar from a Japanese restaurant sashimi style. You only need a small amount on each dumpling and this way you won’t have to deal with using out a full container of caviar. Alternatively, finely diced carrot can also be used to garnish the Shumai. Or go minimalist and don’t bother. The Shumai will still taste great.

Cooking the Shumai

Steaming keeps the shumai extra tender and juicy. Whatever type of steamer you have, make sure you spray it with nonstick oil spray before placing the raw dumplings so these delicate babies don’t stick to the pan. I fill my bottom pan with plenty of water and then bring it to a rolling boil on high before placing the steamer insert with the dumplings.

Cover with the lid and then steam on high until the dumplings are cooked through the center, about 10 minutes. If you’re not sure the dumplings are fully cooked, take the largest dumpling you see and cut through the center to check.

Continue to steam all the shumai and then it’s time to enjoy your labors. Generally these aren’t eaten with a dipping sauce, but rather served alongside bottles of soy sauce, vinegars, and chili oil so you can choose your own adventure. A bowl of this chili crisp would be most welcome too!

If one batch of Shumai is too much for one sitting, you can easily freeze them either raw or cooked. If you prefer to freeze them raw, place the tray in the freezer uncovered until the Shumai are frozen solid (3-4 hours). Then transfer them to a freezer safe bag or air tight container. When you are ready to cook them, steam them straight from the freezer, adding 3-5 additional minutes to the cooking time.

Looking for the fastest and easiest way to a meal? Then I suggest pre-cooking them before you freeze. Once the Shumai are cooked, let them cool to room temperature, place them in a freezer safe bag or airtight container, and freeze. You can reheat them either in the steamer or the microwave straight from the freezer. To mimic the steaming process in the microwave, put a couple tablespoons of water with the shumai and cover with plastic wrap before microwaving for a couple minutes.

Try these delicious Shumai and let me know what you think! I hope you love them as much as we do, and that you are inspired to try your hand at some of our other really popular dumpling recipes, like these Korean Mandu or these Mushroom Dumplings.

Shumai

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• Author: Funky Asian Kitchen
• Prep Time: 35 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: makes 30 shumai 1x

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Ingredients

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• 2–3 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 pound fatty ground pork
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce 
• 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
• ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 ½ Tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 6 ounces peeled and deveined shrimp (you can use any size)
• 2 Tablespoons finely chopped white portion of green onion
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 large egg white (save yolk for another purpose)
• 30 wonton wrappers / egg wrappers 8cm/3.5″ squares or rounds
• Oil spray for steamer basket

GARNISH:

• 1 Tablespoon masago/tobiko caviar or very finely minced carrots

FOR SERVING:

Soy sauce, vinegar (Chinese black or white distilled), and chili oil or paste

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Instructions

Make the filling:

1. Place the mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Submerge the mushrooms using a small plate/bowl and soak until soft, about 15-20 minutes.
2. Squeeze out excess water and trim and discard the woody stems. Finely chop the mushrooms and set aside.
3. Peel the shrimp and then chop it into small pieces with a knife. I keep the shrimp roughly chopped so you can taste the shrimp better in the filling.
4. Place the ground pork, salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine, and ground white pepper in a large mixing bowl.
5. Mix the pork vigorously with your hands, slapping it around the bowl, until it becomes sticky, about 2 minutes.
6. Add chopped mushrooms, shrimp, green onions, egg white, and cornstarch. Mix well.

Making Shumai:

1. Have a small dish of water ready if you are using square wrappers.
2. With your left hand (or right hand if you are left-handed), bring your thumb and fingers together to form an “O”
3. Place the wonton wrapper over the “O”
4. Take 1 heaping Tablespoon of filling and gently pack it into the center of the wrapper, pushing into the “O”.
5. Use the back of the spoon or a butter knife to smooth the filling so it’s even with the edge of wonton. If you’re using square wonton sheets, wet the outside of the shumai lightly with water and fold the corners of the square down so it sticks to the side of the shumai.
6. Place the shumai on the counter and use your fingers to shape it into a round cylinder. 
7. Set the shumai on a plastic wrapped tray or large plate and continue making shumai until you have used up all of the filling. (you may have some wrappers leftover. You can re-freeze any leftover wrappers that you don’t use.)
8. Garnish the dumplings by adding a tiny bit of caviar or chopped carrots to the top of the shumai.
9. Set up a double boiler or a bamboo steamer/steamer basket in a wok or large deep skillet with 3-4 cups of water and bring the water to a boil over high heat.
10. Oil the surface of the steamer basket and place as many shumai as can fit into the basket without touching. 
11. Once the water is boiling, place the steamer basket into the steamer and cover with a lid.
12. Steam the shumai for 8-10 minutes until the center is cooked through and a temperature reading is 165. (You can cut into the center of the biggest one to check.)
13. Place the shumai onto a platter and continue to cook any remaining shumai, adding more water to the pot if needed.
14. Serve the shumai right away with soy sauce, white/black vinegar, and chili oil.

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Notes

*Shumai is generally not served with dipping sauce. Instead you are encouraged to make your own sauce with soy sauce, vinegar, and chile oil at dim sum restaurants.

* You can freeze any raw or cooked shumai:

If you’re freezing raw shumai, leave them on the tray and place the tray in the freezer. Freeze for several hours until they are frozen solid. Transfer to a freezer safe bag or container once frozen. When you are ready to steam, you can freeze them straight from the freezer, adding 3-5 minutes of cooking time.

If you are freezing cooked shumai, let them cool to room temperature first and then transfer to a freezer safe bag or container. You can reheat them by steaming or microwaving for a couple of minutes straight from the freezer. If you’re microwaving, add a couple tablespoons of water to the shumai and then cover with plastic wrap before microwaving. This helps preserve moisture by mimicking the steaming process.

Keywords: shumai, shrimp, pork, chinese, cantonese, dim sum, dumplings, wontons, lunar new year, holiday

Thanksgiving is like the Super Bowl for passionate cooks. We save recipes all year, and begin creating our menu months in advance. And of course the classics and family favorites have to be there, but it’s a good opportunity to experiment with something new and exciting too. This year, I’m adding these Pumpkin Dumplings to the mix. They are an absolute cornucopia of Autumn flavors- they can be made ahead and the creamy filling is to die for. The addition of mozzarella cheese makes these really special.

Kabocha Pumpkin

Kabocha is alternately called Japanese Pumpkin or Kabocha squash. The flesh has the same vibrant orange color of pumpkin, but it is much easier to work with. The flesh is less watery, making it ideal to stuff wontons, plus the skin is edible (although I do remove it in this recipe)! And the taste is much sweeter. If you can’t find Kabocha, butternut squash makes a good substitute.

Set the Kabocha pumpkin aside to cool. While it’s cooling, prep the onions and brown the butter. Browning the butter adds a really rich, nutty taste to the filling for the pumpkin dumplings. Browned butter makes a fabulous simple sauce for raviolis, and is easy to make. Just keep an eye on it because it browns very quickly, and we don’t want it to burn.

Filling the Pumpkin Dumplings

I use a simple foldover to seal these dumplings, making it very quick and easy. Make sure to buy the mozzarella that is sold in a wrapped block, not the fresh kind that is submerged in water as the moisture will make the dumplings burst when frying.

At this point you can freeze the pumpkin dumplings. That way you can make them a couple weeks ahead of time, and just fry off right before serving.

Now all that is left to do is fry these babies! You can of course skip the garnish but it adds so much festive fall vibes, why would you want to? The smell of frying sage leaves will fill your whole house with Thanksgiving aromas.

Once the sage leaves stop bubbing (which means the liquid has been cooked off) they are ready. Set the sage leaves aside on some paper towels to drain, and make sure the oil reheats before adding the wontons. Fry them in batches of about 6-8 depending on the size of your skillet, being careful of the oil bubbling up. Since the filling is already cooked, you just need several minutes to get the skins a nice golden color.

When all the pumpkin dumplings are fried it’s time to get fancy and serve them on a platter, scattering the sage leaves on top and sprinkling with flaky salt.

Cant get enough dumplings in your life? Try these Mushroom Dumplings or Pork Gyoza. These Pumpkin Dumplings are going to be such a beautiful and tasty addition to your holiday menu, I can’t wait for you to try them. Please comment on the recipe below, and let us see your creations by tagging us @funkyasiankitchen, we love hearing from you!

Pumpkin Dumplings

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• Author: Funky Asian Kitchen
• Prep Time: 50 minutes
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: makes 30 wontons 1x
• Category: small plates
• Cuisine: Pan-Asian

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Ingredients

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• ½ kabocha pumpkin, about 1 ½ lb 
• 4 ounces mozzarella cheese cut into small ¼ inch cubes
• ½ onion
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt 
• ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 3 cups neutral oil 
• 1 package wonton skins
• 1 egg

Garnish:

• A handful of sage leaves
• Coarse salt (like maldon)

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Instructions

1. Scoop out the seeds of the kabocha with a spoon. Cut the kabocha into thick wedges and set the pieces on a steamer insert or basket. Steam the kabocha on high heat for 25-30 minutes until tender. (Use a skewer or tip of a knife. Both should slide easily into the flesh.) Set aside until cool enough to handle. 
2. In the meantime, dice the onion very fine and set aside.
3. Heat a pan over medium high heat for several minutes. Add the butter and let it melt and then bubble. Continue to cook the butter until the milk solids start to brown 1-2 minutes. Add the onion and lower heat to medium, stirring for 5-7 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent. Set aside.
4. Remove the skin from the kabocha either using a pairing knife or a spoon. Discard or eat the skins. 
5. Put the kabocha into a bowl and then mash it. Add the browned onions, the salt, black pepper, nutmeg, and flour. Stir to combine.
6. Crack the egg into a small bowl and add 1 Tablespoon of water. Whisk with a fork to combine.
7. Take one wonton wrapper and brush the edge of half with the egg wash.
8. Place 1 Tablespoon of filling in the center and add 1 piece of cheese. Seal the wrapper, pushing out any air bubbles. Set aside on a tray and continue filling and sealing the rest of the wontons until you have used up all of the filling. You will yield approximately 40 wontons.
9. Heat the oil in a deep skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Test the oil by dipping the edge of a wonton into the oil. It should bubble around the edge. If not, continue heating the oil for several more minutes. 
10. Wash and dry the sage stems. Pick the sage leaves off of the stem and then fry them in the oil for 2-3 minutes. Drain them on a paper towel and set aside.Carefully place 6-8 pieces of wontons into the pan and fry for 3-4 minutes, turning them occasionally, until golden brown. Set aside to drain on paper towels and continue frying the rest of the wontons in batches.
11. Sprinkle the wontons with some coarse salt and serve them garnished with the fried sage leaves.

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Notes

*Do not use fresh mozzarella as the moisture in the cheese will cause the wrapper to burst. Instead use the block of firm mozzarella and cut into small cubes.

*Once you wash your sage leaves, dry them carefully with paper towels to eliminate all moisture before frying.

*The wontons can be made and then frozen uncooked. Freeze them on a baking sheet (make sure to leave space between the wontons so they do not freeze as one block) until they are frozen solid. Then bang the baking sheet on the counter to loosen them from the baking sheet and transfer to a storage bag. Cook them the same way, adding another minute or two to fully heat the center. 

Keywords: kabocha, dumplings, thanksgiving appetizers, vegetarian, holiday recipes, pumpkin