Pork Siomai (Pork Dumplings)

One of the greatest influences on Filipino Cuisine came from the Chinese who colonized the Philippines between 1200 and 1300. Not only did they introduced noodles to us, it was also from them that we got egg rolls and dumplings that were adapted to our cuisine using our local ingredients. 

I grew up loving the pancit (different kinds of them) as well as the egg rolls that my parents used to cook, but I never had dumplings except for store-bought siopao until I was in college. Back when I was a little girl, you can't find other dumplings aside from siopao in the 2 Chinese restaurants in our town, neither were dumpling wrappers available in our town's supermarket! Too bad because my parents weren't patient to make dumpling wrappers from scratch.

It was in college when I had my first taste of Siomai which was a hit during that time. It was and still is one of the most favorite street food in Metro Manila and other major cities in the Philippines. Siomai, also known as Shumai, Shaomai, Siomay, Shuumai in other Southeast Asian countries, is a traditional Chinese pork dumpling. In the Philippines, it can either be beef or pork.  Hen Lin's siomai was the best for me back then! I fell in love with it, and it became my favorite snack and a constant companion during late night review for exams.  I loved it so much that in no time, I started cooking siomai. It was good that siomai wrappers were available in Metro Manila supermarkets and soon enough, it became available in provincial supermarkets too! So whenever I was in the province, I cook this for my parents, and it became one of our all-occasion favorite!

I've been cooking this for over 20 years now, and I may say that I keep loving it more and more. It has become Clarise and Cherlin's favorite too...and we always can't get enough of it!

Today, I want to share with you my siomai recipe. I don't use too much extenders in it so as not to overpower the flavor of pork and shrimps. I hope you'll like it!

Ingredients:

*Yield 40 pcs.

For the siomai 

• 40 pcs. siomai wrappers
• 1 lb. ground pork
• ½ cup shrimps, chopped
• 1 small carrot, chopped finely
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ onion, minced
• 3 tsp sesame oil
• 1½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground pepper
• 1 egg

For the sauce

• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice or kalamansi juice
• ½ Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp sugar 
• 1 pc Thai Chili, seeds removed and chopped
• 1 Tbsp garlic, minced

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients well (except for the wrapper of course!). 

2. Get one siomai wrapper and put about 1 Tbsp filling in the center. Gather up the edges of the wrapper. Press lightly as you pleat each side. Repeat procedure to wrap all the fillings.

 

 

3. Steam for 25-30 minutes. 
4. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. In a bowl, mix soy sauce, lemon juice, sesame oil and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add Thai Chili and garlic.

5. Remove siomai from steamer. Serve hot with  sauce either as appetizer or snack.

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