japanese steamed crab dumplings--need recipe

[hilaryhilary]

I always get these delicious crab dumplings at my favorite japanese restaurant...they are not made with a wonton wrapper. They seem to be little round balls made of crabmeat and rice noodles that are steamed. The menu says that they are Kani Shumai, but all the recipes that I have found for Kani Shumai are crab and other things steamed inside a wrapper.....HELP! I tried to make them on my own tonight and failed miserably.

[Roosie]

Mianbao may be able to help you whenever she pops in- she lives in Tokyo.

I'm kind of stuck on this. According to BostonChefs.com, "shumai" refers specifically to "Filled Chinese dumplings that look like tiny, just-opening flower buds." Every picture/recipe/description I've been able to find of shu mai has had a wrapper and most dim sum-type meatballs are fried rather than steamed.

Can you give a little more of a description of the ones that you get at the restaurant? So, they are just like steamed balls of meat with no wrapper? How are the rice noodles incorporated?

Hope we can help...

[hilaryhilary]

they restaurant calls them shumai, but they are not. They are little balls of noodles with crabmeat flakes in them. The noodles are very thin (smaller than regular rice noodles) and somewhat transparent. The crabmeat gives them a pink color. The dumplings are very soft and chewy. They are not filled with anything. The noodles and crab meat and mystery ingredients are formed into a ball and steamed. I have spent hours trying to find a recipe on the net to no avail!

[Nose]

I've seen recipes that had dumplings kind of like that in soup. I don't have any of these recipes in front of me right now, but I'll try to look into it. Or, as Roosie said, mianbao may know.

[mianbao]

Hi, I don't think I can be of much help here. As you know, generally, shumai have a wrapper around the lower part, and are steamed. I can only offer a few ideas which might help if you try to improvise again.

In Japan crab shumai are made with a large portion fat ground pork (not just fat, but fatty meat, ground), to which the crab is added. Ginger and perhaps some green onion is used for seasoning, with some salt and pepper. I would add a very small amount of sugar, too. Usually potato starch is used as a binder.

You could add cut up noodles to this. If you're talking about very thin and transparent noodles, they might be mung bean noodles (harusame), rather than rice noodles. The mung bean noodles would have to be soaked in hot water until they are limp, I would think, then chopped.

I think you could mix the above very well, adjusting the texture by adding water, and make balls out of it. If you liked, you could coat the outside with a little potato starch (cornstarch works the same), and then steam them.

The reason I mention coating the balls is that I do have one recipe for "quick" shumai, that use a coating of starch, rather than a wrapper.
HTH

[Dejah]

I would think the coating is mung bean thread, as Mianbo mentioned. They are probably made and steamed like the pearl balls served at Chinese dim sum. These are ground pork with or without shrimp, rolled in pre-soaked glutinous rice then steamed. Yummy!

[hilaryhilary]

Thank you everybody! I can't believe I'm having such a difficult time finding a recipe for these things! I have had them (in varying sizes) at three different japanese restaurants here in the Detroit area. They are soooo delicious and I would make them at home all the time if I knew how.

[allmeiscountry]

Did you ever find this recipe?? I've been looking for it as well. When you talk about the Detroit area, is Miki in Ann Arbor one of the places? Their tuna tataki is amazing. Wish I could find that recipe too!!

[Leggy Peggy]

Steamed dumplings (also called gyoza) are usually stuffed with pork.
Try replacing the pork with crab. Or look for a prawn/shrimp dumpling recipe
and then use crab instead. Let us know what you find.