Yokohama Style Shumai Dumpling

Rinshinomori's Note:

I lived for a while in Yokohama when I was in my early teens. Yokohama, Japan is a major harbor in Tokyo area and is known for many Chinese restaurants and various immigrants, especially Chinese. So, it is no wonder shumai became very popular in Yokohama and Yokohama style shumai became famous thoughout Japan. I've had my share of shumai since leaving Yokohama and I am generally not happy with most of the offerings outside of Japan. The problem is the texture. Most shumai filling is too hard - like biting into small hamburger - you can literally bounce filling off the wall hard after steamed. You can use round gyoza wrappers, pot sticker wrappers or square wonton wrappers. I prefer gyoza wrappers because Japanese style wrappers are generally thinner, but if you cannot find it, please use either pot sticker or wonton wrappers. You will need about 35- 40 wrappers. There may be leftover - more below. If you do not have bay or sea scallops, use all shrimp along with ground pork. I like the taste and texture when it has some bay or sea scallops though. What I do with the leftover filling is form into small hamburgers and saute with a bit of oil. For each wrapper , use about 2 tsp filling. Please see various photos of before and after.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 0 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 35 dumplings

• 35 gyoza skins (pot sticker wrappers) or 35 wonton wrappers
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/2 lb shrimp, finely minced (medium sized)
• 1/4 lb bay scallops or 1/4 lb sea scallops, finely minced
• 2 teaspoons gingerroot, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 ounces bamboo shoots, minced
• 4 shiitake mushrooms, minced (can use dry shitake mushrooms, reconstituted, minced)
• 4 green onions, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sake
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons chicken stock or 3 tablespoons clam broth
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 30 -40 green peas (frozen or fresh)

Directions:

1. If using dry shitake mushrooms, soak in warm water until soft. Remove the stem and finely mince. If using fresh shitake mushrooms, remove the stem and finely mince.
2. You can also use food processor to mince raw shrimp and scallops by pulsing several times. It should not be paste like, but have some texture.
3. Thoroughly combine all ingredients except gyoza, pot sticker or wonton wrappers and green peas.
4. Place about 1 1/2 tsp to 2 tsp filling on each gyoza or wonton wrapper and form into shumai dumplings by using both index and thumb - both hands. I generally place the wrapper on table and put the filling in the middle and using both hands, form into small round dumplings - top exposed. Shumai should be taller than wider. Please see photos.
5. Place one green pea on top of each shumai.
6. Keep formed shumai and gyoza or wonton wrappers covered in damp towel to prevent drying out. Continue until all wrappers are used.
7. Heat a steamer and oil the steamer rack. Place shumai without touching each other. Cover the steamer and steam medium high for about 15 minutes. Remove and continue steaming other shumai dumplings.
8. Serve shumai with Japanese or Chinese style hot yellow mustard and soy sauce.
9. At this point you can also freeze them.
10. If you can have leftover filling, form into bento sized hamburgers (about 1 1/2 inch size) and saute in little oil until done, turning once.

Reviews

[mianbao]

These are very very good! I have made shumai using other recipes before, but never with seafood. That was the main reason I wanted to try this. I did use the scallops, but could only find pre-cooked ones. I shredded them in my food processor, and they seemed to work fine. Because I was afraid the scallops might be salty, I went easy on the soy sauce and salt. I also added the chicken stock last, just to make sure I didn't get the mixture too wet. Actually, I didn't use the full amount. I made 1 1/2 times the recipe, and got exactly 60 dumplings. I used store-bought square shumai wrappers. Also, I never know how much green onion to use because I think Japanese green onions are sometimes very large. I used 2 Japanese green onions, which came to 1 cup minced, for the 1.5 batch. Thank you very much for sharing this lovely recipe with us. I'm glad I now know how to make another kind of shumai.