One of my favorite things to grab for lunch is dim-sum, specifically shrimp shumai! I love watching the giant pillows of steam released into the air, each time a lid is removed from one of the containers on the crowded dim-sum carts. I think dim-sum is one of those things that a lot of people find intimidating to make at home, but really it’s easy, especially if you start with the basics! Today we have a super simple, yet super flavorful shrimp shumai recipe for you all today. It only takes about 30 minutes to put together and up to 10 minutes to cook.
What are Shrimp Shumai?
Shrimp shumai (also pronounced siu mai or shao mai) are a popular Cantonese steamed dumpling often served at Chinese, dim-sum restaurants.
How to make Shrimp Shumai
- In a food processor pulse together garlic, ginger and lemongrass.
- Add half of the shrimp and the remaining filling ingredients and pulse together until a paste forms. – This will help to keep the shumai together.
- Add remaining chopped shrimp to the paste mixture and fold together. This will give the shumai filling some nice texture.
- Place 1/2 tablespoon sized amount of filling onto center of each wonton wrapper and form, using dabs of water to fold edges down.
- Fill a steamer with water and top basket with a single layer of lettuce leaves.
- Arrange shumai onto lettuce leaves, about an inch apart.
- Cover, place over heat and steam for 8 to 10minutes.
- Remove from heat and serve with a simple dipping sauce.
How do you form Shumai?
Have ready a stack of your wonton wrappers, your shrimp mixture, a spoon, a towel in case you need to wipe your fingers off, and a small bowl of water.
- With your non-dominate hand, form a circle with your fingers. Place the wonton wrapper over the hole you have made with you hand.
- Gently press the wonton wrapper into your hand to create a cavity for the shrimp mixture to sit in.
- The cavity should be deep enough to hold about half a tablespoon of the shrimp mixture inside. The edges of the wonton wrapper that lay on top of your hand will be folded down later. Be sure to not make your cavity too deep, that will just leave your edges messy.
- Using a spoon, place the shrimp mixture in the cavity. We like to use a gently scraping method when we do this. You can use the spoon to gently pack the mixture down and create a clean top.
- Gently wet your fingers in your bowl of water. Stick the edges of the wonton wrapper that are resting on top of your hand down to the sides on the shrimp shumai. You may need to re-dip your fingers. The water works as an adhesive between the layers of wonton.
- Place a scallion slice on the top of each shrimp shumai.
Steaming
When you are steaming shrimp shumai, you always line the basket with lettuce leaves (or steamer linrs) to prevent the shu mai from sticking to the basket. You also want to ensure that the shumai are not touching each other because they will stick together. I love my Jia Ceramic Steamer. It’s thoughtfully designed and so beautiful. For this entire recipe, you will have to cook them in batches. They are best served right away, but if you prefer to serve them all at once you can place them onto a plate and cover to keep the steam in until you are ready to serve. I love using a bowl upside down on a plate to cover them.
Freeze Ahead
To make ahead and freeze, fill and form shrimp shumai as directed. Place uncooked shrimp shumai onto a parchment lined baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart and place in freezer until fully frozen. Once fully frozen, transfer shumai to a resealable bag and store in freezer for up to 3 months.
How do you cook Frozen Shrimp Shumai?
When ready to use, steam frozen (do not thaw) as directed, but add an additional 8 to 10 minutes to the cook time.
What can you eat with Shrimp Shumai?
While these little bites are delicious on their own, you can also serve them with other dim sum dishes like our pork potstickers, which are just as delicious and also freeze really well. You can also serve these alongside our garlic noodles and our Lightly Roasted green beans for a complete meal!
I love making a double batch of this recipe and freezing most of them so that I can easily pop them out of the freezer and have a little snack whenever I get a craving! Enjoy! xx, Jenny
Shrimp Shumai
EQUIPMENT
- steamer
INGREDIENTS
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- ½ inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
- ½ inch piece lemongrass, chopped
- ½ pound shrimp, peeled, cleaned and deveined
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
- 24 square wonton wrappers
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place garlic, ginger and lemongrass in a food processor and pulse 6 to 8 times or until finely ground and well combined. Scrape down sides of bowl.
- Dice shrimp and place half into the food processor with the remaining ingredients. Process until a smooth paste just comes together. Pour filling into a mixing bowl and fold in remaining shrimp.
- Place ½ tablespoon of the mixture into the center of a wonton wrapper and wet the edges with a small amount of water.
- Assemble: Bring all the sides into the center and press any excess wrapper down onto the sides to gently seal (the tops should still be exposed with the shrimp mixture). Flatten the top and place onto a baking sheet. Top each shumai with a piece of sliced green onion. Repeat until all the filling and wrappers have been used.
- Fill base a pot with 2 inches of water. Top with steamer and line steamer with a layer of lettuce leaves and arrange shumai on top, 1 inch apart (this will be done in batches). Cover steamer with lid and place over medium-high heat. Steam shumai for 8 to 10 minutes or until shrimp has just cooked through.
- Serve shu-mai hot with ponzu sauce or a mixture of soy sauce and sesame oil for dipping.
NOTES
- *Makes 24
- To make ahead and freeze: Fill and form shrimp shumai as directed. Place uncooked shrimp shumai onto a parchment lined baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart and place in freezer until fully frozen. Once fully frozen, transfer shumai to a resealable bag and store in freezer for up to 3 months. When ready to heat from frozen, follow instructions as directed and steam shumai from frozen, but add an additional 5 to 6 minutes of steaming.
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Hi there! I realize this is an old post, so I’m not sure if my comment will be seen, but I have a potentially dumb question – are you using raw fresh, or raw frozen/defrosted shrimp? I don’t know if it’s safe to use raw defrosted shrimp? (I ask because I don’t have access to raw shrimp where I live, save for two weeks of the year during spot prawn season! And they’re impossible to get hands on), but I’d love to make a batch of these to freeze if I can!
Hi I used raw fresh shrimp, but using raw defrosted is totally fine! The quality of the shumai may go down slightly because of the refreezing, but as long as the shrimp you’re using is a good quality, you should be fine!
Me ha fascinado la sencillez y claridad en explicar la preparación, que compartan los detalles para que resulte mejor la preparación. Mis felicitaciones por la generosidad con sus conocimientos.
The calories are Calories: 130kcal. Is this for one or more please?
Hi! It’s for 4 pieces. The serving is for 6 and the recipe makes 24 :)
Thanks for the recipe ! Do you use raw shrimps (what I have at home) or cooked ones ? Thanks
raw shrimp!
Made last night – my new favorite!!! These little guys look fancy and complicated, but they were SO simple and almost as beautiful as your photos. I did use Gyoza wrappers (round) so didn’t need to fold down corners. Also, I don’t have a bamboo steamer, so I used my metal steamer basket lined with the lettuce and it worked just perfectly. Thank you for the inspiration!!!
Very yummy, it is one of my favourite. I could eat heaps of these.
:)
Can’t wait to try this recipe – one dim-dumb question… I don’t have a steamer. Is there another option for cooking these?
Hi! If you have some tin foil + a heatproof plate you can make shift a steamer with a pot! Just make a couple balls of tin foil + place them in a pot, fill halfway with water and too with heatproof plate. Then place lettuce on top of plate and top with Shumai. Cover with a lid + steam until cooked through!
Can you fry them
Just curious, are the shrimp raw in the recipe before the steaming or is it pre-cooked shrimp? Can’t wait to try ! looks amazing.
They’re raw! Let us know how you like it!