COOKING DAY: OUR FIRST TRY MAKING SIOMAI (Dumpling)

Siu mai, shu mai, shaomai.. in the Philippines, we call it "siomai" (read as 'shomai').

Since today is COOKING DAY, I will share about our experience making siomai!

The siomai is a Filipino term for the Chinese dumplings, meat wrapped in molo wrapper or siomai wrapper. The most popular meat used for siomai is pork but there are also beef siomai, shrimp siomai, and I think there's a tuna siomai too or some other kind of fish. Siomai is either steamed or fried but both are enjoyed eaten with soy sauce with lime and a scoop of chili oil for some tinge of spiciness. It can be eaten alone or paired with rice.

Here in our country, siomai is a popular food. Most malls usually have a siomai food stall, some you can find near a school or near the wet market. You can easily grab some siomai when you feel like craving for one, or you can also buy a ready-to-cook siomai at the grocery. And if you want to eat a lot but spend less, you can try making your own too just like my mother.

I don't know what has gotten into her because she bought ingredients to make some siomai, spring rolls, and longganisa (sweet sausage). Sorry, I can't tell you the exact ingredients and procedure since it was my mom who did it. The only help I offered was the wrapping of siomai. Please don't tell her but the way she wrapped her siomai was meh. I give it a score of 3/10. Hahaha!

I wasn't able to take a picture of her masterpiece but here's mine:

Wrapping siomai is easy and I got it right the first time I did it. There are lots of ways to wrap a siomai but this is the easiest so far. Scoop enough of meat and place it at the center of the molo wrapper. Just pinch the edges then fold each edge to a single direction. If the folded edge doesn't stick, swipe a little water into the wrapper with your finger and press the wrapper carefully so it doesn't come loose. Then open the fold on top so it forms like a petal.

One thing I discovered is that wrapping siomai is almost like doing origami. If you're good at origami folding, this should be very easy for you!

Hmmm.. Doesn't it look good?

We tried to steam a few to taste it. However! The molo wrapper didn't become soft even after so many minutes of steaming it. And the meat keeps coming off from the wrapper. Fail! 😂 My mom was kind of disappointed and thought the siomai was wasted but then I suggested that maybe we can try to fry it.

And here it is, crunchy and more edible. Lol. Even though the meat still detaches from the wrapper.

Maybe next time we can create the perfect siomai. :)

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