Sticky Rice Mushroom Shumai With Homemade Wrappers – Vegan

You can make delicious Sticky Rice Mushroom Shumai at home in no time with this recipe. Sticky rice, mushrooms, and peas make up today’s vegetarian option; they’re delicious when dipped in soy sauce and chili oil.

According to the reliable folks at Wikipedia, shumai (shaomai in Mandarin and siu mai in Cantonese) was originally prepared in Inner Mongolia using ground lamb, ginger, and scallions. You can bet that pork and/or shrimp were used in its preparation if you ate it at a dim sum restaurant.

The purpose of this recipe for mushroom shumai is to provide a vegan and healthier alternative to the classic dish.

The fact that we made our own shumai wrappers out of whole wheat flour was a huge bonus to this recipe because we have yet to find any store-bought wrappers that work perfectly for this dish.

Try out the recipe, and report back with your results.

Ingredients:

For the Wrappers:

• 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 3/4 cup of boiling water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

For the Filling:

• 15 cleaned and dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked in warm water until softened; diced)
• 2 minced shallots
• 2 chopped scallions
• 2 cups of uncooked sticky rice
• 1/4 cup of warm water
• 3/4 cup of frozen peas
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 tablespoon of shaoxing wine
• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of mushroom soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/8 teaspoon of five-spice powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil

Instructions:

1. Prepare the dough. Knead the dough until it is smooth after carefully combining the flour, salt, and boiling water in a large mixing bowl. Leave the dough to rest for two to three hours in a bowl covered with a damp kitchen towel. Cover it tightly and let it rest in the fridge overnight if you want to prepare it in advance.
2. Fillings can be made by cooking sticky rice. You can either steam it (see here for detailed instructions on how to pre-cook sticky rice using a soaking and steaming method) or use your rice cooker’s sticky rice setting as directed. Cook the mushrooms and shallots in oil that has been heated over medium heat in a wok. The shallots should be stir-fried for a few minutes or until they become translucent. Toss in the sliced scallions, Shaoxing wine, salt, soy sauces, five spice powder, sesame oil, and water.
3. Keep it in the oven for a minute more. Put the cooked rice and peas into the pot. The temperature should be reduced.
4. Cut the dough into quarters. Roll the dough into a rope and cut it into acorn-sized pieces one at a time. We used a technique like this when making dumpling wrappers.
5. To prevent the shumai from sticking, you should prepare the steamer by lining it with a damp cheese cloth or brushing it with oil before assembling the dumplings.
6. Sprinkle the flour on a work surface and roll out each ball of dough into a small circle no bigger than 3.5 inches in diameter. If it isn’t perfect, that’s okay. Here, ragged edges are actively sought out. When put together, they’ll create a charming ruffle effect.
7. Form the shape you want by placing some of the sticky rice mixture in the middle of the wrapper and squeezing it shut. Spread them out in the steamer to a distance of about an inch.
8. Prepare the shumai by steaming them for about 5 minutes and then serving them with your preferred dipping sauce.