hishidaya's shumai

Shumai, what we call "pork hash" in Hawaii can be found all over Japan.

I was able to borrow Hishidaya's cookbook from the library and scribbled down the recipe for their shumai.

Unlike the "cute" shumai you find at most Chinese restaurants around Japan, their shumai is HUGE.

I didn't make them huge like their recipe, instead I used the ingredient portions they noted in their recipe and made them into "normal" sized shumai.

I am sharing my adapted version.

Hishidaya's shumai : makes 24

400 grams ground pork

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons cornstarch

pepper

24 shumai wrappers

Mix everything together and them spoon into the shumai wrappers

Steam on medium heat for 8-10 minutes.

NOTES: I didn't read the recipe correctly and ended up omitting the onion that they put into the meat mixture.

If you want to add onion, add about 50 grams (1/4 onion) minced to the mixture with 2.5 teaspoons of cornstarch.

After watching many youtube videos on how to form shumai, I still couldn't get the hang of it and my shumai were uneven and pretty ugly looking.

I steamed this in a frying pan with parchment paper and water, but would steam on shredded cabbage and parchment next time.

I omitted the 2 teaspoons of ginger juice that the original recipe notes because I was lazy and didn’t want to defrost some ginger, but would try adding some the next time I make these.

When steaming, I also want to try covering it with a wet cloth to see if the “tops” will stay moist, it looked a bit dry.

Still, this was super tasty and was "inhaled" by "someone".

Since the shumai had so much seasoning in it, we ate this with black vinegar only, though a little karashi (mustard) would've been nice too.

I would definitely make this again.