Quail Egg Siu Mai Dim Sum Dumpling 鵪鶉蛋燒賣
The Quail Egg Siu Mai features the same fragrantly savoury pork and shrimp filling of its much better known cousin, the iconic Siu Mai 燒賣 dumpling, but it has the added lovely surprise of a perfectly cooked little egg wrapped inside. I still remember my wonder and delight the first time I ate one of these, it was so perfect, the combination of the smooth slippery egg and the luscious juicy meat!
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 12 min
- Yield
- 11 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 25 siu mai dough wrappers (check out our Homemade Siu Mai Wrapper Recipe)
- 11 quail eggs (or 22 if you want to use whole eggs)
- 13 oz fresh shrimp, 375g
- 3 medium sized Chinese dried shitake mushroom
- 12 oz ground pork, 338g
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 tsp cold water
- 1 3/4 tbsp potato starch (or corn starch)
- 2 1/2 tbsp crush ice cubes, 38g
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/8 tsp Chinese white pepper
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp dried flounder fish powder 大地魚粉
- 1 tbsp sweet soy sauce (for dipping)
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the quail eggs: Place eggs in small pot. Cover with at least an inch water. Add a tsp of vinegar. Set on stove and heat until boiling. Once boiling immediately remove from stove and cover the pot with lid. Let sit for 6 mins.
- 2
Rinse with very cold water. Gently crack the eggs all over, peel and set aside. If using half eggs slice half lengthwise.
- 3
Prepare the mushrooms: First thing to do is to soak the dried mushrooms in room temperature water. Different mushrooms rehydrate at different times so soaking early is a good plan. I like to cut off the mushrooms stems and discard as soon as I can as that helps the shrooms to soak water in faster. When rehydrated, mince the mushrooms.
- 4
Prepare the shrimp: Defrost the shrimp if using frozen. Roughly chop.
- 5
Prepare the pork filling: Add salt, cold water and starch to the ground pork. Use spoon or chopsticks to stir in one direction until a rough paste forms. Add in crushed iced and continue stirring until the meat and fat are completely incorporated and a smooth paste is formed.
- 6
Add sugar, white pepper, sesame oil, dried flounder powder and minced mushrooms and mix until combined. Fold in the chopped shrimp.
- 7
Wrap the dumpling: Take one wrapper. Place one egg or half egg on top, making sure the round side is down next to the wrapper. Add on 1/2 oz (15g) of pork filling on top of the egg. Bring the wrapper up around the filling evenly, using a thin spatula to press the filling down as you do so.
- 8
Use scissors to cut off any wrapper sticking above the pork. The pork filling should be just slightly above the final edge of the wrapper.
- 9
Repeat until all eggs and filling used up. Place the wrapped quail egg siu mai egg side up on a well oiled tray.
- 10
Cook the dumpling: For the dumplings you want to cook and eat right away, place onto parchment paper lined steamer. Steam for 12 mins over a simmer. Remove to plate and serve hot with a small dipping saucer of nice sweet soy sauce.
- 11
Store the dumpling: For the dumpling you want to eat later, place the whole tray of then into the freezer. When the dumplings are firm enough to keep their shape (about 1-2 hrs) place them into a ziplock bag for freezer storage for up to 3 months.