Directions

1. Rinse the glutinous rice. Rub the grains to remove the excess starch. Discard the liquid. Do this several times until the water becomes clear. Soak the rice for 2 hours.

2. Soak 3 tbsp of dried shrimp and 4 pieces of dried shitake mushrooms for 2 hours. Diced the shrimp and mushroom. Save the liquid, we will use that later.
3. Diced 2 pieces of Cantonese sausage. You can also use a nice piece of cured ham.
4. By now, the rice should be ready. Drain it completely. Put it in a nonstick pot along with a big drizzle of sesame oil and the soaking liquid. Turn the heat to high and bring this pot to a boil. Then turn the heat to the lowest possible. Let it simmer for 10 minutes and you should have some perfectly cooked glutinous rice. Each grain kept its individual shape. It is not mussy at all. Set it aside and start combining all the filling ingredients.
5. Add a couple of tbsp of oil to your wok along with the diced mushroom, Cantonese sausage, and the minced shrimp. Stir on low heat for a few minutes or until you can smell the fragrance. Then push everything to the side so you have room for the ground pork. Stir and break down the meat as much as you can. Cook it until you don’t any pink color.
6. Add in the cooked glutinous rice. Try to break it up with your spatula. Don’t forget to add the seasonings at this time - about 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, a drizzle of dark soy sauce for the color. Last but not least, some black pepper to taste. Keep mixing on medium heat. Once everything is well mixed, you can give it a taste to see if you need to adjust the flavor. Toss in some diced carrot and scallions. Mix everything again and your filling is done.
7. In a big mixing bowl, combined the following ingredients: 250 grams of all-purpose, 150 grams of hot water, and 1/2 tsp of salt. Put on the lid and let it sit for 10 minutes.
8. Knead the dough for 10-12 minutes or until it becomes a round smooth dough. Cover it with a plastic wrap. Let it rest for 40 minutes.
9. 40 minutes later, unwrap it. Roll it into a long even log. The amount I gave is enough to make 25-30 shaomai. So divide it into 25-30 even pieces. You don’t need to scale them because the filling is cooked. There are no worries about uneven cooking.
10. Sprinkle a generous amount of cornstarch to prevent little dough pieces from sticking to each other. Flaten all the pieces into these round patties. Cover them with plastic wrap so they don’t get dried.
11. Use a rolling pin roll each dough into 3 inches diameter pieces. Then pile 4 pieces together and roll them at one time. You will find that the top and the bottom piece will be smaller than the ones in the middle. You just switch positions. Put the smaller ones in the middle this time. Keep rolling for less than a minute. You have 4 wrappers that are almost the same size, nice and thin. The diameter is about 4.5 inches.
12. Now let me show you how to wrap the Shao Mai. Take 1 piece of the wrapper. Put some filling in the middle - about 3 tbsp. Bend your fingers to make the wrapper into a small bag shape. Start making pleats all the way around. Make sure to pinch the pleats tight or else the filling will fall off during steaming. Press it down from the top and squeeze it to give it a slender waist.
13. Brush some oil on the steamer rack so the Shao Mai doesn’t stick to it. Place them in one by one. Be sure to leave some space between each other. Put on the lid. Turn the heat to high. Once the water starts boiling, continue to steam for 10 minutes. Enjoy!