Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

----------------------------------WRAPPERS----------------------------------
2/3 c All-purpose flour
2 tb -Hot water, plus:
2 ts -Hot water

---------------------------------FILLING A---------------------------------
5 oz Regular or firm tofu
-- mashed
1 1/2 ts Tientsin preserved cabbage
-- minced (packed)
1 tb Presoaked minced tree ears
1 tb Presoaded minced lily buds
3 tb Black or shiitake mushrooms
-- (presoaked minced)
1 1/2 ts Green onion, minced
1 ts Sesame oil
1 ts Vegetable oil
1/8 ts Salt
2 ts Soy sauce

---------------------------------FILLING B---------------------------------
3 tb Water chestnuts, minced
3 tb Black mushrooms, minced
-- (presoaked)
3 tb Bamboo shoots, minced
3 tb Carrot, minced
2 ts Green onion, minced
1/2 ts Gingerroot, minced
1 tb Soy sauce
1/4 ts Cornstarch
1 1/2 ts Sesame oil

-------------------------------DIPPING SAUCE-------------------------------
Soy sauce
Mushroom soaking liquid
Sesame oil

These little open-faced steamed dumplings, a popular item in dim sum
teahouses, are a special treat, for you seldom see a vegetarian version.
With their flowerlike appearance and savory filling, they are an
attractive luncheon dish. You can use the ready-made wrappers, sold in
refrigerated or frozen sections of some markets ("shu mai skins"). "Suey
gow skins" or "gyoza wrappers" are too thick and will dry out during
steaming. Wonton wrappers can be substituted, but trim off the pointed
corners. Better yet, prepare your own wrappers according to the
directions below.

DIRECTIONS:
===========
To prepare wrappers, combine flour and hot water. Knead a couple of
minutes into a smooth dough; cover and let rest at least 1 hour. Place on
a lightly floured board, and knead for 2 minutes or so. With palms of
your hands, roll it into a long, cylindrical shape, 7-1/2 inches inches
long, 1 inch in diameter. Cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces; you will
have 15. If your climate is dry, keep the dough covered. Shape these,
cut-side up, into a round shape. Flatten them with the palm or heel of
your hand on a flour-dusted board. With a pastry roller, small rolling
pin, piece of dowel, or even an empty jar -- all of these should be
wielded under the palm of your hand -- roll each into a round wrapper,
3-1/2 inches in diameter, thicker in the center, thinner toward the edge.
This is easily done by rolling the pastry roller from the edge of the
piece of dough to the center, and back again, turning the dough
counterclockwise a little with your left hand after each roll. Continue
all the way around several times, also turning the dough over once or
twice, until you have a thin, 3-1/2 inch wrapper.

Prepare Filling A or B by combining the ingredients. Place approximately
1 tablespoon filling on the center of each wrapper. Holding the wrapper
on your left fingers, encircle it from below with your right thumb and
index finger, gathering the wrapper up around the filling. Squeeze gently
around the middle to make a kind of neck; some of the filling should
emerge at the top. The bundle should hold together securely or it will
collapse during steaming. Pat the bottom with your left hand to make a
flat base. If the skin is not too floppy, you can also turn the edge
slightly outward (like an open flower), pinching it if necessary to make
it secure.

Place a layer of damp cloth in a bamboo steaming basket or on a flat,
perforated race (you can use a heatproof plate if you have neither of
these, but circulation of steam is somewhat impaired this way). Arrange
the shao mai on it. With the rack well above the boiling water in a
steamer, steam for 10 minutes (if frozen, do not defrost first). They
will stick to the cloth, but if you wash and reuse the same cloth each
time, they will not stick as much.

Serve while still hot, before the skin hardens -- as is, or with small
dipping saucers of soy sauce and mushroom liquid (from the black
mushrooms), mixed in equal proportions. Add a few drops of sesame oil.

Advance preparation: These can be assembled in advance, frozen, and
steamed just prior to serving.

* Source: The Fragrant Vegetable, by Martin Stidham
* Typed for you by Karen Mintzias

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