Shui Mai (all variant spellings, elsewhere)

Dimsum, the Chinese heart's delight of the culinary kingdom are a labor of love. Not including the time to purchase the ingredients, it took me 3 hours to prepare, mix, assemble, and cook the delights. I haven't made these for over 10 years, but they truly are worth the time and effort, once-in-a-while.

If you have a large family and the help has dexterous fingers, the job is much easier.

16 ozs. ground pork
16 ozs. chopped shrimp
16 ozs. baby bok choy
2 scallions, mostly the white part, smashed
2 packages of dumpling wrappers
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 tsp. dark soy
2 tsp. light soy
2 tsp. Shaoxing wine
1 egg

Condiments:

Diluted Red Vinegar
Chile Sauce

I found a pound of shrimp, pre-cooked, but unpeeled. The next time I make this dish, I will but the 32-40 size shrimp, uncooked. As the shrimp must be peeled, you can do this task, while the water for blanching the  baby bok choy heats.

Break the egg in a mixing bowl and beat to mix with the remaining ingredients. Reserve, while the rest of the ingredients are prepped.

Cut the stem ends of the bok choy off. Save them for soup or stir-fry. Discard any leaves that are yellow¹. In a pot of boiling water, add the leaves. Return the pot to a simmer and keep a careful eye on the leaves. When the green color darkens, immediately remove the pot to the sink and run cold water on the leaves to stop the cooking. When the bok choy is the same temperature as the running water, remove them to a strainer or colander. Press the leaves between your hand, squeezing out excess liquid. If all the shrimp's shells are removed, you can proceed to remove the sand vein, by slicing along the top and removing the black line (vein) that is visible. If you cannot remove all of it, that's not a problem. When the shrimp are cleaned, using a Chinese cleaver chop the shrimp into a mince. Put it into a large mixing bowl. Cut the top from the scallions using one to two inches of the green. Smash the scallions and then mince them and add them to the bowl.

Next mince the well drained baby bok choy. Add it to the shrimp. Add the ground pork and mix all these ingredients. I wear nitrile (latex) gloves to do this. Don't overwork this mixture, the pork fat will warm from the heat of your hands. So mix only 30 to 60 seconds. Next add the egg mixture and mix again, this time for 90 seconds.

For the making of the dimsum I find a place to sit. With the shrimp and pork mixture, a small bowl of water, the wrappers and a paper towel, the making proceeds like this:

Fold Diagonally

If your fingers and thumb are moist, dry them on the paper towel. Take one wrapper and put the top edge facing way from you. This makes the wrapper look like a star not a square. With your index finger dipped in water, moisten the perimeter of the wrapper, the width of your finger. Next put one teaspoon of mix in the center. Fold the wrapper to make it look like a triangle as pictured above. (I'm left handed, so your wonton will point to the left, not the right, like mine.) Fold one end over the other. Click to enlarge the picture, below, to see what the wonton is folded like.

Place the wonton on a tray. I have my tray lined with foil, but if you have a plate you can use it. The wontons will stick where they have been moistened so they must be kept somewhat separate. 

When about 76 wontons are made, you can either freeze them. For freezing, they must be kept separate. The wrappers will tear if they are frozen together. On a plate or tray, place the wontons in the freezer, turning them at 30 minutes. After another 30 minutes turn again. If they are frozen, then can be put in a freezer bag and kept. I cannot say how long, but I would (educated) guess at 30 days.

If you are going to make them immediately, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add the wontons, when the pot returns to a boil, add ½ cup of water. The pot ceases to simmer. When the pot again simmers, the wontons are ready to serve. This method of adding more water makes the proper cooking time much easier. There is no exact cooking time! Yay!

¹ If you are a careful shopper, you will buy the package of bok choy that have no yellow leaves. If the bok choy has been in your refrigerator and the tops of the leaves have yellowed, trim that away.

Crayfish Simmered Shrimp and Pesto Penne with Cherub Tomatoes

There is no picture of this dish as pesto never photographs well. If it photographed as well as it tastes, the photo would be the most prized picture of all time.


I got out my Italian Marble mortar and pestle and made some pesto sauce after a neighbor gave me two large bunches of basil. I used the mortar for finishing the sauce. I confess that I used the blender for the first part, rather than pounding over an ounce and a ¼ of basil leaves. I believe I would have to pound each leaf individually and for some time, too! So I cheated with the blender.


I used Marcella Hazan's Pesto recipe, finishing with the butter. I had 24 ozs. of medium shrimp (31/40) frozen and purchased 16 ozs. of cooked crayfish. I had no recipe for this. None of the recipes, I read online, were to my taste.


I purchased 10 ozs. of Cherub Tomatoes from Smart & Final. I would not ordinarily advertise a product, but these are fabulously flavored. I make this dish in the Spring of 2011 and tomatoes are not yet locally grown. Even if I were making this in late Summer, when the tomatoes are at their peak, I would urge you to try these Cherub Tomatoes. I haven't had that much tomato flavor in my mouth for years.


This is an unusually pretty dish when served due to the green of the pesto, the red of the tomatoes, shrimp and crayfish and the white of the pasta.


First, a word about food safety. For this recipe, I had a bag of frozen shrimp. It started as a 2 pound bag, but after making an appetizer, I had 1 1/2 pounds of shrimp, still frozen. This was then defrosted, in the refrigerator, overnight before being cooked in this recipe. When I put the shrimp into the boiling water, it was still, partially frozen. My cooking time and temperature for this dish, is based on that. If you have shrimp that has been defrosted and is not partially frozen (ice still clinging to the shrimp) I would suggest, in the interest of food safety, cooking the shrimp until the thermometer reads 180° F. (85 C.) and no more. 

Some years after publishing this recipe, I found a much fancier Court Bouillon recipe and have attached the link below.


Main Dish
8 ozs. penne pasta or gemmeli (I prefer the gemmeli)
24 ozs. shrimp (31/40 size) - defrosted
16 ozs. cooked crayfish (or more)
10 ozs. Cherub tomatoes

6 ozs. pesto genovese (if frozen, bring to room temperature)

1 bell pepper, peeled as best you can and diced

½ red onion, sliced as for salad

2 cloves garlic (as mush)

Parmesan Cheese

Fennel fronds for garnish
Italian Parsley, for garnish

Court Bouillon
1 fronds of the fennel bulb
1 brown onion
1 tsp. fennel seeds, bruised
1/4 tsp. peppercorns, bruised
2 carrots, unpeeled
1 tbs. salt


To begin:


If you start with cooked crayfish, remove the meat from the tails, reserving all the shell for the court bouillion.


Make a court bouillon of 2 quarts of water in which simmer for 30 minutes, crayfish shells and claws, the fennel fronds, carrots, brown onion split in half, 1 tbs. of salt, bruised fennel seeds and peppercorns by bringing the pot to a simmer. After the pot has simmered, covered, allow to come to room temperature. Strain the solids from the stock. Decant the remaining stock, leaving the debris in the bottom of the pot. You won't lose more than 4 ozs. of this bouillion in the decanting, if you are careful. The penne will be boiled in the court bouillon, so save as much as possible.


Using an instant read thermometer, bring the stock to 160° F. (71 C.), add the shrimp and if you have uncooked crayfish, add them now as well. Set a kitchen countdown timer for 5 minutes. Measure the temperature every minute. If the temperature gets to 160° F. (71 C.), remove the shrimp (and crayfish) from the pot, and put them in a large bowl of ice water. The cooking must be stopped or the meats will toughen and dry out.


To Cook The Penne Pasta


Bring the court bouillon back to a boil, adding enough water to make 2 quarts. Add the penne and cook 11 minutes, or until al dente. When cooked, drain in a colander. Cover while draining to retain the heat, or quickly assemble the dish.

To Assemble The Dish


Put the pesto and garlic into the stock pot. Mix well. Add the shrimp and crayfish and stir well so as to coat the fish with the pesto. Add the bell pepper and onions. Add the pasta. Fold in. Add the tomatoes. 


To Serve


In large bowls, put the penne mixture, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley. I topped mine with a fennel frond as a garnish.


The image at the beginning of this post is copyright, Desert Glory - NatureSweet, 2011.