This homemade mushroom shumai recipe is super easy to make. Today, we’re going with a vegetarian version made with sticky rice, mushrooms, and peas–perfect when dipped in a bit of soy sauce and chili oil.
Shumai (shaomai in Mandarin and siu mai in Cantonese), according to the good folks at Wikipedia, is thought to have originated in Inner Mongolia, where it was made with minced lamb, ginger, and scallion. If you’ve had it at a dim sum restaurant, it was probably made with pork and/or shrimp.
The goal of this particular mushroom shumai recipe is to make this traditional dish a bit healthier, as well as vegan!
The big plus of this recipe is that we also made homemade shumai wrappers, because we haven’t been able to find any store-bought wrappers ideal for this dish.
Give the recipe a try, and let us know how it goes!
Recipe Instructions
Start by making the dough. Mix the flour, salt and boiling water together in a mixing bowl, handle with care and knead until you get a smooth dough.
Put in a bowl covered with a damp towel, and let the dough rest for 1-2 hours. You can also cover it tightly and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight if you want to make it ahead of time.
To make the filling, cook the sticky rice (aka sweet rice, glutinous rice). You can either steam it (full instructions on how to pre-cook sticky rice using a soaking and steaming method here) or follow your rice cooker’s instructions if it has a special setting for sticky rice.
Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat, and add the reconstituted dried shiitake mushrooms and shallots. Stir-fry for a few minutes, until the shallots are translucent. Add the scallions, shaoxing wine, salt, soy sauce, mushroom soy sauce (or regular dark soy sauce), five-spice powder, sesame oil, and water.
Cook for another minute. Stir in the cooked rice and peas. Turn off the heat.
Divide the dough into four pieces. Working one piece at a time (cover the rest of the dough with a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out), roll the dough into a long rope and cut it into small pieces about the size of an acorn. This method is similar to the one we used for dumpling wrappers.
To assemble the shaomai, first prepare the steamer, lining it with a layer of damp cheese cloth, or by brushing it with oil to prevent sticking.
Dust a clean surface with flour and using a tapered edge or French rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough into a small circle about 3.5 inches in diameter. No worries if it’s not perfect. In this case, uneven edges are encouraged. They’ll give you a nice ruffled edge when assembled.
Place a bit of the sticky rice mixture in the middle, and squeeze the wrapper around it to form the shape you want.
Place your mushroom shumai or shaomai in the steamer about an inch apart. See our post on how to set up a steamer if you’re not familiar with steaming foods in Chinese cooking.
Steam the shaomai for about 5 minutes.
Serve your mushroom shumai immediately with the dipping sauce of your choice!
Check out our homemade chili oil recipe which go great with these mushroom shumai!
Sticky Rice Mushroom Shumai w/ Homemade Wrappers (Vegan)
Ingredients
For the wrappers:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup boiling water
For the filling:
- 2 cups uncooked sticky rice (aka sweet rice, glutinous rice)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 15 dried shiitake mushrooms (cleaned, soaked in warm water until softened, and diced)
- 2 shallots (minced)
- 2 scallions (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon mushroom soy sauce (dark soy sauce)
- 1/8 teaspoon five-spice powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 3/4 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- Start by making the dough. Mix the flour, salt and boiling water together in a mixing bowl, handle with care and knead until you get a smooth dough. Put in a bowl covered with a damp towel, and let the dough rest for 1-2 hours. You can also cover it tightly and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight if you want to make it ahead of time.
- To make the filling, cook the sticky rice. You can either steam it (full instructions on how to pre-cook sticky rice using a soaking and steaming method here) or follow your rice cooker's instructions if it has a special setting for sticky rice. Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat, and add the mushrooms and shallots. Stir-fry for a few minutes, until the shallots are translucent. Add the scallions, shaoxing wine, salt, soy sauces, five spice powder, sesame oil, and water. Cook for another minute. Stir in the cooked rice and peas. Turn off the heat.
- Divide the dough into four pieces. Working one piece at a time (cover the rest of the dough with a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out), roll the dough into a long rope and cut it into small pieces about the size of an acorn. This method is similar to the one we used for dumpling wrappers.
- To assemble the shumai, first prepare the steamer, lining it with a layer of damp cheese cloth, or by brushing it with oil to prevent sticking.
- Dust a clean surface with flour and roll out each piece of dough into a small circle about 3.5 inches in diameter. No worries if it’s not perfect. In this case, uneven edges are encouraged. They’ll give you a nice ruffled edge when assembled.
- Place a bit of the sticky rice mixture in the middle, and squeeze the wrapper around it to form the shape you want. Place them in the steamer about an inch apart.
- Steam the shumai for about 5 minutes and serve immediately with the dipping sauce of your choice!
How would you make these ahead of time? Steam and reheat or keep covered in fridge? Or?
You can freeze these in an airtight container after they are fully assembled, Susan.
Hi there can you freeze these?
Hi Jessica, yes, you can freeze these once they are assembled and steam them when you’re ready to eat :)
Hi! Would it be possible to make the wrappers a day in advanced, freeze them, then defrost them before filling them up? Or would the wrappers go hard even after defrosting them?
Hi MJ, you can pre-make these Shumai fully assembled. Freeze them on a tray (separated, so they don’t stick together) and simply steam them the next day to serve. If you’d like to keep them longer, transfer them to freezer bags after they’ve been frozen solid.
this recipe needs more flavor. the directions are good but it lacks taste. suggest googling online for other recipes that have different sauces or ideas.
Thank you for leaving us a comment, Yee!
I added Chinese sauce and it tastes great
Wonderful vegan recipe… thank you
Hi Lynne, click on our recipe list of vegetarian dishes.
Greetings from Holland! Just a quick question, can I use fresh shiitake mushrooms instead of dried? Hope to hear from you soon. The dish looks amazing btw!
Yes, you can!
These were SO AMAZING. I confess i didn’t make the dough — had gyoza wrappers in the freezer. I think they would have been easier to shape with the fresh dough. No Shallots so i used onion and tossed in some garlic and ginger. I had fresh shiitakes which i cubed and roasted in the oven first. For dipping sauce, Dark soy, sugar, chili oil — and a little cherry jam for some fruity sweetness. The rest are in the freezer but they won’t be there long! Thank you so much for another incredible recipe, you guys are the best!
Thank you, Toni Jean! You are pretty amazing yourself!
What sauce did you use for dipping the dumplings?
Hi Lien, we used homemade hot chili oil with a little added hot sauce.
Hi there-
Is the wrapper the same as wonton wrappers? I live in Oakland and there is this great market that sells fresh made daily won ton skins and sui gow skins. I’d love to make this recipe but would prefer to by store bought skins if possible.
Hi Lien, yes, please use thin wonton wrappers.
Hi Lien! I actually live near Oakland! I was just wondering what market you’re talking about, since I would love to have the convenience of buying won ton skins that are fresh.
Thanks,
Kevin
Hi! I live in Oakland too. Can you tell me what store sells fresh vegan wonton wrappers? Thank you in advance!
I see you mentioned in the comments that they can be frozen once they’re assembled. Would I freeze them prior to steaming, or after?
Hi Gwyn, freeze these before steaming. To cook, you can steam the frozen shumai without defrosting them first.