Siu Mai

In a small bowl, put the "shrimp prep" ingredients together: shrimp, salt, and baking soda. Mix and massage the shrimp thoroughly and set in the fridge for 15 minutes to marinate. Once marinated, wash under water for approximately 5 minutes until the shrimp flesh turns milky translucent white and its coloration becomes slightly orange-ish pink, as if slightly cooked.

Dry shrimp thoroughly with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels, then mince shrimp with a knife. You can mince to your desired texture, but we generally like having pea-sized (or larger) chunks of shrimp left. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, mix your pork and the baking soda and water mixture. Mix thoroughly, then add salt. Give it a slight mix, then add in your shrimp paste. Mix in one direction vigorously for a minute, until the mixture becomes sticky and leaves noticeable white streaks around the edge of your mixing bowl.

Take your mixture in one hand, lift it up out of the bowl, and throw it back down into the bowl. This process is known as "dat"-ing, and is done to improve the texture of a variety of Asian pastes/fillings. Do this about ten times.

Gently mix in the shiitake mushrooms. Then add in the rest of the seasoning-ingredients (sugar, soy sauce, MSG, bouillon, white pepper, mushroom powder) and mix well until combined. Add the melted lard in *last* and mix thoroughly. Set aside in the fridge until you are ready to fill.

When ready to fill, take a heaping tablespoon and a half of filling, and place onto the center of a wrapper. With your pointer finger and thumb touching, making an OK symbol, place the filling on top of it and use your finger and thumb to push the wrapper up the sides of the fillings.

It would be better to head to youtube to see how this is done.

Place a green pea on top (optional, this is how it is garnished in Vietnam. Other places may use roe, or an additional whole shrimp), and steam on high heat for 10 minutes. Serve while hot with the dipping! We also eat it with hot sauce.