Cravings

There are moments in your life when you open your fridge full of food stuff..

but…still there’s something missing…

Cravings…

Though, this word is commonly associated to pregnant mothers…When you are living in other country, you will experience frequent food cravings as you misses foods from homeland.

Chinese delicacies have always been part of the Filipino culture.

Siomai is the Filipino term for steamed Chinese dumplings that are usually filled with ground pork or beef. Other ingredient includes: minced carrots, minced onions, egg and spices. But, the most important ingredients of all is the wanton wrappers.

Though, you can find some Chinese products (like wanton wrappers) in the market. When you see the price, you will end up converting the price tag to other currency which will force your economical subconscious thought to suppress your cravings.

Thanks to internet, I was able to do my research and come up with my own wanton wrapper recipe. 🙂

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

a pinch of salt

1 egg

1/3 cup of water of as needed (just enough to make a dough:not too dry or too wet/liquid consistency)

cornstarch (used when kneading)

Methods:

1. Combine flour, salt and beaten egg. Mix thoroughly and add the water.
2. Put a pinch of starch in a clean, flat surface (I prefer covering the surface with plastic wrap for convenience in cleaning the area after kneading).
3. Knead the dough for at least 10-20 minutes or until the dough becomes elastic.
4. Put the dough in a bowl with cover and let it rest for at least 30 minutes (I have read that resting process allows the dough to relax and to easily reform to its intended shape/end product).
5.  After resting the dough, divide the dough into two then roll (roll the dough as thin as possible for great texture and less cooking/steaming time) to desired shape (square or round).
6. Don’t forget to put a pinch of cornstarch in between the finished wanton sheet (as it will stick together).

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   For Siomai Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup of ground beef

1 minced carrot (optional)

1 minced onion

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp spices (optional)

1 egg

2-3 tsp of oil (I prefer olive oil)

Methods:

1. In a big bowl, combine ground beef, carrot, onion, salt, black pepper together.
2. Once thoroughly mixed, add the beaten egg and oil.
3. After mixing all the ingredients, get one wanton wrapper and put 1 tbsp of the mixed ingredients and fold the end or edges of the wanton together to secure the filling.
4. Grease the steamer or put a baking sheet on the steamer (I prefer greasing the steamer to avoid siomai from sticking to the steamer).
5. Put each siomai to the steamer (Put space in between each siomai, as it will expand during the steaming process).
6. Steam the siomai for at least 20 minutes (put a cloth cover in between the cover of the steamer to promote equal steaming).
7. Once cooked, prepare soy sauce with lemon juice and chili.

#Craving-satisfied 🙂