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

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.

"The Fragrant Vegetable", by Martin Stidham Typed by Karen Mintzias

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