Prawn and Scallop Shumai Recipe

Prawn and Scallop Shumai Recipe

prawn and scallop shumai recipe

It’s only 12 days now and I’m going back home for two weeks. I try to go back to my home country, Taiwan, once every couple of years so I can catch up with friends, see my family, do some shopping and perhaps most importantly have a rest.

I’m especially desperate to go home this time as two of my relatives died last year but I wasn’t able to go back. So with this in mind I’m making food that I regularly eat in Taiwan.

This recipe, called Prawn and Scallop Shumai doesn’t have a story behind but even though it originates from China it’s a popular dish in Taiwan. If you remember some time I made another kind of shumai which contained glutinous rice and I’ve been wanting to make another kind of shumai since then.

Shumai itself is basically dim sum, but with a different name. They can be made really quickly and you can put whatever you like inside but for this recipe I chose one of my favourite things which is scallops.

I have bit of a love hate relationship with scallops. I really like the taste of scallops but one of my regular jobs in my chef job is to empty live scallops from their shells. For anyone that’s opened a scallop before you’ll know that can have a nasty bite to them but nonetheless they’re really tasty.

Hope you enjoy this recipe.

Credit: All photos were taken by Chris at: http://www.chrisradleyphotography.com

prawn and scallop shumai
prawn and scallop shumai
prawn and scallop shumai
prawn and scallop shumai
prawn and scallop shumai

 

Prawn and Scallop Shumai Recipe

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 20 shumai

Ingredients

  • 300 g scallops
  • 225 g prawns for garnishing the shumai afterwards
  • 1 pack shumai pastry available from Chinese supermarkets
  • 1 spring onion
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper powder
  • 2 drops sesame oil

Instructions

  1. Use a food processor to blend all of the ingredients.
  2. Put the filling use a teaspoon into the fillings as shown in the procedure photos below.
  3. Cut the ten spare prawns in half and then place one on top of each shumai.
  4. Steam the shumai for around 15 minutes.
  5. It’s now ready to serve. Shumai can be eaten on it’s own or you can dip it in some soy sauce.

 

Steamed Tofu with prawn

Steamed Tofu with prawn

steamed tofu with prawn

Yesterday I went to the supermarket opposite my house, Sainsbury’s, and was really happy to find that they are now selling tofu. One of my favourite things to cook with but one of the more inconvenient things is Tofu, inconvenient as it means I have to go to the Chinese supermarket. Tofu is one of the greatest things to come out of Chinese cuisine. It’s incredibly health and has high protein, vitamins, calcium and minerals but it’s also low in calories, sodium and fat.

Research has also shown that tofu is great for combating heart disease and is good for ladies when they’re going through their menopause.

So, with all those great benefits, why can’t we buy tofu in every supermarket in the UK? I think it’s because people don’t know how to cook tofu or they had bad experiences with a tofu dish that has been cooked incorrectly. For example, my husband was talking to his colleagues and they said when they tried to cook tofu it turned into a sloppy mess. Cooked properly it should keep it’s shape and texture.

Tofu is a very common ingredient in Chinese and Taiwanese cooking. We cook Tofu in many different cooking ways including stir-fry, pan fry, steam, stew, deep fry and more.

So, here is my recipe for my tofu dish today. It’s called “steamed tofu with prawn”. The preparation time for this dish is around 20 minutes. It’s quick to make, simple, healthy and cooked without any oil at all. How great is that?! Next time people who try to call Chinese food unhealthy might start thinking again. People in western society often think Chinese food is about sweet and sour, prawn toasts, msg, fat etc but in actual fact good Chinese food is nothing like this.

Credits: Preparation photos were taken by myself but final photos were taken by Chris at: http://www.chrisradleyphotography.com

steamed tofu with prawn

 

Steamed Tofu with prawn

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 250 g prawn
  • 500 g tofu
  • 1 piece ginger chop finely

Seasonings for prawns

  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp rice wine
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1/4 tsp pepper powder

Seasonings for sauce

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1/2 stock cube
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp potato powder

Instructions

  1. Take out the tofu from package and dry it. Sprinkle a couple pinches of salt on the tofu and leave for a couple minutes.
  2. Cut the tofu into 1 cm thick pieces.  Use a cookie cutter to cut the tofu and use a teaspoon to dig a small hole in central of tofu.
  3. Use a food processor to process the prawn with all the seasonings.
  4. Roll the prawn mixture from step 3 into a small ball and put in the central of tofu.
  5. Steam the tofu with full power for 10 minutes.
  6. Mix all the seasonings for sauce in a small saucepan and bring it to boil. You must stir it occasionally while it cook.
  7. Pour appropriate among of sauce on top of tofu and ready to serve.

 

Prawn with Pineapple

Prawn with Pineapple

prawn with pineapple

I don’t like to moan but the fact is I’m really exhausted from work. As mentioned in a previous post the Fringe and Tattoo festivals are on at the moment and Edinburgh is horrendously busy.

I always crave food with strong flavours, such as this prawn with pineapple dish. I love the sweetness but also sourness from the pineapple. It always gives me refreshing vibes when I’m tired and it’s both quick and simple to prepare.

The preparation time for this dish is around 30 minutes. Maybe next August I will do a food project called “Chef exhausted from festival’s 30 minutes Eastern cuisine” lol, how do you think?

This dish is a favourite amonst Chinese people. The sweet and sourness from the pineapple perfectly matches with the prawns.

It also one of the most popular dish for banquets because no matter children or adults, they all love the taste of this dish and besides, it’s a colourful, pretty dish as well.

Credits: Preparation photos were taken by myself but final photos were taken by Chris at Chris Radley Photography

 

Prawn with Pineapple

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 3 people

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 16 prawns
  • 5 slices pineapple (canned is fine)
  • 1/2 cup corn flour
  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise **
  • 1 tsp black sesame
  • 1/2 tsp white sesame
  • Few lettuce leaves for garnish

Seasonings

  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp rice wine
  • 1/2 egg white
  • 2 tsp potato starch

Instructions

  1. Peel the prawns and make a deep cut on the back of each prawn. Marinate with seasonings for 10 minutes.
  2. Cut each pineapple into 4 small pieces and drain the liquid.
  3. Mix cornstarch with a little bit water, coat prawns with the cornstarch paste, deep fry in 150C hot oil until cooked. Drain the oil from the prawn and leave it aside. Run pineapple pieces through oil quickly and drain off the oil.
  4. Arrange lettuce in a deep bowl. Mix pineapple and prawn together with mayonnaise.  Place the pineapple and prawn into that deep bowl with lettuce and it’s ready to serve.

Recipe Notes

** I prefer use Taiwanese sweet Mayonnaise and you can find the recipe with on my salad boat sandwich recipe.