Chicken Siomai

Siomai is a Chinese original food, but because of trading and tourism, this is now a Pinoy favorite. In fact, you can find numerous siomai vendors along the streets and siomai food stalls in malls of the metro.

I normally eat pork and beef siomai from a local fast-food. Whenever I'm with my hubby, he sometimes wonders about the taste of siomai. Unfortunately, he doesn't eat pork. It is against his tradition. To bring the taste at home, I decided to create a family siomai recipe.

This recipe requires shrimps and sesame oil, but then again, my hubby doesn't like shrimps. It is not traditional this time, though. On the other hand, I don't like the smell of sesame oil. That the reason why I considered these two ingredients-- optional. For those of you who wants a tastier siomai, feel free to add them to the mixture.

Ingredients:
- 300 grams of ground chicken
- 1 small carrot, peeled & finely grated
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 thumb-sized ginger, peeled & grated
- 3 stalks of spring onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1 small egg, beaten
- salt and pepper to taste
- medium-sized siomai wrappers

Optional Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup minced shrimp
- 2 tsps sesame oil

For the Sauce:
- 3 tbsps soy sauce
- 1 tbsp calamansi juice
- 1 tsp chilli paste

Cooking Procedure:
- Mix all the ingredients together.
- Get a teaspoonful of siomai mixture, form it into a ball.
- Put the ball at the center of a wrapper, then gather the edges together.
- Repeat the same process with the remaining mixture.
- Steam in briskly boiling water for 30 minutes.
- Serve with a mixture of soy sauce, calamansi juice, and chilli paste.

* This recipe makes 20 pieces of healthy siomai.