For pierogi sour cream sauce roasted on spits over an open fire or a huge wood burning rotisserie oven, see siu mei. Shrimp shaomais by Stewart at Din Tai Fung in Taipei. In Cantonese cuisine, it is usually served as a dim sum snack.
Hohhot shaomai is a regional variety in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. The wrapping is a very thin, round sheet of unleavened dough, with a pleat border. There is only one kind of filling, which mainly consists of chopped or minced mutton, scallion and ginger. Hohhot shaomai features this extensive use of scallion and ginger, creating a dense combined scent, and a slightly spicy taste. The filling is put in the center of the wrapping and the border of the wrapping is loosely gathered above, forming a “neck” and a flower shaped top. This is the most well-known variety outside of Asia and is from the southern provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi. As prepared in Cantonese cuisine, siumaai is also referred to as “pork and mushroom dumpling”.
A fish paste variety of siumaai is sold as a popular street food in Hong Kong, usually alongside curry fishballs. The Hong Kong Siumaipedia was written to document the Cantonese variety. Called the chrysanthemum shaomai, this variety is made in Changsha, Hunan province. This shaomai is named for its opening resembling the chrysanthemum flower petal shape.
