Siomay Bandung (Bandung Steamed Dumplings with Peanut Sauce)

 

I don't know exactly since when I love to eat this street food. Siomay is similar to Chinese Dim Sum. It is an Indonesian steamed fish dumpling served with Peanut Sauce. A word of Siomay itself can be derived from Chinese Shumai (siu mai or shaomai), a traditional Chinese Dumpling that is considered to have originated from Inner Mongolia.

This traditional dim sum is a popular meal in Indonesia as street food. There are so many types of siomay variations in Indonesian cuisine based on the meat that is used for the filling. We can use king mackerel fish, chicken, shrimp, crab, or mixture of chicken and shrimp. As the recipe I share in here is using mixture of chicken and shrimp as filling. Siomay Bandung is the most famous variety of siomay in Indonesian cuisine.

Siomay Bandung is served with tofu, hard-boiled egg and vegetables such as potato, cabbage, bitter-melon, and the most important component, that is Peanut Sauce. We can add some seasoning for peanut sauces such as chili, lime juice and a little bit sweet soy sauce.

The original recipe is come from NCC. But I made some change to the original recipe due to my liking. And also the recipe of Peanut Sauce or Peanut Sambal. I made my own recipe.

Siomay Bandung

Bandung Steamed Dumplings with Peanut Sauce

 

Ingredients: 

• 400 g chicken meat, paste
• 100 g shrimp/king mackerel fish, paste
• 2 tbs shallots, grated
• 1 tbs garlic, mashed
• 2 tsp ground white pepper
• 3 tbs sugar
• 3 tsp salt
• 1 tbs cooking oil or sesame oil
• 3 eggs
• 400 g chayotes, grated
• 450 g tapioca starch
• Wonton skins
• 1 medium sized bitter-melon
• 1 medium sized cabbage
• Some hard-boiled eggs
• Tofu

Peanut Sauce:

• 500 g roasted peanut
• 200 g red chilies 
• 3 garlic
• 3 shallots
• 2 tbs Javanese tamarind juice
• 2 tbs salt
• 7 tbs coconut sugar
• 1,5 liter water

 Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine chicken meat and shrimp paste with shallot, garlic, white pepper, sugar, salt, and cooking oil. I used food processor to combine it. Then add egg and mix well. 
2. Add grated chayotes and mix well. Add tapioca starch, mix well. Set aside.
3. Grease the steamer with small amount of cooking oil to make the dumplings will not sticky when steaming. 
4. Siomay : Take a piece of wonton skin, scoop about 1 tbs of filling, shape it using hands. Repeat until all the wonton skin are used up. Steam for 20 minutes.
5. Potato :  Boiled potatoes until half-cooked then peel the potato's skin. Cut in half and scrape a portion of potato side and fill it with the filling. Steam it. If you want simple way, just boiled it and peel the potato skin without fill it with the feeling.
6. Tofu : Cut in half and scrape a portion of tofu and fill it with the filling. Steam. You can also just cut in half and directly steam it.
7. Bitter melon : Cut in several pieces (as your liking). Scrape the seed portion and fill it in with the filling. Steam it.
8. Cabbage : Cut in several pieces as your liking and steam it. Some people usually make the cabbage roll and fill it with the filling. But I choose simple way, just steam it with fill nothing.
9. Egg : hard boiled eggs 
10. Peanut Sauce (Peanut Sambal) :
    
    • Process the peanuts in food processor until smooth. Transfer it into a medium bowl. Set aside.
    • Process red chilies, garlic and shallots until smooth. 
    • Heat a skillet and add some cooking oil. Stir fry the smooth red chilies, garlic, and shallot until fragrant. Add the ground peanuts, mix well. Pour water, mix it. Add salt, coconut sugar, tamarind juice, mix well. Wait until the sauce become thick then turn off the heat. Set aside.

Serving suggestions: place all dumplings on a plate. Pour some peanut sauce and drizzle over lime juice, sweet soy sauce, and some ground chilies or you can use chili sauce from the store.