Recently, we used Durum wheat flour to make delicious country bread with the flavor of Xinjiang chili at home, which has a very good elasticity and texture. Then suddenly, I was inspired: can we use it to make Chinese Shaomai?

After experimenting several times, I confirmed that: Durum wheat flour is indeed very suitable for making our Chinese traditional dimsum Shaomai and it is very simple:

Mix Durum wheat flour with 60% water and knead to form a firm dough. You can use a kneading machine to give you a help. Then, let the dough stand for 15-20 minutes and cover it to prevent drying. After that, the gluten is more flexible, which makes it easier for us to roll and press flat and thin.

Roll out the dough as thin as possible. You don’t need to apply too much force when rolling the dough, just press it down and squeeze it out, and the dough will naturally stretch out.

Then comes the step of slicing.

Round shape is preferred for shaomai wrapper, thin and dry, with folds at the edges and a slightly thicker center to create a flowering shape at the top after wrapping the filling.

To achieve this flowering effect, it is also very simple: use the end of the rolling pin to roll and press the edges of the dough, and the edges will naturally become wavy thin folds, while the central part remains slightly thicker.

Wrap in your favorite filling. For example as the image below, we used diced donkey meat, Chinese cabbage, tofu and a small amount of chopped scallions, seasoning with salt, sesame oil, and pepper. Steam for ten minutes. The elastic, thin and soft texture impressed us so much.

Due to its high content of carotenoids in the endosperm, Durum wheat flour presents a natural and beautiful amber yellow color. Suddenly, I got another inspiration: it is also good to use it to make Wonton?

Start to try immediately. It is still the same proportion of flour and water, the same standing and kneading process: the only difference is that the Wonton wrapper is square shape.

After rolling out the dough into thin, soft and dry sheet, cut it into squares, wrap it with fillings (for example, seasoned meat mince). Unexpectedly, only with a gentle pinch, it sticks together easily.

Boil to all the wontons floating up, without any broken or fallen apart.

Here is a suggesting making your Wonton more delicious: pour in a whole egg wash into the pot after the wontons are boiled.

In advance, put salt, pepper, dried shrimp, sesame oil and soy sauce in a bowl. Pour the boiling water into the bowl, which makes a simple and delicious Wonton soup.

Then scoop in Wonton together with the egg, a bowl of savory homemade Chinese Wonton is now served.

The Italians might not have thought that we would use their Durum wheat flour to make Chinese style Shaomai and Wonton. That’s what the cuisine interests us most, different in cultural backgrounds but integrated in creativity.

Now, the prepared Wonton and Shaomai have been frozen in the refrigerator. They are ready to appear on our breakfast table at any busy morning.