Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re adding to our series on foods inspired by TV and film with some shumai, inspired by the dumpling scene from New Girl. I thought I’d use this as an opportunity to explore a dumpling that MANYYY folks have been requesting (basically since I started this series), which is a shumai. For those not familiar, shumai is classic dim sum dumpling most typically made of ground pork, shrimp, and veggies, then placed inside of a thin wonton wrapper and gently steamed in a bamboo basket. Its signature open face makes it one of the easiest dumplings to make since there are no intricate pleats or fold involved at all, and it’s basically just a ball of filling pressed into a wrapper. 

I also thought this would be a great opportunity to explore the uses of MSG a bit more, which is my favorite part about this New Girl scene, cause that stuff is in literally all chinese food, even if a restaurant says they don’t cook with MSG, causeee they’re lying. Hope you try it. 

It will be out on Friday August 20, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!