Tropical Siu Mai

Pineapple Box courtesy of King of Fruit, Queensland 

A while ago I received a box of pineapple goodies in my mailbox all the way from Queensland! Gosh, they got hold up in WA quarantine detention centre but they were ready-to-eat pineapple by the time it got to my hands. Before I finally got to open up the box, the whole house was perfumed by those sweet pineapple fragrance, loved it! Unfortunately, I received the box just a day before my overseas holiday, hence I gave most of them to friends and made myself a last dinner before boarding the flight!

Just a simple pasta tossed with pineapple, tofu and spicy nap sauce

Fresh, juicy pineapple from Queensland!

Pineapple is an essential fruit in my home country - Malaysia. It is used in curry, stew, desserts, festive cookies and as prayers' offering. As a kid growing up in Malaysia, I never liked fresh pineapples because they were always as sour and left an unbearable aftertaste (like thousands of needles poking through my tongue!). Bad! I then discovered that they were only a type of pineapple out of many other types. Some are meant to be sour and some are sweet and juicy. After coming to Australia, that was when I started to really LOVE pineapples. What an irony, I prefer pineapples from a non-tropical country!

And of course, the best of its kind is produced in the tropical state of the country - Queensland! The beautiful weather, the fertilized soil and great cultivation techniques are just some significant factors contributing to growing these seriously sweet and juicy pineapples.

Since travelling back to Perth, I had been wanting to experiment some dishes with this lovely fruit. I was glad that the King of Fruit's pineapple can be easily obtained from our local supermarket. And for my love for Dim Sum, I've decided to incorporate these two of my loves into a dish (who doesn't like dim sum eh?!)

Tropical Siu Mai

Tropical Siu Mai

Ingredients:
250g Pork Mince
150g Prawns flesh, roughly chopped
2 clove Garlic, chopped
6 no. Birds Eye Chili, deseeded and chopped
4 tbsp Coriander, chopped
3 no. Spring Onion, chopped
2 no. Lime Zest
6 tbsp Pineapple, chopped
4 tbsp Fish Sauce
1 no. Egg White
Fried Shallot for garnish
Pinch of White Pepper
Pinch of Salt
Wonton Skin
Corn Flour slurry ( Mix 1 tbsp corn flour with some water to make the slurry)
*optional* 4no. Kaffir Lime Leaves, julienne

Method:
1. In a large bowl, combine all chopped ingredients (save 2 tbsp of chopped pineapple for later use) with pork, prawns, seasoning and egg white.
2. Mix well together and let it sit for at least 15 minutes. (If longer, make sure you cover the mixture and store in fridge)
3. When the mix is ready, put 1 tbsp of mixture in the centre of each wonton wrapper.  Brush a tad of corn slurry onto edges of wonton wrappers using a brush or fingertips . Gather the wrapper around filling and press it close to give a little money shape, open at the top.
4. Put the rest of chopped pineapple on top of Siu Mai just like caviar as garnish.
5. In a bamboo basket, put a layer of baking paper and then put Siu Mai in it, don't over crowd it.
6. Cover bamboo basket and steam over boiling water for 10 minutes.
7. Serve hot with fried shallot as garnish on top.

If you like what I've made, do give me a vote at www.kingoffruit.com.au by October 31st. I know I might be a little late, but late is better than never right? Let's just hope I'll get vitamin C overdosed soon (with 1 year supply of pineapples for the winner)! :D