Siomay (also Somai), is an Indonesian steamed fish

dumpling Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, ...

with vegetables served in

peanut sauce Peanut sauce, satay sauce (saté sauce), ''bumbu kacang'', ''sambal kacang'', or ''pecel '' is an Indonesian sauce made from ground roasted or fried peanuts, widely used in Indonesian cuisine and many other dishes throughout the world. Peanut ...

. It is derived from the Chinese

Shumai ''Shumai'' () is a type of traditional Chinese dumpling. In Cantonese cuisine, it is usually served as a dim sum snack.Hsiung, Deh-Ta. Simonds, Nina. Lowe, Jason. 005(2005). The food of China: a journey for food lovers. Bay Books. . p 38. In ...

. It is considered a light meal, similar to the Chinese

Dim Sum Dim sum () is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuis ...

. It is traditionally made from pork but is frequently substituted with ''tenggiri'' (

spanish mackerel Scomberomorini is a tribe of ray-finned saltwater bony fishes that is commonly known as the Spanish mackerels, seerfishes or seer fish. This fish closely resembles the King Mackerel. This tribe is a subset of the mackerel family (Scombridae) ...

), as many Indonesians observe the ''halal'' dietary law. Sometimes other types of seafood such as

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

, and

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten. The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature' ...

also can be used to make siomay. Other complements to siomay include steamed

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&n ...

potatoes The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...

, bitter gourd,

boiled egg Boiled eggs are eggs, typically from a chicken, cooked with their shells unbroken, usually by immersion in boiling water. Hard-boiled eggs are cooked so that the egg white and egg yolk both solidify, while soft-boiled eggs may leave the yolk ...

, and

tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...

. Siomay is often cut into bite size pieces and topped with

sweet soy sauce Sweet soy sauce ( id, kecap manis) is a sweetened aromatic soy sauce, originating in Indonesia, which has a darker color, a viscous syrupy consistency and a molasses-like flavor due to the generous addition of palm sugar or jaggery. ''Kecap manis ...

, chili sauce and a dash of lime juice.

Origin and varieties

Siomay is ubiquitous in Indonesian cities, it is one of the most popular snack or light meal in Indonesia. It can be found in street-side food stalls, travelling carts, bicycle vendors, and restaurants, and is considered a popular school meal for Indonesian students. Just like ''

bakso Bakso or baso is an Indonesian meatball, or a meat paste made from beef surimi. Its texture is similar to the Chinese beef ball, fish ball, or pork ball. The word ''bakso'' may refer to a single meatball or the complete dish of meatball soup. '' ...

lumpia ''Lumpia'' are various types of spring rolls commonly found in the Philippines and Indonesia. Lumpia are made of thin paper-like or crepe-like pastry skin called "lumpia wrapper" enveloping savory or sweet fillings. It is often served as an ap ...

'', and ''

pempek ''Pempek'', ''mpek-mpek'' or ''empek-empek'' is a savoury Indonesian fishcake delicacy, made of fish and tapioca, from Palembang, South Sumatera, Indonesia. Pempek is served with rich sweet and sour sauce called ''kuah cuka'' or ''kuah cuko'' ...

'', siomay was influenced by

Chinese Indonesian cuisine Chinese Indonesian cuisine ( id, Masakan Tionghoa-Indonesia, ) is characterized by the mixture of Chinese with local Indonesian style. Chinese Indonesians, mostly descendant of Han ethnic Hokkien and Hakka speakers, brought their legacy of C ...

. However, Chinese Indonesian siomay is rarely served with peanut sauce; it is instead served with a sweet-sour and spicy chili sauce in its place, or with no sauce at all, resembling authentic Chinese ''shumai''. Siomay has long been incorporated into

Indonesian cuisine Indonesian cuisine is a collection of various regional culinary traditions that formed the archipelagic nation of Indonesia. There are a wide variety of recipes and cuisines in part because Indonesia is composed of approximately 6,000 popula ...

, the most famous iteration of the dish being

Bandung Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...

-style siomay (''siomay Bandung''). It has been adapted into local Sundanese cuisine, where most siomay sellers today are Sundanese. It has similarly been adapted into the '' batagor'', short for ''bakso tahu goreng'', another variety of the dish also from Bandung; it is similar to siomay, except that it is fried instead of steamed.Nasution, Pepy (31 December 2010)
"Batagor , Indonesia Eats , Authentic Online Indonesian Food Recipes"
''indonesiaeats.com''. Retrieved 22 December 2017. File:Panci siomay.jpg, Varieties of steamed siomay to choose; tofu, potatoes, cabbages, bitter gourd, and eggs. File:Siomay.jpeg, Sliced siomay poured with

. File:Gerobak siomay.jpeg, Siomay and batagor cart. File:Siomay Udang Glodok.JPG, Chinese Indonesian shrimp siomay in Glodok area, Jakarta.

References

External links

Siomay Bandung recipe

Siomai recipe
Sundanese cuisine Indonesian Chinese cuisine Steamed foods Street food in Indonesia {{Indonesia-cuisine-stub

Origin and varieties

See also

References

External links