Chinese Dumplings (Sui Mai) Paleo-style

I'm pretty picky about what blogs I follow...I want them to be paleo, I want them to feature mostly food for meals (not desserts), and I don't really like when there is lots of promotional material. I also like when they feature foods from various cultural cuisines. Really, I have only a few staples that I check out regularly (i'm on the hunt for more). Studio Snacks is my recent find - I've mentioned the blog before, but this is my first mostly-true-to-recipe post. She seems to be on a quest to create some paleo dim sum options, this one being Sui Mai (stuffed zucchini). I haven't ever had dim sum, which will be my fate unless a gluten free dim sum place appears. But really, I found these delicious, so who needs it?!

I actually think I can do some more playing around with them. I made these twice - both times using zucchini instead of yellow squash because, well, the zucchini just keep growing. The first time I steamed the dumplings as directed, but found they were too watery for my taste. The second time I baked them in the oven, but then the meat texture wasn't as nice. I am not sure if this is a) due to baking, b) because I used a spoon to mix the pork/shrimp mixture and not my hands (maybe the fat from the pork didn't set well enough with the rest of the ingredients?), c) because I let the meat mixture sit out longer before stuffing the zucchini, or d) because the zucchini were larger and maybe too big, hence needing a longer cooking time and possibly over-cooking them.

Ultimately either cooking method worked, but the steaming meant watery dumplings, and the baking version had meat was a bit soft. Take 2 also included a trial of stuffing the meat mixture into mushrooms, but I didn't find that as tasty. The mushrooms were too strongly flavored, whereas the zucchini is more neutral. My Charming Companion (who was really excited about these because, unlike me, he has a long history of dim sum eating and was missing dumplings) also suggested trying to wrap these in steamed cabbage leaves, which I find intriguing and want to try.

Anyway - you can also just make this meat mixture, fry it up in mini patties, and eat dipped in some sauce. I did that with part of batch one and it was delicious.The meat gets a nice sear on it that way too!

Stuffed Zucchini "Dumplings"
3-4 medium zucchini
1/2 pound ground pork
5 large shrimp
6 shiitake mushrooms
1/2 inch of ginger
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder
1/4 teaspoon 5-spice powder (optional)

1. Shell/devein the shrimp; mince it, along with ginger and muchrooms. Mix together with the pork.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix into pork mixture. Use your hands (just in case this contributed to better meat texture) to really blend the flavors. Put mixture in fridge while you prep the zucchini.
3. Cut zucchini into 1/2" thick slices. Using a spoon, score around each slice in a circle, then dig into the circle and scoop out the center. Imagine you are using a melon ball scoop - but it's a spoon.
4. Fill each ball with meat mixture (it will be super sticky - wetting your hands will help). If you are steaming, start the water boiling in your steamer; to bake, heat oven to 350. To steam: put sui mai into steamer and steam for 15 minutes, or until pork is cooked. To bake: bake for 15-20 minutes until pork is done.

5. Serve with dipping sauce below!

I first used a simple coconut aminos/fish sauce/sriracha to dip these in, but My Charming Companion was not having that. The recipe he devised is a bit more traditional, and was delicious.

Dipping Sauce
2 T coconut aminos
2 T rice wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
sprinkle of sesame seeds
splash of sesame oil