Food Blog - Shayne & Anikaqtqt

S I O M A I

                  Siomai is now a part of the Filipino food culture. Majority of the teenagers nowadays buy Siomai+Rice package for their lunch, sometimes for their dinner too. Siomai Rice is so famous today here in the Philippines.

                  Fishball, Kikiam, Kwek-Kwek, and Dynamite are just a few of the popular foods here in the Philippines. We usually see these foods it on the streets, right in front of each school, night markets and other destinations. It is difficult to get rid of these foods in our culture because besides being easy to find in any part of the country, it is also within the reach of everyone. However, of all street foods in the Philippines, Siomai is as close to what we called ‘Filipinos’ favorites’ as it gets. It is basically a small ball of pork or beef covered in a light filo style pastry and steamed. Then on the street served up in little trays with a choice of  chili sauce,  light sauce and soy sauce.

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Siomai is not as easy as it gets.

                   Unlike our local Filipino streetfoods, Siomai is not always easy to get. It needs just a tiny preparation. As long as you have an aluminum or paper to place the food, a few toothpicks or so, a soy sauce, chili and a calamansi, you might not to get away from that. Siomai can also be served as pork, beef, shrimp and fish.

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Where does Siomai came from?

                    Siomai is said to have originated in Huhhot, Inner Mongolia, between the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing dynasties (1644 to 1912) of China. Siomai is served as a “side dish” or a secondary product in tea houses, and its popularity started when the dish was brought to Beijing and Tianjin by merchants from Shanxi. And because of continous colonization it became widely available in many Asian countries, and Philippines is one of them.

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Is Siomai expensive?

                         Not as ‘cheap’ as Fishballs, and not as ‘pricey’ as italian pastas, Siomai is pretty much affordable. And usually it costs 20-30 pesos for a 4 to 5 pieces of Siomai. Once you purchased it, I assure you you’ll never regret it!