How to Cook Shoronpo at an Okonomiyaki Restaurant in Japan

Look at the delicious Shoronpo dumplings I totally did not see in the menu!

    Shoronpo, the delicious soup-filled dumplings of Chinese origin, are some of my absolute favorite Chinese foods found in Japan. For some reason, unlike fried rice or egg drop soup, these never made it on the average Chinese or pan-asian menus in my home region of North America, much to my chagrin. Whenever people visit me, I try to make sure to take them out for Chinese food at least once so that they too can try these delicious little things. Honestly, they are one of my favorite foods of all time.

    Recently, my family had our evening meal at an okonomiyaki chain restaurant in Sendai. My husband, seeing that I was exhausted and needed a bit of a mood boost, picked out these beauties. When they came to the table, I realized that I had no idea how to cook them. I had not even seen them on the menu, and when I heard him order them, I assumed they would come cooked. I assumed wrong.

    If you order these from the same chain restaurant that we did, you will be brought five mostly uncooked dumplings that feel hard and cold but not frozen. You will also receive a metal dome and a small bowl of ice.

Step 1: Oil and arrangement

    Assuming your hotplate is already hot, place the dumblings in a circular formation, leaving a gap in the middle for the ice. Make sure there is some oil down first so they don't stick to the hotplate.

Step 2: Ice and Lid (Superfast!)

    When you add ice to the hotplate, it has the be expected that changes will start pretty much immediately, so you have to toss the ice in the middle and slap that dome on top.

Step 3: Bubbling Splatter and Waiting

    It made some crazy noises while we sat there waiting, and then the little bits of water mixed with oil and splattered out of the edges of the dome, mostly at me. Some also attacked my husband. It did not take long for the water to evaporate enough for this to stop being a problem.

Step 4: Remove and Enjoy

    I recommend using a small spatula to pull these off the hot plate. I didn't and I absolutely butchered one of the poor little dumplings, sending its watery contents to the same place a lot of the ice water went. You'll know they are done when most of the dumpling is soft but the bottom has a little color and is a little tougher.

I ate them all and they were delicious.