These dumplings came about from my excess of passionfruit(what a problem to have, clearly) as well as me wanting to try making a steamed cheesecake dumpling. So I figured, why not mix the passionfruit into the cheesecake and make something truly original? To be a little more fun, I decided to dye the shumai shells themselves purple using acai, since it’s a tropical fruit anyways, and it’ll make it look more like a passionfruit that you just cut open. For the sauce, I went with a simple passionfruit and ginger coulis, as a way to add in the extremely straightforward flavor of the fruit into a dumpling that is filled with it.

For the shell:
1/4 cup mochiko
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup hot water
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons acai berry powder

Combine ingredients and knead on a lightly floured surface until it forms a smooth, supple dough. Divide into 16 equal pieces and roll out into circles, about 4 inches in diameter, then crimp together the edges to form 1-2 inch cups.

For the filling:
1 egg
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup passionfruit jam
a pinch of salt

Whip together into a smooth consistency. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe into each dumpling cup. Steam these on low heat for about 8-10 minutes.

For the passionfruit jam:
8 passionfruits
1/4 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt

Pour passionfruit pulp(seeds and juice) into a pot and simmer with the sugar and salt until the mixture is substantially thickened. Cool down completely before using.

For the coulis:
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/4 cup passionfruit jam
1/4 cup water

Bring ingredients to a simmer then strain out the seeds.