Hohhot Shumai (Lamb Steam Buns)

Hohhot shumai is a steamed parcel of unfermented thin dough wrapped around a lamb-and-scallion filling and left open at the top to resemble a pomegranate, its skin near-paper-thin and its filling fragrant, one of the most distinctive breakfasts of the northern frontier.

Shumai is said to have begun in the tea houses of Guihua City — today's Yuquan district of Hohhot — in the late Ming and early Qing, first sold "on the side" to tea drinkers and so called "shao-mai" (sold alongside), later written in many ways. Qing-era Shanxi merchants carried it across north China, and the Shumai Street in Yuquan district still clusters more than forty shumai houses today.

The authentic way is to visit a shumai house at dawn, order a freshly steamed basket alongside a pot of brick tea, and dress the parcels with aged vinegar and chilli sauce, the tea cutting the richness — locals sum it up as "one liang of shumai, one pot of tea," the classic morning ritual of the city.

The lamb-and-scallion filling, the lotus-pleated thin skin and the tea-house origin behind the name "shao-mai" are what set Hohhot shumai apart from versions elsewhere.