Emerald Shaomai

Emerald shaomai is filled with finely chopped greens seasoned with a touch of sugar and oil; through the thin wrapper the filling glows jade-green, shaped like a pomegranate, savoury with a sweet edge.

A traditional Yangzhou pastry, it is paired with thousand-layer cake as the city's "twin marvels" of dim sum and counts among the signature "three treasures" of teahouses such as Yechun.

Eaten hot as a savoury morning-tea item, its thin skin calls for a gentle hand; it is often steamed alongside thousand-layer cake and san-ding buns for the city's sweet-and-savoury spread.

Its hallmark is the "jade" colour—greens seasoned to keep their fresh green, sugar and oil smoothing any rawness, the colour showing through the thin skin so a whole basket glows.