Shaomei is glutinous rice, minced pork, etc. wrapped in a skin made with gluten-less dough, which gives it a transparency through which the filling glow. It is pinched into little barrel-shaped dumplings. The more luxurious versions often have crab meat and a topping of crab roe.

Steamed Shao Mai looks white and translucent, with beautiful pleats on the top, which look quite like sheaves of wheat heads or bunches of white flowers.

Shaomei (also called Shao mai or Shumai) is a type of traditional Chinese dumpling served in breakfast in Huangzhou, central China’s Hubei province. A delicate shaomei is usually made of glutinous rice, fat, raisin, rock candy, peanut, osmanthus flower, orange peel shreds and carrot peel shreds as its fillings and rolled into a wrapping, which is a very thin, round sheet of unleavened dough, with a pleat border. The filling is put in the center of the wrapping and the border of the wrapping is loosely gathered above, forming a "neck" and a flower shaped top which looks like a plum blossom (Mei in Chinese), and hence comes its name. It is then cooked by steaming or pan-frying.

Shaomei is served in the unit of "Liang", which means either eight steamed ones served in a steamer tier, or eight fried ones served in a dish. "Liang" is equal to 50 grams, being traditionally used as an indication of the total weight of the wrapping. Shaomei is commonly served with vinegar and tea, due to its greasiness.