Delightful Dim Sum

 

 As we travel my husband and I enjoy taking part in local customs and especially the sampling of local cuisine. So it was a treat when we had the opportunity to visit London's Chinatown for the Chinese new Year. The streets were packed with people from all over crowding into the district to visit their favorite shops, enjoy the wares offered by street vendors and delight in the firecrackers and wandering Lion Dancers. After a bit of wandering we were lured into one Chinese restaurant by the tantalizing smells wafting from it's kitchens. Inside we enjoyed a delightful Chinese tradition, Dim Sum.
  

Dim Sum is a Cantonese term for a type dish that involves small individual portions of food similar to appetizers. In fact we often see some of these delightful goodies on menus as appetizers. However, the custom of going to "Dim Sum" or to "drink tea" is not a precursor to a larger meal but an event unto itself.  So for our Lunar New Year's feast I chose a tasty but simple selection of dim sum type treats. I have listed the ingredients I used for each of these samplings (not all my ingredients match the base recipe exactly) but I can not take credit for the "how to" portion and I suggest you follow my links to the sources I used when making each.

Asian Spring Roll

Ingredients:

Rice Paper Wrappers
Lettuce
Rice Noodles
Shredded Carrots
Cilantro
Scallions
Shrimp (or your preferred cooked meat)

To learn more on how to assemble this dish visit Itkman's channel on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ltkman#p/u/18/d4U-Zreo7ZU

When I make my spring Rolls I also add some sauce before rolling them. It can be a peanut sauce, chili sauce, or just some Hoisin. I also find it's nice to make it a contrasting flavor to whatever dipping sauce you use.

So now that we've got the easiest out of the way... Bring on the dumplings!

Steamed Dumplings

Ingredients:

1/2 Lb. ground pork
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded napa cabbage
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp Hoisin sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 egg

Dumpling wrappers (15-20)

To learn more on how to assemble this dish visit Itkman's channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ltkman#p/search/0/RI3bZ3kAwN4

Siu Mai

Ingredients:

1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 cup cooked shrimp, diced
1 cup carrots
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
pepper (to taste)
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
3 tsp cornstarch (used in 3 separate instances)
1 tsp salt

green peas (for garnish)
dumpling wrappers (15-20)

To learn more on how to assemble this dish with Cecilia Au-Yang from the Chopsticks Cooking Centre in Hong Kong, visit the cookingtipstv channel on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingtipstv#p/a/u/1/ushcvZV1k_Q

Steamed Meatballs

I had some leftover meat mixture after making the two pork dishes so I added some diced ginger, extra carrots, diced cabbage and green peas, formed them into balls and steamed them separately. Delicious!

For a sweet finale try this amazingly simple treat.

Sesame Balls

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/8 c rice flour
1/2 cup warm water (approximate, you may need more or less depending on humidity)
1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
sweetened red bean paste (or the filling of your choice, these can also be savory)
1 cup sesame seeds
oil for frying

To learn more on how to assemble this dish visit yeqiang's channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JREj3fq8h4

 

I also found this tutorial from dimsumrecipes to be very helpful for technique:

http://www.youtube.com/user/dimsumrecipes#p/u/27/DM1hecbIXHQ 

 I hope your experiments in making Dim Sum are as sweet as mine, but just remember to enjoy the adventure and of course the delicious results!