Dim Sum - A Charming Custom Originating in Chinese Teahouses
Literally meaning "to touch your heart," dim sum consists of a variety of dumplings, steamed dishes and other goodies. They are similar to hors d'oeuvres, the hot and cold delicacies served at French restaurants.
Dim Sum Origins:
Originally a Cantonese custom, dim sum is inextricably linked to the Chinese tradition of "yum cha" or drinking tea. Teahouses sprung up to accommodate weary travelers journeying along the famous Silk Road. Rural farmers, exhausted after long hours working in the fields, would also head to the local teahouse for an afternoon of tea and relaxing conversation.
Still, it took several centuries for the culinary art of dim sum to develop. At one time it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food: a famous 3rd century Imperial physician claimed this would lead to excessive weight gain. As tea's ability to aid in digestion and cleanse the palate became known, tea house proprietors began adding a variety of snacks, and the tradition of dim sum was born.
The regional variations of "small eats" (dim sum is an individual portions of food typically served in a steamer basket or small plates) : known as jiaozi in Beijing, pearl balls in Shanghai and spicy huntuns (wontons) in Szechuan province.
While dim sum is traditionally taken during the morning, its tremendous popularity (not only among the Chinese) has caused it to be an all-day dining option. There are now more restaurants offering dim sum (and halal dim sum too) from breakfast until dinner.
What types of foods are served at a typical dim sum lunch?
There were basically two main versions of dim sum – Steamed or Deep-Fried, eaten with chili sauce.
Among the former of the steamed version are the rice noodle roll (chee cheong fun), shrimp dumplings (har ka0), bbq chicken dumplings (char siew pao), steamed bean curd roll, siew long boa, scallop dumplings (usually made from shrimps topped with a sizable scallop on top) and the lists goes on.
The deep-fried items are the deep fried Shrimp dumpling, the sesame balls with a filling of lotus paste within, prawn cheese roll and the deep fried radish cake/pan-fried radish cake, stuffed bean curd (yong tau foo) and other culinary creations of the chefs.
With its wide assortment of sweet and savory dishes ranging from meatballs to sweet cakes, other choices are rice porridge with salted egg, Cantonese bamboo rice (loh mai kai contents mushroom, chinese sausage, chicken), dan dan noodleds, steamed chicken feet, glutinous rice in lotus leaf and so on.
Finally, there's dessert. Custard tarts are a must; you may also have a choice between mango or almond pudding. All of the above are washed down with copious amounts of green tea (Chinese tea) and sometimes Chinese herbal jelly (guilingao).
Ordering Dim Sum:
There is a certain order to how dim sum is served:
~ lighter, steamed dishes come first,
~ followed by exotic items such as chicken's feet,
~ then deep-fried dishes
~ and finally dessert.
In most restaurants, when you are first seated the waitress will hand you a menu and you use a pencil to mark off which items you want and the number of orders. The food is still served at the table in steamer baskets to keep it warm.
Notes :
Varieties of Dim Sum
Dim sum restaurants have a wide variety of dishes, usually several dozen. Among the standard fare of dim sum include:
Gow :Gow is a standard in most teahouses. They are made of ingredients wrapped in a translucent rice-flour or wheat-flour skin. Though common, steamed rice-flour skins are quite difficult to make. Thus, it is a good demonstration of the chef's artistry to make these translucent dumplings. The most common type is ha gao, which is a shrimp dumpling with rice-flour skin. There are also dumplings with vegetarian ingredients, such as tofu and pickled cabbage.
Shrimp Dumpling: An especially delicate steamed dumpling with whole or chopped-up shrimp filling and especially thin (almost translucent) rice-flour skin.
Chiu-chao style dumplings: A dumpling said to have originated from the Chaozhou prefecture of Kwangtung province, it contains peanuts, garlic chives, pork, dried shrimp, shiitake mushrooms in a thick dumpling wrapper made from glutinous rice flour, or Tang flour. It is usually served with a small dish of chili oil.
Potsticker : Northern Chinese style of dumpling usually with meat and cabbage filling. Note that though pot stickers are sometimes served in dim sum restaurants, they are not considered traditional Cantonese dim sum.
Siu Maai: Small steamed dumplings with pork inside a thin wheat flour wrapper.
Bau: Baked or steamed, these fluffy buns are filled with different meats and vegetables. The most popular type is cha siu baau, a bun with Cantonese barbeque-flavoured pork meat and onions inside. It can be either steamed to be fluffy and white or baked with a light sugar glaze to produce a smooth golden-brown crust.
Shanghai steamed buns or Xiaolongbao: These "little juicy dumplings" are filled with meat or seafood and are famous for their flavour and rich soup inside. These dumplings are originally Shanghai-nese cuisine so they are not considered traditional Cantonese dim sum.
Congee: Rice porridge served with different savory items.
Mango pudding: A sweet, rich mango-flavoured pudding usually with large chunks of fresh mango, and served with a generous shower of condensed milk.
Char Siew Sou: A baked flaky pastry with sesame seeds and honey on the top of the pastry. It has char siu or barbequed pork with onions which is somehow similar with Chasiubao.
Spring rolls: Spring rolls consist of various types of vegetables such as sliced carrot, cabbage, mushroom and wood ear fungus, and sometimes meat, are rolled inside a thin flour skin and deep fried for a crispy outside.
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