The Chinese culture is notorious for its cuisine and eating is a significant social activity!A custom that originated in Chinese Teahouses was Dim Sum, established in recent times as “small snack” or “little eats” (although, the literal translation is “to touch your heart”). It is essentially the Chinese version of tapas with a wide variety of steamed, fried or baked dishes; predominantly savoury with a few sweet. Dim Sum is typically eaten as brunch, being served from breakfast time into late afternoon; however increasing popularity has meant that some restaurants will serve all-day dim sum, which is good for us! Our beloved China Town on Gerrard Street is an ideal place to go for Dim Sum, with most restaurants having ‘All You Can Eat’ offers (again- good for us, but don’t snack before you go!) I recently went to a place I would recommend, the Golden Harvest to indulge in some Dim Sum and I started thinking about my top dishes. So here we go… my Top 10 Dim Sum Orders: 1. Shanghai Steamed Soup Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) – possibly the greatest Dim Sum dish. They are known as ‘small basket dumplings’ that contain mince pork (or variations such as prawn or crab meat mixed with mince pork) wrapped in a dough skin. However, the best part of this dish is the superior soup inside the dough case, which is indescribably good. A way to eat these dumplings is to firstly bite a small hole in the base and pour out the soup into a spoon to drink, and then eat the rest. Delicious!
2.Taro dumplings/ Stuffed Yam Croquettes (Wu Gok) – these are great to start off a Dim Sum sitting. They are made from yams that form a croquette with a filling of pork, dried shrimp and Chinese dried mushrooms.
3. Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go) – made from Mooli (a Chinese turnip) and rice flour with dried shrimp and Chinese pork sausage bits. This dish is steamed, cut into slices and pan fried for added texture.
4. Steamed Barbecue Pork Buns (Char Siu Bao) – this is probably the most popular dish. They are fluffy white buns that contain a Cantonese barbecued pork filling. The bun and barbecue sauce are both slightly sweet, which contrast perfectly with the savoury pork.
5. Prawn and Mango Roll – not a traditional dim sum dish, but nonetheless still scrumptious! Whole King prawns and thin slices of fresh mango are wrapped in a thin pastry similar to the shape of a spring roll, which is then coated in sesame seeds and fried.
6. Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gow) – this is another famous steamed Dim Sum dish, easily identified by their translucent and pleated wrapper. Inside, the filling contains a shrimp and bamboo shoot combination.
7. Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf (Lo Mai Gai) – sticky rice filled with chicken, Chinese mushrooms, Chinese sausage, bamboo shoots, spring onions and sometimes dried shrimp. They are cooked in unique way, being wrapped into parcels using dried lotus leaves and steamed, but don’t eat the leaves!
8. Pork and Shrimp Dumplings (Siu Mai) – this is a very distinctive steamed dish shaped like a basket with a shrimp and pork filling topped with a sprinkling of crab or fish roe.
9. Rice Noodle Rolls (Cheung fun) – sheets of rice noodle stuffed with which ever filling you fancy: prawn, beef, pork or even scallops.
10. Sesame Seed Balls (Jin Dui) – this dish is ideal for dessert. Balls of glutinous rice flour and brown sugar are filled with a sweet red bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds and deep-fried.
Lastly, don’t forget your tea or “yum cha”! The most popular Chinese teas are Chrysanthemum, Green and Oolong.
