Dim sum - Books - Famous Chinese Shopping City

March 8, 2014


		1 Introduction 2 History 3 Food

Famous Chinese Shopping City Books

Dim sum

Wikipedia

Dim sum (Chinese language|Chinese: 點心; Cantonese language|Cantonese International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA: <font size=2 face="arial unicode ms, lucida sans unicode">tɪm²sɐm¹</font>, Jyutping: dim2 sam1; Mandarin language|Mandarin Pinyin: diǎnxīn, Wade-Giles: tien-hsin; literally "dot heart" or "order heart", meaning "order to one's heart's content"; also commonly translated as "touch the heart," "dotted heart," or "snack"), a Cantonese (linguistics)|Cantonese term, is usually a light meal or brunch, eaten sometime from morning-to-early afternoon with family or friends.

Classical dim sum includes buns, dumplings and rice rolls, which contain a range of ingredients, including beef, chicken, pork, prawns and vegetarianism|vegetarian options. Many dim sum restaurants also offer plates of steamed vegetable|greens, roasted meats, congee and other soups. Tea is always served, giving it the alternative name (used in Australia and Hong Kong) of yum cha (飲茶) which means "drinking tea". In some countries, such as Britain and Australia, the term "dim sum" (or more commonly "dim sim") is incorrectly used to refer specifically to China|Chinese-style dumplings, either steamed or deep-fried. They are now widely available at snack bars, even those with no other Chinese food on the menu.

Dim sum can be cooked by steaming and frying, among other methods. The size of the dim sum are usually small and normally served as three or four pieces in one dish. Because of the small portions, people can try a wide variety of dishes.

People either choose dim sum dishes from a printed menu or the food is carried on a mobile serving cart by restaurants' servers. Traditionally, the cost of the meal is calculated based on the number and size of dishes left on the patron's table. Some modern dim sum restaurants record the dishes on a card at the table. Not only is this tidier, it also prevents patrons from cheating by concealing or stealing the plates, which has been known to happen. Servers in some restaurants even use different stamps so that sales statistics per server can be recorded.

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History

Travelers on the Silk Road needed a place to take a nap, so teahouses began growing up along the roadside. Rural farmers, exhausted after working hard in the fields, would also go to teahouses for a relaxing afternoon of tea. At first, it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food, because people believed that this would lead to excessive weight gain. However, people later discovered that tea can aid in digestion. Therefore, teahouse owners began adding more variety of snacks, so the tradition of dim sum evolved.

In Hong Kong, and most cities in Guangdong province, many Chinese restaurants start serving very early in the morning at around 6:00. It is a tradition for the elderly to gather to eat dim sum after morning exercises, often enjoying the morning newspapers. For many southerners of China, yum cha is treated as a weekend family day. Consistent with this tradition, dim sum restaurants typically only serve dim sum to the afternoon; other Cantonese cuisine would be served in the evening. Nowadays, various dim sum are also sold in takeaways as many students and office workers' day-to-day breakfast.

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Food

image:tradition03.jpg|thumb|Shrimp dumplings (蝦餃)
; Dumplings or gaau (餃 jiao)

This 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 haa gaau, which is a shrimp dumpling with rice-flour skin. There are also dumplings with vegetarian ingredients, such as tofu and pickled cabbage.

; Buns or baau (包 bao)

Baked or steamed, these fluffy buns are filled with different meats and vegetables. The most popular type is cha siu baau (义燒包 chashaobao), a bun with 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.

image:edit_pic04.JPG|thumb|Barbecue pork buns (义燒包)

; Shanghai steamed buns (上海小籠包 Shanghai xiaolongbao)

These "little juicy dumplings" are filled with meat or seafood and are famous for their flavour and juiciness. Shanghai steamed buns can be recognised by their unique design, as the filled wrapper is gathered up into several folds prior to steaming.

; Taro root dumpling (竽角 yujiao)

This is made with mashed taro, stuffed with diced shiitake mushrooms, shrimp and pork. It is surrounded by a light and fluffy, crispy-brown dough.

; Spring rolls (春卷 chunjuan)

Various types of vegetables such as sliced carrot, cabbage, mushroom and cloud ear fungus | wood ear, and sometimes meat are rolled inside a delicate flour skin and deep fried.

; Lotus leaf rice (糯米雞 rumi ji)

Glutinous sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf into a triangular or rectangular shape. This is steamed with ingredients inside the rice ball, such as an egg yolk, chestnut, pork and chicken. The leaf itself is not eaten, though its flavour infuses the rice during steaming.

; Rice noodle rolls (腸粉 changfen)

They are rolls made of steamed rice noodles. Rice noodle rolls are usually served with different types of meats or vegetables inside, but can be served without any filling. Fried rice noodle rolls are fried after they are steamed.

; Siu Maai (燒賣; shaomai)

Steamed dumplings with pork. A pork meatball in a thin wheat flour wrapper.

; Chien chang go (千層榚 qiancengao)

A special dim sum dessert, the sweet "thousand-layer cake" with egg topping or chien chang go is a piece of artistry as well. As suggested by its name, the cake is made up of many layers of sweet egg dough (though not usually a thousand).

; Sesame seed balls (麻糰 matuan)

Especially popular at Chinese New Year, a doughy bread filled with red bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds, and deep fried.

; Turnip/Radish cakes (蘿蔔糕 luobogao)

These savory cakes are made from mashed daikon radishes mixed with bits of dried shrimp and pork that are steamed and then cut into slices and pan-fried.

; Chinese Phoenix|Phoenix Talons (鳳爪 fengzhao)

These are actually chicken feet that are marinated and then steamed in a black bean sauce.

Category:Cantonese cuisine
Category:Dumplings

de:Dim Sum

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dim sum".

Last Modified: 2005-04-13

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