Guide to Dim Sum – Stairway to Dim Sum Heaven

Have you been tempted to try dim sum but feel confused about what to order? Well, a quick read of this simple guide will help you immerse yourself into the pleasures of dim sum heaven.

Different types of dim sum

Here are some of the most popular ones and some of my favourites:

Har Gau (Prawn Dumplings)

A whole prawn inside a wrapper made from translucent pasta-like dough perfectly gathered together to form a seal, steamed in traditional dim sum baskets. Some people like to dip these into chilli sauce.

Other variations have evolved such as prawn and chive dumplings, scallop dumplings and vegetarian dumplings.

Siu Mai

This steamed dim sum contains pork and prawn which is then cupped in an egg-based wafer-thin wrapper. Another version contains beef instead and is cocooned in a white wrapper.

Chicken Buns and Barbeque Pork Buns

Diced chicken is enveloped in a thick fluffy white bun. The dough rises and blossoms into a flower-like bundle of joy during the steaming process. Many restaurants serve barbequed pork filled buns. Barbequed pork buns tend to be more widely available (than chicken buns) in dim sum restaurants.

Xiao Lung Bao (Shanghai Pork Dumplings)

These little soup-filled beauties are made with pork in thin wrappers and you eat them by sucking out the flavoursome soup inside these dumplings before the soup all leaks out. Do watch out for the piping hot soup inside. Just heavenly!

Turnip Paste

This hidden treasure is another of my favourites. Hidden because the name, Turnip Paste may not sound very appetizing and my friends on their own certainly wouldn’t have ordered it. It is made with turnip, together with little bits of Chinese cured sausage and dried shrimp and then pan fried. The sweetness of the turnip works in perfect harmony with the saltiness of the Chinese sausage. The different textures of the turnip, sausage of dried shrimp blend beautifully together.

Barbeque Pork Puffs

Juicy barbeque pork is baked in flaky pastry. What can I say? Just take a bite.

Spring Rolls

These are pretty well-known these days. The ingredients tend to be pork with some vegetables wrapped in pastry and deep fried. Some restaurants serve pure vegetarian ones as well. The ones shown in the photo here are made in bean curd rolls and often dipped in Worcestershire sauce.

Jiaozi/Gyozas (Chinese Dumplings)

These are pan fried or poached pork dumplings traditionally eaten on Chinese New Year’s Day in North China. However, they are now one of the dim sum regularly on offer throughout the year. The panfried jiaozi in particular have become really popular in England. They are often served with a vinegar-based sauce. Japanese have their own version, called gyozas.

Cheung Fun

These come in a variety of fillings eg barbeque pork, prawn, beef and more recently, vegetables or fried dough, all rolled into a translucent pasta-like wrappers, dripped all over with light soya sauce. Another delicious recent addition is a plain dough with a sesame and peanut sauce.

Egg Custard Tarts

Rich egg custard glistens in a basket of either short-crust pastry or puff pastry. This is a firm favourite in Hong Kong (and of mine!) with a good number of bakeries in Hong Kong specialising in these.

Peach lotus paste buns

Smooth lotus paste with some egg yolk sitting inside a bread-like soft white bun, steamed and served in a traditional dim sum basket. In Hong Kong, these are often shaped like a peach (with some pink colouring) and served at a birthday banquet. They symbolise offspring, wealth, harmony and surplus.

How dim sum has changed over the years

Wasabi Har Gau

Venison Puffs

Scallop Dumplings

Seafood rolls with mango dip

Duck yolk custard buns

Dim sum has evolved over time, with new dim sum dishes created in order to adapt to changes in people’s taste buds and trends. New ingredients have been introduced as well to cater for more sophisticated palates. For instance, I have seen venison being used in place of barbeque pork in the puff pastry dim sum, lamb instead of pork in jiaozi (gyozas), wasabi (a Japanese condiment tasting a bit like horse radish) being used in har gau (prawn dumplings) etc. One’s creativity and imagination knows no bounds. Click on the photo above for more photos of a variety of dim sum.

Best way to enjoy dim sum

Given the size of the dim sum pieces, you will need to have quite a few for a full meal. On average, I would suggest 8-9 pieces per person. Traditionally, you would order some noodles or rice sticks to share as well.

If you are greedy like me, the best thing is to have dim sum with a few friends and/or family. Parties of 4 or 8 work well. Dim sum normally come in dishes of 2, 3 or 4 pieces. The more people there are, the more dishes you can try. Just make sure that you order enough of each variety that people at your party like, so that everyone gets to taste each type of dim sum.

Just dive in and enjoy!

If you are interested in finding some of the best dim sum restaurants in London, have a look at my dim sum restaurant list on www.yippieonline.com

Want to find out more about the history and traditions of dim sum? Look out for a blog post on www.yippieonline.com.