Dim Sum Recipes

Welcome to DimSumRecipes.org - possibly the best collection of free recipes for dim sum on the internet. To see a recipe from our collection, simply click its title from the list below. To find out more about this traditional Chinese snack food see our what is dim sum article.

What is Dim Sum?

Dim sum History

Dim sum has it's origin in the Chinese social tea tradition of Yum Cha. Yum cha, which translates literally to mean "tea drinking", takes place in the mornings and early afternoons in various regions throughout China, although Canton, a province in Southern China, is more widely associated with Dim sum and Yum Cha.

During Yum Cha people socialize over tea and partake of a variety of snack foods. This variety of snack foods is what is referred to as Dim sum. Dim sum refers to the collective dishes partaken of during the tea-drinking tradition of Yum Cha.

Dim sum has not always been part of the Yum Cha tradition, as there was a time in Chinese history when it was believed that eating food and drinking tea at the same time would result in gaining an excessive amount of weight. As such, the teahouses at which travellers would stop to nap and the rural farmers would go to relax after a hard days work, only served tea. However, after the discovery that tea in fact aids in digestion, the teahouse operators began to serve a variety of snacks with the tea. This was how Dim sum came into existence.

Various literal translations for "Dim sum" can be found, including "dot-hearts", "heart warmers", "touch the heart", "order to the heart's content", and "heart's delight". The idea is to warm, touch, or delight your heart by savoring delectable morsels of food and drinking tea.

Dim sum Dishes

Dim sum dishes can be comprised of items made with vegetables, meats, fruits, and seafood. The dishes are usually prepared by steaming or frying, and served in small portions on small plates or in steamers. They are not full meals but rather more comparable to appetizers; however the selection is vastly wider and the diner samples multiple dishes throughout the dining experience. Eating Dim sum dishes is not, however, like eating appetizers before a meal. There is no main course that follows the consumption of the dishes passed around for sampling. The ritual of Yum Cha is entirely the tea drinking and snacking on the various foods. You eat at your leisure as dishes are brought to the dining room.

Some popular Dim sum dishes include Char Siu Baau—a bun containing a filling of Cantonese barbecued pork—rice noodle rolls, spare ribs, Shaomai—a meal of small steamed dumplings with pork in a wheat wrap—chicken feet, shrimp dumplings and steamed meatball. There is also dessert Dim sum, the most common dish of which is a baked egg custard filled pastry called an egg tart.

There can be as many as 100 dim sum dishes from which to choose, and you are not limited by how many dishes you can sample. However, you do have to pay for your meal; and considering the cost is usually based on how many wares you have on your table at the end of your meal, you might not want to try all the available dishes unless you are confident you will be able to pay the bill.

Going out for Dim sum

The manner in which Dim sum dishes are served is itself part of the Yum Cha tradition. Although some restaurants have menus from which you can order your dishes of choice, Dim sum dishes are not typically ordered from a menu. Instead, desired items are selected from trolleys as the trolleys are wheeled around by servers. The servers will continually come around with food carts carrying a variety of foods and you choose the food you want. Customarily everyone at the table will share a dish rather than everyone selecting their own plate; and after one dish has been consumed another can be selected. Servers come around with carts so selecting another dish is a simple matter of indicating that you wish to try another dish.

When you first arrive to the teahouse or dim sum restaurant, you are greeted by a waiter who asks what type of tea you would like to drink. Since eating dim sum dishes is part of the tradition of Yum Cha, it naturally follows that you will also be drinking tea. People gather for Yum Cha to drink tea. As such the tea provided with Dim sum is as important to Yum Cha, if not more important, than the dim sum. Yum Cha is not Yum Cha without tea drinking. It's like having a tea party but not serving tea.

The usual order is to start dim sum with steamed dishes such as Har Gow—a shrimp-stuffed dumpling distinguished by its pouch shape and many pleats. After the lighter, steamed dishes have been passed around, the greasier, fried foods like Crispy Fried Squid (squid that has been battered and then deep fried) generally served with sweet and sour, and egg rolls are served. This is then followed by the more exotic foods; and finally the sweet dishes. Tea is consumed throughout the meal.

Instant Dim Sum

In today's busy world people don't always have time for traditional social gatherings like Yum Cha. Recognizing the need to keep up with changing times and the demand for instant foods, some food manufacturers in China and other regions have developed packaged dim sum products. These products can usually be found in grocery stores in many areas of the world. They can be prepared at home in a microwave on a stovetop and enjoyed at any time desired.

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