SWEET DIM SUM: Here are a couple of versions of this very popular dessert dim sum. Hope you'll enjoy giving them a try.

GLUTINOUS RICE CAKES 糯米糍:

 

 

 

 

10 oz glutinous rice flour                                            

1 ½ cups warm water

5 oz.  canned or home-made red bean paste, see posted recipe                                                          

1 cup desiccated coconut

cut pieces of maraschino cherries to garnish

 

 

 

 

Put glutinous rice flour in a bowl and add in warm water. Mix well and knead into smooth dough. Divide dough into 20 equal portions.

 

Knead red bean paste slightly and divide it into 20 small lumps.

 

Shape each dough piece into a ball and press it flat slightly. Add a lump of red bean paste in the centre, seal and work it back to a round shape.

 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add dumplings and cook until they are floating. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain.

 

Coat dumplings with coconuts and top each with a small piece of maraschino cherry. Serve warm.  

 

 

Alternate filling: Use a combination of 4 oz. desiccated coconut, 4 oz. peanut, 8 oz. sugar as filling to fill glutinous rice balls.

 

 

 

 

 

VARIATIONS--GLUTINOUS DUMPLINGS WITH SYRUP COATING:

 

 

Coating:  4 oz. roasted peanuts, crushed & 3 oz. sugar

Syrup:  Dissolve 1/4 cup sugar in ¼ cup boiling water; then add ¼ cup warm water. Mix well into syrup

 

 

Make dumplings as in previous recipe. Remove and add into syrup. Let soak for a while then drain. Sprinkle crushed peanuts and sugar on dumplings to serve.

CHINESE DIM SUM: These dumplings are extra special because of the meat fillings. They are more likely to be served on festive occasions.

RICE DUMPLINGS WITH LOTUS LEAVES 裹蒸糉:

 

 

 

 

21 oz. glutinous rice                                                   

1 lb. skinless or split green beans

filling:

    10 yolks from preserved salted-eggs                                   

    10 pieces BBQ duck meat

    10 dried mushrooms, soaked                                              

    20 pieces pork belly

seasoning:

    4 tsp. salt                                                    

    2 tsp. sugar

    2 tsp. 5-spice powder                                              

    ½ tsp. white pepper

    ¼ cube of Knorr chicken cube                   

    3 tbsp. oil

10 large lotus leaves                                                               

30 pieces bamboo粽 leaves + extra

20 pieces straw or kitchen strings

 

 

 

Cut pork into large pieces. Add 1 tsp. each salt and 5-spice powder and marinate, refrigerated, for 1-2 days. Soak lotus leaves, bamboo leaves and straw in boiling water to soften. Wash and dry with towels.

 

Wash and drain glutinous rice. Add in 2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. sugar, chicken cube and oil, mixing seasoning well with the rice. Soak green beans and drain. Add 1 tsp. each salt and sugar into beans and let it stand for 1 hour.

 

To assemble: Arrange 1 lotus leave on work table. Place 3 bamboo leaves on top, overlapping each other to avoid leakage. Put a layer of glutinous rice over bamboo leaves. Top this with a layer of green beans. Place 1 salted-egg yolk in one corner; then arrange  2 piece of pork belly, 1 piece duck meat and 2 mushrooms randomly on the rice & bean mixture. Top this with another layer of green beans, then the glutinous rice. Fold up bamboo leaves and then the lotus leaf  to make a "square" package; and tie each package with 2 straw strings.

 

Line a large stock pot with extra bamboo leaves and arrange dumplings on top of leaves. Fill pot up with water, making sure dumplings are well submersed in plenty of water to cover. Cover pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and boil dumplings for 3 hours to cook thoroughly. Add more boiling water into pot as necessary during cooking.  Take out. Cutting the straw strings and remove the leaves to serve.

CHINESE DIM SUM: These rice dumplings had been enjoyed in China for hundreds of years and have a history behind them. They are readily available in restaurants and stores too, but it is nevertheless a rewarding experience to make them at home.

RICE DUMPLINGS IN BAMBOO LEAVES:

 

 

 

 

24 pieces bamboo leaves                                            

8 long straws or kitchen strings

dumplings:

    1 ¼ lb. glutinous rice                                                          

    1 tsp. salt

    6 oz. green split beans                                                        

    8 small dried mushrooms, soaked

    10 oz. pork belly; cut into pieces                            

    4 salty-egg yolks--home made or store bought from Chinese supermarket             

    4 peeled and washed dry chestnuts

seasoning for pork:

    1 tsp. salt                                                    

    ½ tsp. 5-spice powder

    dash sesame oil

 

 

 

Add seasoning ingredients to pork and let it marinate for 3 hours. Soak straws and bamboo leaves in boiling water to soften. Trim off tough ends of leaves if necessary. Wash thoroughly.

 

Rinse glutinous rice through several changes of water, drain and put in a bowl. Add salt and let it stand for 30 minutes. Soak split green beans, rinse and drain. Cut salty egg yolks, mushrooms and chestnut pieces into halves.

 

Hold 2 bamboo leaves together side by side. Bend and hold one end to form a leaf-bowl to hold ingredients. Hold this “bowl” in position with the left hand. With the right hand, add in a tablespoonful of rice; then the green beans. Add in 2 pieces of pork, 2 mushroom pieces, ½ an egg yolk and a piece of chestnut. Top this with 1 tablespoon of green beans then the rice. Slide in a 3^rd piece of bamboo leaf behind the leaf-bowl, adding to the “height” of the bowl. First fold in the original pieces of leave to seal the opening, then fold the 3^rd piece of leaf over tightly, making 3 corners of the dumpling. Tie and fix dumpling in shape with the straw or kitchen strings.

 

Place dumplings in a large stock pot with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook dumplings for 2 hours.

 

Remove dumplings, cut the straw strings and unwrap dumplings to serve.

CHINESE DIM SUM: Stuffed egg plants with sauce is quite a popular dim sum item. They can be enjoyed as one of dishes to serve with rice for dinner too.

STUFFED EGG PLANTS WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE 釀茄子:

 

 

 

2 Chinese egg plants****                                                       

8 oz. minced shrimp

1 clove garlic                                                                          

1 tbsp. tapioca starch

seasoning:

    ½ tsp. each of salt and sugar                                               

    ½ tsp. rice wine or dry sherry

    dash of white pepper and sesame oil                                  

    1 tsp. tapioca starch

sauce:

    2 tsp. light + 1 tsp. dark soy sauce

    1 tsp sugar                                                              

    ¼ tsp salt

    1 tbsp. oyster-flavoured sauce                                            

    2 tsp. tapioca starch + ½ cup water

    1 tbsp. fermented black beans, soaked and mashed           

cooking oil

 

 

 

Rinse egg plants, remove stems and slice each diagonally into several thick slices. Slice each slice horizontally 3/4 of the way through, making sure not to cut all the way through.  

 

Add seasoning into minced shrimp, mixing and stirring in one direction repeatedly to make into smooth and elastic paste. Open the slices and dust cut side of egg plant with a little starch then spread a layer of shrimp paste in between.

 

In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1-2 tbsp. oil until very hot. Pan-fry egg plants over medium-high heat, with filling facing downwards. When filling is browned, turn pieces over and cook until egg plants are soft, adding more oil to skillet as needed. Remove and drain on paper towels.

 

Mix sauce ingredients together and add into skillet. Bring to boil and cook until sauce is thickened. Arrange 2 egg plants per each small serving dish; then top each serving with a little sauce.

 

 

 

 

****Green bell peppers, cut into quarters, can be stuffed with the shrimp paste and proceed in the same way****

CHINESE DIM SUM: This is a dim sum favourite which is more filling than the rest of the usual offerings. Hope you'll enjoy making it at home.

STEAMED GLUTINOUS RICE PACKAGES 糯米雞:

 

 

 

 

10 oz. glutinous rice                                                   

1/2 tsp. salt

                                                              

5 pieces of large lotus leaves

filling:

    5 pieces of chicken meat or chicken wings, middle portion

    5 each dried scallops, soaked and dried mushrooms, soaked

    2 oz. bamboo shoots, blanched and sliced

    2 ½ links Chinese sausage

    5 oz. pork, diced

seasoning:

    1 tsp. each salt & sugar

    2 tsp. each oyster-flavoured sauce, light soy sauce & rice wine                             

    dash white pepper

 ½ tsp. tapioca starch mixed with 1 tsp. water

 

 

 

Soak glutinous rice in water to cover for several hours. Drain into a colander. Pour large amount of boiling water over rice once; then repeat procedure one more time. Line a large bamboo steamer with a clean muslin or cheese cloth and put glutinous rice on top. Sprinkle salt over the rice. Fit steamer over a large pot of boiling water; cover steamer and cook rice over high heat for 30 minutes.

 

Soak lotus leaves in boiling water. Drain, wash and dry well. Spread them out, vein-side down, on clean work surface. 

 

Split up dry scallop threads. Cut sausages into halves and mushroom caps into large pieces and reserve soaking liquid. Season chicken and pork together with ½ of seasoning ingredients and marinate 20-30 minutes. Put all filling ingredients into a large bowl. Mix rest of seasoning with ½ cup of mushroom soaking liquid in a small saucepan. Bring it to boil; then add in starch solution. Continue cooking, stirring continuously, until sauce is thickened. Add sauce into filling ingredients and mix well.

 

Divide rice and filling into 5 portions. Put a layer of rice on each of the lotus leaves, cover that with a portion of the filling; then top it with another layer of rice. Fold lotus leaf over to wrap up into a square package. Put packages of dumpling into 2 large bamboo steamers and stack steams over the rim of a large saucepan of boiling water. Cover steamers with a lid and cook over high heat for 15 minutes. Serve hot. 

CHINESE COOKING: Freshly steamed plain buns are still the staples--in place of rice--in Northern China, but people from the south also enjoy them in restaurants serving Shanghai and Northern cuisines.

STEAMED OR DEEP-FRIED BUNS 饅頭:

 

 

 

 

2 cups all purpose flour****                                      

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. lard or vegetable shortening, melted                                                     

½ tsp. active dry yeast

½ tsp. baking powder                                                  

½ cup warm water +  ½ tsp. sugar                                                                   

                                                       

condensed milk to serve with fried buns

 

 

****ingredients may be doubled for 20 buns****

 

 

 

 

Proof yeast in warm water, with ½ tsp. sugar added, for 15 minutes. Stir down and let stand 5 minutes more.

 

Sift flour, baking powder and sugar into a large wide bowl. Make a well in the centre of flour and add in yeast water and lard. Mix and incorporate liquid into flour, working it into soft dough. Knead dough on dry work surface for 5 minutes.

 

Transfer dough to an oiled bowl, turning dough over to coat with oil. Cover bowl with tea towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

 

Take dough out, punch it down and knead it a few times to knock air out of it. Roll dough into a long rope and cut rope into 10 equal pieces. Work each piece of dough into a bun.

 

Transfer buns to 2 large bamboo steamers. Cover steamers with tea towel and let buns rest for 15 minutes, or until buns are softened and slightly risen. Fit steamers over a large pot of boiling water. Cover and steam over high heat for 15 minutes.

 

Serve buns while hot, or cool them completely and deep-fry them in hot oil until crispy and golden brown. In case of fried buns, serve with condensed milk.

CHINESE DIM SUM: When I first put this recipe together years ago, making the "silver needles" noodles at home was the only way to go, and it was very labour-intensive to make them from scratch. Nowadays, it is easy to enjoy them at any time.

SILVER "NEEDLE" NOODLES銀針粉:

 

 

 

home-made noodle dough or 3 packages store-bought silver-thread noodles****

    ¾ cup “tang” flour or wheat starch

    ¾ cup boiling water

   dash of salt

1/2 cup of char-siu or BBQ pork, cut into julienne strips        

½ each red & green bell peppers, cut into strips

                    

1 each shallot and garlic clove, thinly sliced   

2 dried mushrooms, soaked and sliced           

6 oz. bean sprout, tail ends removed

1/2 lb shrimp

seasoning sauce for noodles:

    1 tsp. each salt & sugar, or to taste

    1 tsp. each light & dark soy sauce                          

    dash of sesame oil

    1 to 2 tsp. oyster-flavour sauce

seasoning for shrimp:

   1/4 to 1/2 tsp. salt & sugar

   1/2 tsp. each light soy sauce, rice wine & tapioca starch

   dash of sesame seed oil

  

 

****packages of freshly-made silver-needles noodles are available in the "refrigerated items" department of Chinese supermarket****

 

 

 

To make home-made noodles:   Sift wheat starch and salt into a bowl and pour in boiling water Use a pair of chopsticks or wooden spatula to mix and stir vigorously into dough. Cover with a towel and let stand 10 minutes. Turn out onto dry work surface and knead into smooth and soft dough.

 

Roll dough out into a long rope and cut rope into 24 portions. Knead each portion into the shape of chopstick and cut into small cubes. Put each cube between the palms of both hands to roll into pin-shaped noodles. Put noodles, in batches, in a single layer on a greased plate. Sit plate in a large bamboo steamer fitted over a large pot of boiling water. Cover steamer and cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Repeat and cook all noodles.

 

If using store-bought noodles, open packages and sit noodles on large microwavable plates/containers to allow noodles to come back to room temperature. When softened, squeeze noodles gently to separate and spread out the "needles". At serving time, warm up noodles in microwave at high power for 3 minutes.

 

Rinse, shell and devein shrimp. Wrap in double thickness of paper towers and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Season shrimp with seasoning and marinate 30 minutes.

 

Heat 1 tbsp. oil in wok or non-stick saucepan over high heat until very hot. Add in garlic and shallot and cook until fragrant. Add in shrimp and cook until no longer pink, but turning bright orangey coloured. Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon; then add in another tablespoon of oil. Add in peppers and mushrooms, cook until softened; then add in bean sprout. Cook together for 1 minute; then add in BBQ pork. Toss for 30 seconds or so. Transfer all to serving platter.

 

Heat wok or saucepan up with 1 tbsp. oil and add in noodles, tossing well to coat with the oil and to heat up. Add in sauce ingredients, tossing well to mix. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Turn off heat, return rest of ingredients to noodles in pan and toss everything together well.

 

Serve right away.

CHINESE DIM SUM: It takes a bit pf practise and trial and error to get this popular dim sum into presentable shape. But you will be delighted with the result of your hard work.

SHRIMP DUMPLINGS 蝦餃

 

 

 

dough:

    2 cups 'tang' flour 澄麵 or wheat starch     

    2 tbsp. cornstarch

    1 tsp. lard or vegetable shortening

    2 ¼ cup boiling water

filling:

    1 ½ lbs. small shrimp, shell removed                                  

    2 oz. cooked diced fat pork, optional

    ½ cup chopped bamboo shoots, blanched              

                    

seasoning:

    1 tsp. each salt & sugar

    ½ tsp. each white pepper & sesame oil

    1 tbsp. tapioca starch

 

 

 

Put wheat starch in a large bowl. Pour in boiling water. Use a pair of chopsticks to quickly stir and mix together. Add cornstarch & lard and knead by hand into soft and pliable dough. Cover with damp towel and set aside.

 

De-vein, rinse, pat dry thoroughly and half or quarter each shrimp. Add in bamboo shoots and fatty pork--if using--together with seasoning ingredients. Mix well together. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

 

Roll dough between the palms into ½-inch diameter long roll. Cut into pieces and forming balls about ¾-inch in diameter. Flatten each ball with an oiled cleaver into thin rounds. Place 1 tbsp. filling into centre of each round. Bring top and bottom edges together, pressing firmly to seal into a crescent shape. Gather upper edges into pleats while curving the dumpling slightly before laying it down on its side.

 

Arrange filled dumplings in concentric circles in bamboo steamer(s) fitted over a large pot of boiling water. Cover with a lid and cook over high heat for 4-5 minutes.

 

Serve right away.

CHINESE DIM SUM: With good and thin wonton wrappers being readily available, you might be surprised at how easily the favourite dim sum of "siu my" can be made at home.

SHIU MY 乾蒸燒賣:

 

 

 

 

1 package store-bought wonton wrappers, preferably ultra-thin ones             

filling:

    10 oz. pork, very finely diced                                            

    8 oz. shrimp

    2 dried mushrooms, soaked                                    

    2 oz. bamboo shoots

seasoning:

    1 tsp. each salt, sugar, light soy sauce & tapioca starch                                                      

    3 tbsp. water                                   

    dash white pepper

 

 

 

Rinse, shell, de-vein and pat dry shrimp. Wrap shrimp with double thickness of paper towels and refrigerate for 1 hour. Roughly chop shrimp into small pieces. Blanch bamboo shoots and dice it. Dice mushroom caps.

 

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix in seasoning. Mix well with a pair of chopsticks, mixing in 1 direction only. Scoop up filling by hand and throw it against sides of bowl. Repeat this motion a few times to mix well and “stretch” the filling.

 

Loosen wonton wrappers and fill each piece with filling. Use one hand to hold the dumpling, moulding and shaping it into a column shape. Flatten and smooth the top of filling with a flat knife.

 

Arrange dumplings in a greased bamboo steamer fitted over a large pot of boiling water. Cover steamer and cook over high heat for 10 minutes. Serve right away.

CHINESE DIM SUM: Pot-stickers are one of the most popular items on the menu in Chinese restaurants anywhere. You should be proud to be able to reproduce them at home for your family & friends.

 “POT-STICKERS” OR MEAT DUMPLINGS窩貼:

 

 

 

home-made dough****

    1 ¼ cup all purpose flour                            

    dash of salt

    ½ tbsp. lard or vegetable shortening, melted                                               

    warm water

filling:

    8 oz. minced pork                                       

    1 tbsp. finely chopped green onions

    ½ cup good stock

seasoning for filling:

    ½ tsp. each salt and sugar                           

    2 tsp. tapioca starch

    2 tsp. light soy sauce                                               

    ½ tsp. rice wine or dry sherry

    dash of white pepper and sesame oil

red vinegar 鎮江醋 and ginger strips to serve 

2-3 tbsp. oil    

 

***ready-made pot-sticker wrappers may be bought at Chinese supermarkets***

 

 

Add seasoning into pork together with green onions. Mix and stir together, using a pair of chopsticks mixing in one direction, until well mixed.

 

Sift flour and salt together into a large bowl. Add lard and sufficient amount of warm water to make into soft dough. Knead until smooth. Cover with towel and let rest 30 minutes. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces.

 

Roll each dough portion out into a thin round and fill it with filling. Bring top and bottom flap to meet in the middle into a crescent shape, sealing edges well with a dab of water.

 

In a large heavy non-stick skillet, heat 1-2 tbsp. oil over high heat until very hot. Arrange   dumplings, sealed-side up, in a concentric ring in the skillet. Cook over high heat until bottoms are slightly-browned. Pour in stock and cover skillet with a lid. Cook for 5-10 minutes over medium heat until stock has evaporated. Remove lid, add 1 tbsp oil and continue cooking over medium-high heat to fully brown bottoms of dumplings and further cook the filling.

 

Cover skillet with a large serving plate, turn over and allow dumplings to fall onto it

Serve immediately with vinegar and ginger as a dipping sauce.