Dim sum

Dim sum (點心 pinyin dĭan xīn) is a Cantonese term for small dishes. Literally, it means "to touch your heart,". Classical dim sum includes buns, dumplings, and rice rolls which contain a range of ingredients including beef, chicken, pork, prawns and vegetarian options. Many dim sum restaurants also offer plates of steamed greens, roasted meats, and congee and other soups. Tea is always served.

Dim sum can be cooked as steamed, fried and they can made of a wide range of ingredients such as in buns, noodles or sweet pastries, vegetables and meats. Furthermore,the portion of this dim sum tend to be small, usually serve as three or four pieces in a plate, so that people can enjoy the food more, as well as they can eat a more variety of food.

People eating at a chinese restaurant have the option to choose a variety of dim sum dishes, sometimes from a menu but usually from a mobile serving cart, supervised by the server. The cost of the meal is traditionally calculated based on the number and size of the dishes left on the patron's table. Modern dim sum restaurants record the types of dishes ordered on a card at the table; not only is this tidier, it also prevents patrons from cheating by concealing or stealing the plates. Servers in some restaurants even use different stamps so that sales statistics per server can be recorded.

On Sunday, the family day, it is a common practice for Hong Kong people to go to a restaurant for dim sum. Even those who do not like dim sum are likely to eat it at least once a year such as on the mother's or father's day.

History

Almost all Chinese know what dim sum is, but fewer know its origins. Travelers used to go on a trip to the famous 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.

After knowing the origin of dim sum, it's time to have an insight of the artistic part of dim sum. Indeed, dim sum is a part of art in the eating tradition of China.

In Hong Kong, The chinese Restaurant can be served very early in the morning at around 6:30. It is kind of the tradition for the elderly to go there after finishing their exercise in the very early morning for relaxation. While they tend to sit there enjoying their meal, most of them will hold a piece of newspaper.

Food

File:Tradition03.jpg Shrimp dumping or hao gau(蝦餃, pinyin: xīa jĭao)
This is the standard dim sum found in every teahouse. Though common, it is quite difficult to make. Thus, it is a good demontration of the chef's artistry to make such a translucent, delicious dumping. Ingredients of Hao gau are shrimp, which is wrapped carefully with a tranlucent rice-flour skin. Actually, many other prevalent dim sum are dumpings made of rice-flour skin with a great variety of ingredients. As these dumplings use vegetables as ingredients, they suit vegetarians as well.

Barbeque Bun or Cha Siu Bau (义燒飽)
This is another famous dim sum which is a big white bun made of plain flour. Barbeque-flavoured pork meat is inside the bun. Obviously, it is much cheaper than the Shrimp Dumpling, and also easier to make.

Chien Chang Go
A special dim sum desert, the " Thousand-layer sweet cake with egg topping " or chien chang go is a piece of artistic job of the chef as well. From the dim sum name, it is known that the cake is made up of many layers of sweet egg cakes. Once you have tried it, you will discover the chinese style of cooking is an art form with a total different style with that of the Western.

Shanghai Steamed Buns

This dumpling, does not look like normal buns, is famous for being very juicy and flavorful. It is meat or seafood-filled. Shanghai Steamed buns are recognizable for their unique design, as the filled wrapper is gather up into several folds prior to steaming.( as shown in the picture)

Taro Root dumpling
This is made up by mashed taro stuffed with diced shiitake mushrooms, shrimp and pork. It will be more tasty if it is flavored with soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and oyster sauce.

Spring rolls
It is a popular fried food by deep frying. There are various type of vegetables inside, such as sliced carrot, mushroom and wood ear. Thus, it is suitable for vegetarians.

Lotus Leaf Rice (Nor Mei Gai) This is wrapped in a Lotus leaf into a rectangular shape. This food is made of steam sticky rice which a mixed of ingredients such as an egg yolk, chestnut, pork, chicken inside.

Rice Noodle Rolls (Chung Fun) This is made of different kind of meat whcih covered by large rice noodle rolls. This is usually for steaming. It is also suitable for vegetarians as the mixtures can be made of vegetable ingredients.