Dim Sum

Talking about food, I like to eat Chinese dishes including rice, mee and also Dim Sum. Here, just want to highlight the origin of Dim Sum and also the Drinking of tea.

Dim Sum

Dim sum is a Cantonese term that literally means dot heart or order heart, or be interpreted as snack.

Classical dim sums include buns dumplings and rice rolls in a variety of ingredients such as beef, chicken, pork, prawns or vegetarian ingredients . They are cooked by steaming, frying and sometimes other methods. They are usually small and served as 3 or 4 pieces in one dish. In Brunei, some Chinese restaurants may serve Dim Sum with pork but mostly are halal, with chicken and seafood.

History

Long ago, travellers on the ancient Silk Road needed a place to rest. Teahouses were established along the roadside. Rural farmers also went in to eat after a long day’s work. At first it was considered inappropriate for tea to be taken with food, because people believed it would lead to excessive weight gain. People later discovered that tea could aid digestion, so owners of teahouses introduced more kinds of snacks, and the tradition of dim sum evolved.

Drinking of Tea

The drinking of tea is as important to dim sum as the food. Popular teas served with dim sum include chrysanthemum tea, oolong, and green tea. It was customary to pour tea for others while eating dim sum before filling one’s own cup. A custom unique to Hong Kong is to thank the person pouring the tea by tapping the bent index and middle fingers together on the table. This is said to resemble the ritual of bowing to someone.

Varieties of Dim Sum

Dim sum restaurants have a wide variety of dishes, usually several dozen. Among the standard fare of dim sum include:

• Shrimp Dumpling: An especially delicate steamed dumpling with whole or chopped-up shrimp filling and especially thin (almost translucent) rice-flour skin.
• Siu Maai: Small steamed dumplings with pork inside a thin wheat flour wrapper.
• Spring rolls: Spring rolls consist of various types of vegetables such as sliced carrot, cabbage, mushroom and wood ear fungus, and sometimes meat, are rolled inside a thin flour skin and deep fried for a crispy outside.

(Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01714/dimsum.htm)

These are few Dim Sum only.... there are more than this.