Post:Nhung Nguyen.Image :Fortuna Hotel offers
The common formula commonly known when talking about Dimsum is a type of preparation with a thin layer of dough on the outside, covering the meat or seafood filling inside, steamed in small bamboo trays or fried. However, with creativity and talented hands, chefs can transform into about 100 different types of Dimsum such as dumplings, wontons, meatballs, rice rolls... It is a "culinary treasure" that you can hardly discover all at once.
Dimsum is said to have originated in small teahouses along the Silk Road across China, where merchants stopped to rest during their long journeys. In Hong Kong and small towns in Guangdong province, teahouses served Dimsum early in the morning so that people returning from exercise would stop in for breakfast and a chat. In the southern provinces of Central China, such teahouses were often where families gathered on weekends. Now, you can enjoy Dimsum at any convenient time. However, this low-carb, high-protein dish is perfect to have with tea in the morning.
To prepare for the Dim Sum party, the dumplings in shark fin soup are a perfect choice. The rich sweet soup and the fragrant dumplings that melt in your mouth reveal the chef's skill as the dumplings are very soft and still retain their shape in the small bowl of soup.
But when it comes to Dimsum, dumplings are the most well-known dish. Wheat flour and tapioca starch are mixed with water, cooking oil and salt in a strict ratio, then kneaded by hand until the mixture is soft and shiny, a sign that the dough has reached the required smoothness. During the filling process, this mixture must be wrapped tightly to avoid drying. The main ingredient of dumpling filling is minced shrimp mixed with many other spices such as rice wine, sherry - a wine made from Spanish white grapes, pepper, sesame oil, sweet bamboo shoots, green onions, and left to ferment in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
Molding and shaping dumplings is also a meticulous and elaborate process. The “Dimsum artist” must measure the right amount of dough, roll the dough and spread the filling evenly, and roll it skillfully so that the rolled dumpling looks like a cute clam. The remaining step is to steam the dumpling until the skin is transparent and the filling inside turns yellow. Looking at the tiny bamboo cage with three cute dumplings inside, few people can imagine the hard work of the chef. There is nothing more enjoyable than eating hot dumplings with chili sauce and soy sauce.
Fresh shrimp spring rolls are also a quintessential part of Dim Sum; the rolls are soft but not mushy, and the filling is rich and sweet with shrimp. Meanwhile, char siu bao looks like white flowers with three open petals; the spongy cake is slightly sweet while the char siu filling is rich and fragrant with soy sauce and oyster sauce. If you like savory fried food, you can try fried shrimp tofu rolls and sweet fried food can be used as dessert like mung bean fried cakes…
Chef Alex Zheng of May Man Restaurant, a Guangzhou native with 30 years of experience in major restaurants in Hong Kong and Singapore, said he is very interested in Dimsum because of its diversity, sophistication and high aesthetic requirements. The ingredients are all very familiar, easy to find in daily life, but it requires the skilled hands and soaring soul of the chef to turn them into unique "works" that can only be found in Dimsum.
You can enjoy Dimsum at:
Lucky Restaurant
Fortuna Hotel – 6B Lang Ha, Ba Dinh, Hanoi.
