Okay, so Chinese New Year is coming up, and I really wanted to try making dim sum at home. I’ve always loved going out for dim sum, but figured it’d be fun (and maybe cheaper?) to do it myself. I’m no chef, but I’m pretty good at following instructions.
First, I looked up a bunch of recipes online. I mean, there are tons of dim sum dishes. I decided to start simple with har gow (shrimp dumplings) and siu mai (pork and shrimp dumplings). They seemed like the least likely for me to totally mess up.
Finding the Ingredients
This was an adventure in itself. I live in a pretty typical suburban area, so I first checked out online local Asian markets. I am so happy that I found all the ingredients I needed, like the dumpling wrappers and, bamboo steamers.
The Prep Work
- I chopped up the shrimp and pork really fine.
- Then I mixed it with all the other stuff – soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, all that good stuff. It smelled amazing already!
- The hardest part was probably getting the filling into the wrappers. Those little suckers are delicate! I definitely ripped a few at first. But, you know, practice makes perfect (or at least, less ripped dumplings).
Steaming Time!
I followed the instructions on steaming time to steamed them about 8 minutes.
The Taste Test
Okay, I’m not gonna lie, they weren’t exactly like the restaurant ones. The wrappers were a little thicker than I’d like. But, honestly? They were still pretty darn good! Especially with a little chili oil and soy sauce.
I’m definitely going to try this again. Maybe next time I’ll tackle char siu bao (barbecue pork buns). Or maybe I’ll get brave and try making my own dumpling wrappers. We’ll see! Overall, a pretty successful first attempt at homemade dim sum!