Okay, so yesterday I decided to try making dim sum at home. I know, I know, ambitious right? I saw a recipe online with the title “dim sum central hong kong” and thought, “Hey, I can do that!” Famous last words, LOL.
First things first, I gathered all the ingredients. This took way longer than I expected. I had to hit up like three different stores just to find everything. Stuff like water chestnut flour? Who even has that just lying around?
Then came the dough making. The recipe said it was easy. It lied. I mean, it wasn’t HARD hard, but getting the consistency right was tricky. It was either too sticky or too dry. After a lot of kneading and adding water a teaspoon at a time, I finally got something that resembled dough.
Next up: the fillings. I went with a classic shrimp filling and a pork filling. The shrimp one was pretty straightforward – just chopped shrimp, ginger, soy sauce, and some other stuff. The pork one involved a bit more chopping and marinating. I think I added a little too much ginger to the pork, but we’ll see how it turns out.
Now, the real fun began: actually assembling the dim sum. I tried making har gow (shrimp dumplings) first. Those are supposed to be all delicate and translucent. Mine looked…rustic. Let’s just say they weren’t winning any beauty contests. I watched a ton of YouTube videos on how to fold them, but my fingers just wouldn’t cooperate. The pleats were all wonky and uneven. Eventually, I just gave up and went for a more free-form approach.
The pork dumplings were a little easier to assemble, probably because I wasn’t trying to be all fancy with the folding. I just slapped some filling in the middle, folded them in half, and crimped the edges. Boom. Done.
Finally, it was time to cook these bad boys. I don’t have a bamboo steamer (another thing I need to buy!), so I just used a regular steamer basket in a pot. I steamed them for about 10-15 minutes, until they looked cooked through.
The taste test? Honestly, they weren’t half bad! The shrimp filling was delicious, even if the dumplings looked a bit sad. The pork filling was a bit too gingery, but still edible. I definitely wouldn’t serve them to a professional dim sum chef, but I’d happily eat them again.
Lessons learned?
- Making dim sum is way more work than it looks.
- Don’t be afraid to experiment with fillings.
- Practice makes perfect (or at least, less ugly).
Would I do it again? Maybe. But next time, I’m definitely investing in a bamboo steamer. And maybe taking a dim sum folding class.