So, I’ve been on this huge Chinese food kick lately, and it got me thinking about the whole wonton vs. dim sum thing. I mean, I love them both, but I wanted to know what really makes them different. I figured, why not dive in and try to make some myself? That’s always the best way to learn, right?
First, I hit up a bunch of different local Chinese restaurants. I ordered wontons in soup, fried wontons, and a whole bunch of different dim sum dishes. You know, the usual suspects – steamed dumplings, those little buns, the whole nine yards. I even try to ask the waiters but they are not so talkative. I ate, I took notes, I tried to figure out what was going on with the flavors and textures.
Then came the fun part – trying to recreate these dishes at home. I started with wontons. I got some square wonton wrappers from the Asian grocery store and experimented with different fillings. Let me tell you, I made a mess! But I figured out that wontons are always filled with something – meat, veggies, whatever. And they’re usually seasoned pretty heavily with ginger and garlic.
- The shape is square, kind of like a little purse.
- I tried boiling some and deep-frying others. Both were tasty, but the fried ones were definitely my favorite.
Next up, dim sum. This was a bit more of a challenge because dim sum isn’t just one thing. It’s like a whole bunch of different small dishes, and that’s the key difference! Most of them are like dumplings, but not all. I tried making a few different kinds of dumplings, some steamed, some pan-fried. These are also filled with various fillings like meat and vegetable.
- They were all small and bite-sized, which is kind of the point of dim sum.
- Dim sum is more of a style of eating – like, a bunch of small plates to share. That’s why they always bring it out in those little steamer baskets or small dishes at restaurants.
My Realization
After all this eating and cooking, here’s what I figured out: Wontons are a specific type of dumpling, always filled, and often fried. Dim sum is a broader category of Chinese food that includes lots of different small dishes, including but not limited to dumplings, there are more dishes that are not dumplings. Wontons can be part of a dim sum meal, but they’re not the same thing. They all originated from China but wontons are from the north.
It was a tasty experiment, and I learned a lot. Plus, I have a ton of leftovers, so that’s a win! Next up, I might try to tackle those soup dumplings. Those things are magic!
