I can’t believe this is my first post about dim sum! I have loved dim sum for almost the entire span of my life. When I was in college at NYU my friends and I frequented New York’s nearby Chinatown; my friend Alice and I had lunch at Sam Wo’s every Friday. Once I moved out of the dorms and into my first apartment I often walked down to Canal Street to shop and wander the exotic Chinese supermarkets. The lower floors with bizarre apothecaries and packed with all sorts of dishes, bowls and utensils, including those huge Chinese urns you see in apartment building lobbies. The main floors spilling over with all manner of dried items; seafood, beans, things I was unable to identify, and aisles of frozen buns, dumplings and more unidentifiable things.
The first time a group of us went to have dim sum we chose a place based on our pre-internet version of research, and trooped off to the Nom Wah Tea Parlor. As soon as I walked in it felt familiar. I could recall sitting at a round table in the center of this tiny place and eating steamed buns. When I got home I called my father to ask him about the place and he was shocked that I remembered it. We had gone to Nom Wah for dim sum when I was a small child. Nom Wah has been operating as a tea parlor since the 1920’s and is still in operation. Sadly (for me) they no longer use the carts ubiquitous in dim sum restaurants, now you order from a menu.
If you haven’t had dim sum and you have the chance you must go! Steaming carts filled with an assortment of steamed and fried dumplings and pastries roll around, and you choose plates that look appealing. Though I have eaten dim sum hundreds of times I am still excited when a new cart rolls by; maybe this one will have something new and delectable! There isn’t much on those carts I don’t like, so when I go I need to pace myself. Some of my favorites are steamed barbecue pork buns, the slippery rice rolls; either shrimp or beef, the delicate har gow. the deep fried taro dumplings, crispy and ragged on the outside, with a soft, potato-like filling and in the center a ground pork mixture. The pastries are wonderful too, curry beef turnovers, tiny egg custard tarts, and all sorts of baked buns.
Though you can generally get dim sum any day of the week, on the weekends, when they are noisy and crowded with large families you will get the most variety, and the freshest made food. Carts get replenished every few minutes with stacks of steaming bamboo or stainless containers. Each cart will have numerous offerings, and there is usually at least one cart just for congee, and another dry cart for crispy items. The only things I don’t eat are the chicken feet, and the tripe, but other than that I don’t think I’ve ever tried anything I didn’t at least like. Because dim sum is Cantonese, the food isn’t spicy, or highly seasoned, it is breakfast or brunch food, and most traditional places only serve dim sum from 10:00 or 11:00 until 4:00.
Here is a recipe for one of my favorite dim sum pastries: curry beef turnovers. They are easy to make and I use store bought puff pastry.
Chinese Curry Beef Turnovers
Print recipe
Ingredients
- 1 box Frozen Puff Pastry (Thawed)
- 1 Egg Yolk (Mixed with 1 Tsp. Water)
Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Curry Powder
- 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chili-garlic Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice Powder
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch (mixed with 2 teaspoons of water to make slurry)
Filling
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 12oz 80/20 Ground Beef
- 3 Scallions (Chopped)
Directions
| Sauce | |
| Step 1 | |
| Combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix well | |
| filling | |
| Step 2 | |
|
Put oil in a large saute pan and add meat and scallions, cook until meat is cooked through, drain fat and return to pan | |
| Step 3 | |
| Add sauce ingredients and cook until sauce is bubbling, add cornstarch mix, and stir until sauce thickens | |
| Step 4 | |
| Remove Meat mixture from heat, and let cool | |
| Step 5 | |
| Preheat oven to 375F. | |
| Step 6 | |
|
Roll out pastry on floured board to 1/8" thick, use a 3" biscuit cutter to cut pastry into about 20 rounds | |
| Step 7 | |
|
Brush edges of each round lightly with water, and fill with about 1-2 teaspoons of filling, fold over, and crimp edges | |
| Step 8 | |
|
Let turnovers sit for at least 15 minutes, make sure they are still sealed, then brush with egg mixture and bake until golden-brown, 25-30 minutes | |
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.jpg)
Rhonda - Those look Amazing, Nancy! I’ll certainly be trying those out!
nrlowell@comcast.net - They are so easy!! Hope you like them!
Mike - This sounds terrific, Nancy. Oh my gosh now I’m craving Dim Sum! I would love to go to Num Wah. I made my first pot stickers from scratch last year and I was so darn proud! Now I’m hungry 🙂
Haralee - I love dim sum and am going out on Wednesday with a friend for lunch. Shrimp and pork anything. I don’t go for the ‘real’ Chinese delicacies like chicken feet and tripe but give me a sweet pork hum bow and I am in heaven.
John - The marvelous dim sum joints are fast-disappearing from NYC, much like the fast- disappearing Chinese restaurants. Whether they are victims of skyrocketing rents, or the belief that such foods are as unhealthful as it gets, I do not know, but to my fellow NYCers, get to Nom Wah or Ping or your favorite Chinatown dim sum restaurant ASAP. They may not be around for the next Chinese New Year.
nrlowell@comcast.net - Well, I guess I better get back to NYC soon to get some good DS!!
The Egg Cream; a Sweet New York Treat » Chefs Last Diet - […] was the place for an authentic NYC egg cream, and I would often stop there on my way to or from Chinatown. I am partial to a chocolate egg cream. I’m not sure exactly when Dave’s closed, but […]
Sarah @ Thank You Honey - Dim Sum is my favorite. We had a fabulous place in Sarasota that still used the carts. Haven’t found one, or looked for one yet in Philly. Any recommendations??
nrlowell@comcast.net - There are a few places in Chinatown, I still like Imperial Inn (very old school, but good), Dim Sum garden has great stuff, but no carts; you order off a menu. To me these are the best. There are a few in South Philly with easier parking, but if you go to Imperial Inn you can get validated parking at the lot on Race betw 9th and 10th.
Would be happy to meet you for DS sometime!
Chinese Pastries » Chefs Last Diet - […] I was well acquainted with the pastries of dim sum, it wasn’t until I moved to Philadelphia where I had such easy access to the bakeries of […]