DIM SUM

Chinese Dim Sum originated from Guang Dong, is one of the famous dishes in the world. If you search for the dim sum history on the internet, you will find many sites giving you all sorts of information and many of them contradicting each other. Even for the simple meaning of the two Chinese word dim sum there are many interpretations. The word "Dim" literally means point. The word "Sum" means heart. Put the two words together means "Point to the heart". Now, that really have no literally meaning. 

The real meaning of Dim Sum is just small snack or small dishes of food, and where does the tradition of small dishes food comes from? There are many many stories been told about  how Dim Sum was introduced. I am gonna share 2 of the stories of its originated. I used to ask myself why do we have so many thousands of different dishes of Chinese food. One can literally eat different dish of Chinese food for a day and do not have to repeat the same dish for many many months. The blame was to put on the 6,000 years of Chinese culture under the system of "Kingship". What do the Kings of China did all day ? The history book will tell that many of them have done great things or achieve many goals to change the world which we are living today. But the real truth were, the kings only told others to do all those great things where else they themselves just eat and play all day. Thus, the kings have hundred of chefs each and every day preparing hundreds of dishes of food for them and they only tasted just a few of them. This bad habit is spread all over the palace where hundreds or thousands family members of the king lived. Obviously they cant have hundreds of full dishes of food each day for them to just sample. So very small dishes of food but extremely well prepared are offered to the king's family. The dishes spread to the city and becomes, Dim Sum. 

Another story of the unique culinary art of Dim Sum originated with the Cantonese in Southern China, which over the centuries transformed "Yum Cha" (tea drinking) from a relaxing respite to a loud and happy experience. Travellers on the ancient Silk Road needed a place to rest. Hence, tea houses were established along the roadside. Rural farmers, exhausted after working hard in the farm fields would go to those tea houses for a relaxing cup of tea. In the beginning it was consider inappropriate to combine tea with food because it would lead to excessive weight gain but later the times it was discovered that chinese tea can aid in digestion. So tea houses began adding various snack, becoming what we know as Dim Sum.

Dim Sum is food which has many kinds. Ripe making in the last method with steaming, frying in oil, or baked. The fillings might be seafood or meat. 

The Dim Sum will be put in the streamed basket on rolling stock. The roller be shouting out the name of the food, which are available.

Customer can open the closet of basket to looking the Dim Sum inside. The streamed basket is made from bamboo overlying be layer. Sometimes, Dim Sum can be as hot fried spring roll, or a bundle kind of food. Normally, eating Dim Sum must be eaten when it fresh and hot with a lot of sauce .There are soy sauce, chilli sauce, XO sauce, Shanghai sauce, etc. 

The important thing is, the appearance of Dim Sum appear in a small portion, and can eat all in one bite, so it is a beautiful culinary, and still be popular for everyone nowadays. Chef, who made Dim Sum always have to have uniqueness. Overall, the atmosphere of Chinese restaurant usually talks loudly. The crowd walk pass by. That is a part of culture that involved. There are ingredients, a streamed basket of bamboo, a cup, a chopstick, a tea. These cannot separate from each other. It is a culture of eating, which has a long history of China.

In Malaysia, it is mostly a breakfast or lunch dish and consumed when we are with friends or family. We order a few different types of Dim Sum, drink some Chinese tea and have a chat or reading newspaper. It has the combination of meat, vegetables, seafood and sometimes even fruits. It is usually served in small baskets or on small plates in sets of 3 or 4 depending on the types. It's quite cheap but if trying a few different types, it can add up the bill. 

I used to go "yum cha" with my dad as early as 6 am every Saturday or Sunday when I was young. He would washed the tea cups by pouring the hot tea from the pot onto the plastic container provided to place all the cups. Then he would let me ordered all the food (which makes me very happy indeed !) and "tar pau" (takeaway) the left-overs for my brothers (they can't woke up so early, so that's why early birds get all the good snacks !).