Food: Chinese

Dim Sum

Dim sum is a Cantonese term for a type of Chinese dish that involves small individual portions of food, usually served in a small steamer basket or on a small plate. Going for dim sum is usually known in Cantonese as going to "drink tea" (yum cha, 飲茶).

Traditional dim sum includes various types of steamed buns such as cha siu baau, dumplings and rice noodle rolls (cheong fun), which contain a range of ingredients, including beef, chicken, pork, prawns and vegetarian options. Many dim sum restaurants also offer plates of steamed green vegetables, roasted meats, congee porridge and other soups.

Dim sum can be cooked by steaming and frying, among other methods. The serving sizes are usually small and normally served as three or four pieces in one dish.

Dim sum dishes can be ordered from a menu or sometimes the food is wheeled around on a trolley by servers.

Fun fact:
It is customary to order family style, sharing dishes among all members of the dining party. Because of the small portions, people can try a wide variety of food. Now you know why dim sums come in small portions ;)


Char Kway Teow

Char kway teow, literally "stir-fried ricecake strips". It is made from flat rice noodles of approximately 1 cm, stir-fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, a small quantity of belachan, whole prawns, deshelled cockles, bean sprouts and chopped Chinese chives. The dish may commonly be stir-fried with egg, slices of Chinese sausage and fishcake, and less commonly with other ingredients.


Fun Fact:
The name "Char Kway Teow" is a Cantonese version of the original name in Hokkien, "chhá-kóe-tiâu".

Yong Tau Foo

Yong tau foo is a Chinese soup dish. It is essentially a clear consomme soup containing a varied selection of food items including fish balls, crab sticks, bittergourds, cuttlefish, lettuce, ladies fingers, as well as chilis, and various forms of fresh produce, seafood and meats common in Chinese cuisine. Some of these items, such as bittergourd and chili, are usually filled with fish paste. The foods are then sliced into bite-size pieces, cooked briefly in boiling broth and then served either in the broth as soup or with the broth in a separate bowl.

At most places, it is also served with chee cheong fun.

Chee Cheong fun are rice noodle rolls, a Cantonese dish from southern China and Hong Kong. It is a thin roll made from a wide strip of Shahe fen (rice noodles), filled with shrimp, pork, beef, vegetables, or other ingredients. Sweet soy sauce is poured over the dish upon serving.

In Cantonese cuisine, rice noodle roll is most often served in dim sum. The most common types traditionally offered as part of dim sum cuisine are:

• Rice noodle roll with lightly marinated shrimp

• Rice noodle roll with beef -usually ground beef with heavy addition of corn starch as filler and promote tenderness

• Rice noodle roll with dried shrimp

• Rice noodle roll with char siu

Fun Fact:
Two common Cantonese words are typically used to describe a well-made rice noodle roll: "Haung" – meaning: good aroma. "Whaat" – meaning: smooth or slippery.


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Content source (edited by author):
Dim Sum - Wikipedia
Char Kway Teow - Wikipedia
Chee Cheong Fun - Wikipedia