When I was in Hong Kong back in 2005, one of my first meals was a Dim Sum lunch washed down with warm jasmine tea (check my “Oriental” post).

Eating dim sum is known in Cantonese as “yum cha” (drinking tea 美味) as jasmine tea is traditionally drunk with this snack.

Able (Rick’s fiancée) ordered dim sum for us. She chose those which were sure to cater to our Western palates.

7 years later and my chance to experience dim sum returned whilst on holiday in Malaysia. We went to Pappa Rich for “Malaysian Treats” and lo and behold there was dim sum on the menu!!

Back at home – holidays over – I rediscovered my Asian Kitchen.

How difficult could it really be to create dim sum? A pastry case filled with a small amount of filling; steamed.

Admittedly the only reason why I was able to create these at home was thanks to the Mecca for Asian ingredients that is Ramsons!! I hit the jackpot when I found packets of frozen wonton wrappers in their freezer section.

Pork and Prawn Dim Sum

1st: Add the minced pork, shelled and uncooked prawns, spring onions, garlic, ginger, flour and soy sauce into a food processor and blitz until you form a smooth paste.

2nd: Line up the wonton squares on your work surface and using a pastry brush (my fingers did the job fine!) moisten the edges.

3rd: Place a teaspoonful of the pork and prawn mixture onto the centre of the square. Do not try and overfill as this will cause your dim sum to spill over in cooking.

4th: Pick all four corners of the wonton square and gently squeeze out any air still in the dim sum. The shape you choose to create is totally up to you.  I read somewhere that in Asian culture each shape has a different meaning or is created for a particular filling or occasion. I however am neither Asian nor deft at creating pastry shapes, hence my army of pork-prawn hobo sacks!

5th: Place the dim sum into a bamboo steamer for a few minutes.  I however, did not have a bamboo steamer so therefore chose to cook my dim sum gyoza-style.  I placed the dim sum into a frying pan with a little oil and fried the gyoza until the base was browned.  Then poured a glass of water into the pan to create steam and covered the pan for 3 mins.

I served my dim sum with sesame prawn toast and washed it down with warm, fragrant jasmine tea.

Delicious 美味