Tag Archives: cantonese food

DIY DIM SUM

When I visited my parents in Hong Kong over the holidays, I was blown away by the delicate and very beautiful dim sum. They were honestly works of art.

Here in Montreal, dim sum is not as impressive, but it’s still an important part of weekend rituals for a lot of Chinese families. Though I love going out for dim sum too, I wanted to see if I could replicate the event at home instead. (I prefer a good dinner party over going to a fancy restaurant any day!)

I wrote about making dim sum at home for the Montreal Gazette this week. It includes (my own!) recipes for har gow, shumai, and gai lan. It was so much fun to do the research for this story, and I’ve been encouraging absolutely everyone I know to give this a whirl the next time they get a craving for dim sum. It’s easier than it looks, and so fun!

Read the story here.

(Thank you Marie-France Coallier for your stunning photos!)

DIM SUM PARADISE

I bet you thought the Hong Kong posts were over. Wrong! I can’t believe I haven’t posted any dim sum photos yet, as it’s such an iconic Hong Kong meal. On my second to last day in the city, my parents picked a fancy spot (there are no ladies walking around with dim sum carts — dishes are delivered from the kitchen to  your table) known for its more unusual, delicate dishes. We tried a lot of weird stuff, including pickled duck tongues (they have bones!), white fungus (it has a crunchy-yet-gelatinous mouthfeel), and the “goldfish” dumplings in the first photo (no actual goldfish inside, they’re just painted to look like cute little fishes). My favorite dish, though, was a delicious, savory mince of mushrooms wrapped in delicate tofu skins and fried until crispy. We use the same tofu skins to make our veggie pulled porc at the Dep, and it was really fascinating and inspiring to see them used in another way.