DIM SUM or 粤(Yuè)式 (Shì)点(Diǎn)心(Xīn) **

CHEF JING LIU, a member of the Chinese Street Market DC talent pool, was born and raised in Guangdong province, China (where dim sum is daily dining), and a graduate of the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu Paris.

MAIN INGREDIENTS: wheat starch, potato starch, shrimp, pork, and sesame oil.

HISTORY: For many Cantonese people, drinking morning tea is the most important routine of the day, followed by tea at lunch and then in the evening. The teas of choice, generally speaking, are Pu'er, Chrysanthemum, Oolong, and Tieguanyin. Teahouse patrons eventually sought out small-plate dishes for after tea — the primary post-tea dish would become Dim Sum.

Guangzhou-style dim sum, or “Cantonese dim sum,” is an important part of Han Chinese food culture. Based on Lingnan-style small plates which are with influences from the northern region of China, dim sum has developed into a wide selection of small plates that encompasses imperial palace-style noodles as well as western style cakes. There are more than a thousand such varieties. The myriad combinations of different wrapping skins, stuffings, and structures allowed for significant variety in the style and flavor of dim sum. There are four types of wrapping skins consisting of 23 sub-types, and there are forty-six kinds of stuffing. A skilled chef can make ornate and versatile combinations with varying shapes to create all kinds of exciting takes on dim sum.

Drawing an analogy to Chinese Feng Shui and its five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, dim sum’s five elements a.k.a. five main cooking styles are steamed meat snacks, sweet desserts, buns in small or big bamboo steamers, porridge, and deep-fried snacks. The Big Four in dim sum world are shrimp dumplings, dry steamed shumai, char siu buns, and egg tarts.