Dim Sum Quiz

[fitfool]

I love dim sum but now that Chinatown is no longer a subway ride away, I'd like to make some of these dishes at home. But...I don't know what things are called. So quiz time. Here are 10 dim sum dishes. Give the name of the dish. Bonus points given to offering the recipe too (but with the name I can try googling for recipes). I know what some of them are called but I like having an even 10 questions on the quiz. :)

	1. The white part is slippery and is filled with shrimp. The soy sauce is slightly thicker and sweet. This is my Favorite dish.		2. Crunchy deep-fried something.
	3. I don't see these as often but I liked them.		4. some kind of shrimp filling
	5. a greyish purplish inside with consistency of mashed potatoes. Outside is crispy.		6. Lots of shrimp inside.
	7. My mom made these when we were kids.		8. filled with shrimp
	9. These are more trouble to eat than they're worth though they are tasty.		10. Warm and eaten as dessert. Slippery feeling.

Thread at food_porn

Comments

[aliki.livejournal.com]

1. Chee Cheong Fun!!!
5. Taro Dumpliings
7. Lor Bak Gow (Chinese turnip cake)
8. Har Gao (shrimp in transparant dumplings)
9. Chicken Claws (Fung Jeow)
10. Tau Foo Fah

Surprised you dont like (or have pics of) Siew Mai (steamed dumplings with pork/shrimp), Lor Mai Gai (the sticky rice dumplings!) or Char Siu Baos (roast pork buns)!!

[callistra.livejournal.com]

I love sui mai!
:-)
I was wondering, when I clicked on the link, if they would be there
*grin*

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Are your spellings the Cantonese names for these dishes?
1. I take it the exclamation points mean you like this one too.
5. Cool..what's on the outside that makes it crunchy?
7. Ah ok...I couldn't tell if it was rice cake or turnip cake. I guess that means I need to stop thinking I don't like turnips since I like these a lot.

Oh I love those dishes you mentioned but these are just the pics from the dishes we ate the last time I went for dim sum. Small group so we didn't get to sample everything :)

[callistra.livejournal.com]

1) Prawn Rice Flour Rolls. I have a recipe, it needs rice flour noodles, which are large and flat and you basically wrap the prawns in them and steam until happy. The difficult part is the sauce - my recipe here just says oyster sauce, but believe me, when we have them at a resturaunt, it's not.
:-)

9) Chickens Feet. No recipe. :-)

8) Prawn and Chives Dumplings. I have a recipe and a real name somewhere...

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

1. Yeah...that sauce is great and it really doesn't taste like oyster sauce. Maybe that's just one ingredient of the sauce? I'm definitely interested in the recipe.

9. no need for a recipe on the chicken feet :)

8. What kind of skin is it wrapped in? Why is it see-through?

(and I like that siu mai stuff too...just didn't have it on that particular visit so no photo)

[aliki.livejournal.com]

2. Looks like spider crabs? It is deep fried soft-shell crabs?
3. Can't make that out but I'm guessing that's eggplant with shrimp paste stuffing.
6. Deep fried shrimp ball.

I make this version, which is similar and tastes real good. I devein, deshell and remove the tail:

Crispy Prawn Balls
4 slices white bread, crusts removed and cut into 1 cm cubes
8 oz white fish fillets, minced
8oz uncooked prawns, peeled, deveined and minced
2 teaspoons salt
pinch of ground white pepper
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons corn flour
2 slices root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
600 ml (1 pint) vegetable oil
butter

1. Toast bread cubes lightly until light brown and dry.
2. Mix together minced fish, prawns, salt, pepper, egg whites, corn flour and finely chopped ginger. Form together into balls using 1 tablespoon per ball. Put a slab of butter in middle. Roll each ball in the croutons until coated.
3. Heat oil in wok to 350oF or until cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. Gently lower balls into oil. Deep-fry until brown.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

2. Nope...no crabs. I think it's another shrimp paste stuffing with shredded taro on the outside and then deep fried.
3. Yep...sorry that one was out of focus.
6. My mom made these shrimp balls for company! I don't think her version used fish though the rest of it looks familiar. (oh except for the butter in the middle...what's that for? I don't think she did that either.)

I had coincidentally bought some small shrimp that were on sale this weekend and was going to google for shrimp ball recipes. Thanks for yours!

<3 dim sum!

[pixelation.livejournal.com]

I'm a cantonese speaker, so I don't know if the names I supply will help much, since Cantonese can be romanized a billion different ways.

1. [insert meat type] Cherng Fun. Rice noodle type dough wrapped around shrimp/beef/pork.
2. I think they're deep fried shrimp puffs? They look... weird.
3. Yerng Ai Gwa. Eggplants stuffed with fish cake/paste.
4. Never seen those before.
5. Deep fried taro balls. Forgot the chinese name.
6. Oh... THESE are the deep fried shrimp puffs!
7. Law bat goh. Radish cakes. My mom makes these too! I can probably bug her for a recipe later. Mmmm.
8. These are either Ha Gao (shrimp dumplings) or more likely Gow Choy Gao (leek dumplings... usually with shrimp) because Ha Gao usually doesn't have green stuff in it.
9. Feng Jiao. "Phoenix Claws" aka chicken feet in some yummy sauce. I love these but my more western friends are always grossed out by them.
10. Dow Fa. Warm tofu in syrup.

Re: <3 dim sum!

[pixelation.livejournal.com]

10. Dow FU fa. :P

Re: <3 dim sum!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Ah but your Cantonese will let me order at the restaurant instead of just pointing at everything.

1. So shrimp ones would be Ha Cherng Fun?
2. Yes...shrimp. The outside seems to be shredded taro and then deep fried.
4. Seemed to be more of the fish/shrimp cake/paste but this time wrapped in some kind of bean curd wrapper. I think it was steamed but I'm not sure.
5. Do you know what the outside stuff is that makes it crispy is?
6. yep :)
7. are radishes the same thing as turnips? Someone else above ID'd these as turnip cakes.
9. They're really tasty but require more work to nibble away the edible parts so I'm not a big fan of them
10. It's tofu! I've been thinking I only like extra firm tofu. So which consistency would I buy to make these? The silken tofu? How do you make the syrup?

[snarkactual.livejournal.com]

Let me see if I remember correctly,

1. Har Gau (I wish I had a recipe as this is one of my favorites). All I remember is that you use shrimp (cocktail sized) and cornstarch as a binder then steam. I don't remember the name of the wrapper but a really good Chinese noodle factory will sell them. I used to be able to get the wrappers in San Francisco, LA and Honolulu. You might find them in NY or Boston's Chinatown as well. Depends on whether they have immigrants from Hong Kong IIRC.

2. & 3. Can't tell from the picture do you have more of a description of ingredients?

4. Looks an awful lot like a shrimp roll which is just a shrimp and crabmeat with cornstarch to bind it stuffed in an egg roll wrapper and deep fried.

5. Deep Fried Taro balls usually with char siu pork, green onions, a bit of grated ginger then breaded and deep fried (the purple stuff is the taro root).

6. Stuffed crab claws. Actually these are pretty simple and made by stuffing the meat from the arm of the claw of a King, Dungeoness or snow crab around a partially peeled crab claw and then breading and frying it.

7. Kow Yuk (sp?) in a bun? Either that or crispy duck skin in a millet bun. Can't really tell from the picture.

8. I don't recall what they're called but they're made in a manner similar to the Har Gau except for the addition of green onion and a different kind of wrapper (similar to potstickers I think).

9. & 10. Can't really tell from the pictures. 10 might be Soong Gau if it's got a kind of sweet chewy texture.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

1. mmm...yes I've seen the wrappers in Boston's Chinatown but didn't know what to do with them.

2. This had some kind of shrimp or maybe fish filling. The outside was shredded taro root and it appeared to have been deep fried because the outside was crispy.

3. I think these had a similar filling to #4 and were stuffed into eggplant (oh that reminds me...I still need to post pictures of the eggplant I made...)

4. Your description of the inside sounds right. The outside was some kind of a bean curd wrapper that was wrinkly but I think it might've been steamed because it wasn't crispy. I really like that skin whatever it is.

5. What kind of breading do they use to get that look? I love that coating.

6. Ah...I think they added some filler to help bulk it up since the inside of these also involved shrimp. (Either this restaurant was heavy on shrimp or else we just kept ordering the shrimp dishes.)

7. This was a rectangular slice of a kind of chewy consistency that were probably pan-fried I think. the corner had been dipped in soy sauce. Others above ID'd this as either turnip cake or radish cake.

8. Yeah I was wondering what the wrapper was. Why is it see-through?

9. Hint: This dish would put an avian podiatrist out of business

10. Other's ID's this as tofu in syrup. I hadn't thought I liked soft tofu but I liked this dish so I may have to revise my opinion.

Thanks for playing!

[jester5.livejournal.com]

sadly all i know about dim sum (besides that is good)is that martin yen said it translates into "little happiness"

and i consider myself a foodie...the shame

[callistra.livejournal.com]

Martin Yen? As in Yan? As in Yan Can Cook? Which completely appears to not exist on the internet?

:-)
I have been searching high and low for copies of Yan Can Cook, I wonder if I should be looking for Yen Can Cook...

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

not the shame...the joy of knowing there's yet another category to explore :)

I thought it translated literally to 'little heart' but maybe the heart stands in for happiness?

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Cool...for 7, is La bing a turnip or radish cake? (That's what 2 other people were identifying it as). Thanks very much for these names!

[vandegraaff.livejournal.com]

=O

Where must one live in order to acquire such wonderful foodstuffs?!?!

The local chineese resturants have nothing like that! Just the normal americanized fare....

[esmerel.livejournal.com]

We have a plethora of them in the SF bay area. :)

Looks like someone got to all of them before I could get any. Just as well =)

The wide noodles (1), and the taro root (3) and the shrimp & eggplant (3) are some of my favorites =)

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

cool...I'll guess it's the second one then. Thanks again!

[sugarsin.livejournal.com]

5. Must be taro root.

And I had #1 yesterday, filled with shrimp and loaded with chili and soy sauce. mmmmm. I love dim sum!

[collisions.livejournal.com]

Every place I've ever eaten Dim Sum (and I eat it *way* too often), the servers are not very tolerant of my attempts to use the real names of the dishes. I even learned to say "shark fin" in Chinese to ask for my favorite dumplings by name, but I get puzzled stares until I say "Shark fin?" to which they say, "Ah! Sha fi!" and hand me the item.

That said, here's the ones I know:

1. They call this "shrimp roll." I'm pretty sure the wrapper is made of bean or rice flour. Good stuff.
2. No idea. I've never seen this form factor of fried stuff. There are places, though, that serve a ball of minced shrimp in a similar looking wrapper (it seemed to be rolled in strips of won ton wrapper, then deep fried). They call it, not surprisingly, "fry shrimp."
3. Eggplant shrimp. A ball of minced shrimp, a Japanese eggplant, a deep fryer. Good stuff.
4. No idea, but these look good. Is that perhaps some snow crab leg in there too?
5. Deep fried taro. I love this when the fryer temperature is right, and I hate it when it's too low (the taro ball ends up way greasy).
6. Crab ball! Crab claw, minced shrimp with a binder, roll in egg and panko, fry. Nummy!
7. Not sure.
8. Shrimp dumplings in a (pretty sure) rice flour wrapper. The rice flour wrappers tend to become translucent when steamed (the Vietnamese do spring rolls that way). I've had these with various types of herbs, but cilantro is often included.
9. Chicken feet! I like them when they're good, but have had them be fairly icky tasting at a couple different places (I think the feet got old in storage or were just *very* gamey), so I don't often order them.
10. Dunno. Looks pretty custardy. I like the mango puddings and sesame balls as desserts.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

Actually, Vietnamese spring rolls aren't steamed, fried or cooked. You get the rice paper thingies (I'll check my cupboard in a sec for the real words) and soak them in water. Hint: Warm water works best. When loose and floppy, you put your ingredients down the middle, usually including a mint leaf or two, and a spring onion or chive if you're feeling fancy, roll it up and serve with your fave dipping sauces. LOOOOOOOVE these too. They satisfy my craving for fresh veg and spicy yumminess all in one. I've made them with chinese style duck in the middle once, I've made them using lettuce instead of noodles in the middle too.

[cwhf.livejournal.com]

You are making me miss Ton Kiang in SF desperately!!!!

I don't know real chinese names of any of them but I love them all especially the taro nests as I used to call them.

My stomach is sad now.

Even though people have replied, I'm going to try anyway

[u2believe.livejournal.com]

I'm cantonese speaking so I'll try to phonetically sound it out as I type. My dad used to own a chinese restaurant so I'm around food all the time.
1) Ha Cherng Fun (shrimp rolled in rice noodles) Cherng Fun in general and the type of meat goes before it.
2) I've never had that nor seen it but it looks as though there is shredded taro to give the spikey look. My dad used to use Taro to make the baskets to hold veggies. It looks very similar to that.
3) Yeurng-I-Gwa (eggplant sandwhiched between a fish/shrimp paste filling
4) Never seen that here but it looks like the texture of tofu wrapper and then deep fried. Looks a little too wrinkly for regular egg roll wrappers. I've seen the tofu wrappers around a meat filling but then it is steamed instead of deep fried.
5) Wu-Gwok (taro dumpling)
6) My favourite Hi Keem (so "ha" is shrimp and "hi" is crab)
7) No idea.. picture looks a little blurry and there might be sauce on it. so my take is loh bak go (dicon or white turnip patty)
8) This will depend on what type of veggie is in it. There is "gow choy baow" which is chives and pork dumpling OR "dow miew bow" which is snow pea vine with shrimp dumpling. The vine that the snow pea grows on is edible and quite tasty. It is a lot of work to take off all the chewy bits prior to cooking.
9) Fung Ghow (like chow but with a G) phoenix claws or chickens feet
10) Dow fu fa (tofu dessert with a sugar syrup.. the tofu doesn't have a taste.. it's more the syrup that you load on it)

I hope that helps.. :o) Makes me want to go and have dim sum right now.

Re: Even though people have replied, I'm going to try anyway

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the reply to a really old comment but I did want to reply since I was happy to get your explanations for the dishes. Thank you!

For #5, the taro dumpling, how do you get the outside crunchy part to look like that? Would your dad know what they use to make it? I love this dish and I think it's one of my dad's favorites. I found a few recipes for this now but the pictures don't look like what I see at the restaurants for the outside.
For #2, you're right...it was spiky taro on the outside. #7 is that loh bak go, yes. #8 I hadn't known the snow pea vine was edible. We used to grow them in our backyard and would just discard the stems.

[mysticchyna.livejournal.com]

i'm not sure what is what, but i love Dim Sum!