Dim Sum

Typically when I eat out it happens because of convenience, social situations or I simply can't make it at home (amount of time, recipes, difficulty). Dim sum falls into this last category. We love dim sum in the LL household.
In case you are not familiar with dim sum, it is a Chinese style of cooking/cuisine with little bites and dumplings of tasty fixings. Ranges from savory or sweet, steamed or fried or baked and spicy or mild. It is typically a brunch/lunch time event and accompanied with tea. Once you are seated you are typically offered tea. Then the fun begins as the various carts circle around the room displaying what just came out of the kitchen. You point at the cart and they put the basket of goodness on your table and stamp your card with the marker for the dim sum (price depends for the various dumplings). And if you don't want it you do the no thanks face and shake your hand across the table - that is not mandatory but it is my husband's trademark for dim sum and probably the main reason all of our friends like going with us - to watch him manage the dim sum intake.....moving along.....you then have several dipping options: none, soy sauce, Chinese mustard or hot sauce. Dip and eat!
My major gripe with dim sum is I have no idea what is actually going into my food. I know there is MSG (mono sodium glutamate - a preservative used as a flavor enhancer in many Asian cuisines) and MSG is terribly bad for you (and I myself am quite sensitive to it). That aside, like any other place you eat out, you simply don't know where the ingredients came from and who is making it.
So here is the really exciting part of this post, I made my own! And it turned out great. A good friend of mine has a book from the late 70's that her mom used to use called 'Dim Sum' by Rhoda Yee. This is my new dim sum bible. It is by no means a task to do alone, and it is time consuming. However, it is the perfect get together for friends to just sit and talk and enjoy food. Plus when you start something like this, you make a ton, eat some that day and then have the rest frozen for another time. It is kind of the same as when Latin families get together to make tamales.
So here was my favorite recipe of everything we made yesterday:

Siu Mai (shoo-my)
Makes about 10 dozen

1 lb ground pork sausage
1 lb fresh ground pork
2 tsp salt
1 can water chestnuts, finely minced
2 tbls ginger, finely minced
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tbls light soy sauce
1 tbls salted turnips, finely minced (you could omit, but this was an interesting ingredient we found at our local Asian specialty store)
4 tbls sugar
1 tsp teriyaki sauce
1 tsp sherry
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 cup cilantro,finely minced
1 stalk green onions, finely minced
1 package round wonton skins

Mix all the ingredients into a bowl together.

Take about 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling and put into the center of the wonton skin. You are going to leave the top open so what you do is fold the edges around the meat mixture. Then, holding from the top and the bottom, pat the mixture so it is flattened and secure in the little pocket pouch. Set inside a tray of some sort and cover with a paper towel.

Fire up your stove and warm up a couple of inches of water in a pot with a steamer basket - do not let the water touch the basket. When boiling, put your dim sum in the basket and steam for about 15 minutes.

Take out, eat when cooled enough to not burn your mouth. Serve with soy sauce, hot sauce and/or sesame oil. Enjoy!

Note, when you are working with won ton skins they should be kept moist. So keep covered with a wet paper towel, or keep them in the package they came in as you take one at a time out. Do not take them all out, separate and then try to stuff - you will be upset that you just ruined a whole package :)