Who hasn’t spent a lazy afternoon in their favourite Chinese restaurant, sipping tea and feasting on the innumerable assortment of delicacies that make up Chinese dim sum? Literally meaning “to touch your heart”, dim sum consists of a variety of dumplings, steamed dishes and other goodies.
They are similar to hors d’oeuvres, the hot and cold delicacies served at French restaurants. Dim sum is usually linked with the tradition from yum cha (tea tasting), which has its roots in travellers on the ancient Silk Road needing a place to rest.
Thus teahouses were established along the roadside. Rural farmers, exhausted after working hard in the fields, would go to teahouses for a relaxing afternoon of tea. At first, it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food, because people believed it would lead to excessive weight gain. People later discovered that tea can aid in digestion, so teahouse owners began adding various snacks.
Dim sum refers to a style of Cantonese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. Dim sum is also well known for the unique way it is served in some restaurants, wherein fully cooked and ready-to-serve dim sum dishes are carted around the restaurant for customers to choose their orders while seated at their tables.
A dim sum would ideally contain a filling wrapped in a flour wrap steamed or fried and served hot with tangy spicy dip. The fillings may vary depending on the region and preference. The name of the dim sum comes from its unique shape.
Chicken dim sums
Ingredients
(Serves 4)
For dough
Flour 250g
Salt to taste
Hot water ¾ cup
For filling
Chicken mince 2 cups
Onion 2 no
Garlic 3-4 cloves
Oil 1 tbsp
Sesame oil 3-5 drops
Oyster sauce 1 tsp
Coriander leaves few sprigs
Salt to taste
For coriander salsa
Ripe tomato 2 no
Red chilli fresh 3 no
Garlic 4 no
Cumin powder ½ tsp
Coriander leaves ½ bunch
Lime juice 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Method
1. Make a stiff dough with flour, salt and water and keep aside covered with damp cloth for an hour.
2. Sauté onions and garlic in a pan and add the remaining ingredients.
3. Continue to cook till chicken is cooked and keep this filling aside.
4. For the coriander chilli salsa blanch the tomato, peel and deseed.
5. Chop finely and mix with chopped red chilli, garlic, cumin and coriander leaves.
6. Add lime juice and adjust the seasoning.
7. You can also blend this to get a much smother salsa dip if you like smooth dip.
8. Divide the dough into 24 equal parts and roll each part into flat circular discs.
9. Place adequate filling in the centre and shape the dim sum in the desired shape.
10. You can also use readymade wonton sheets for this.
11. Steam in a steamer for 12- 15 minutes and serve hot with coriander chilli salsa.
Double barrel sandwich
Kebabs are a wide variety of skewered meals found worldwide that originated in the Middle East, and later were adopted in the Balkans, the Caucasus, other parts of Europe, as well as Central and South Asia.
In English, kebab generally refers more specifically to shish kebab cooked on a skewer. In the Middle East, however, kebab refers to meat that is cooked over or next to flames, large or small cuts of meat, or even ground meat, it may be served on plates, in sandwiches, or in bowls.
One such kebab is seekh kebab which is a minced lamb meat kebab cooked on seekh (skewer) over open fire or in oven. To make the kebabs more mobile and easy to consume while on the go or without involving any cutlery they are also wrapped in bread and then are commonly known as shawarma or sandwich.
Usually shawarma is made by two ways — the more popular one is to cook the meat on a skewer and rotate this skewer near a fire or a heat source and secondly the marinated meat is cooked on hot plate or charcoal BBQ and served wrapped in bread. This double barrel sandwich is dish which is a real delight for the meat lovers and tastes good also.
Ingredients
(Serves 2)
For kebab
Lamb mince 250 gm
Ginger paste 1 tsp
Garlic 2-3 cloves
Green chilli 1 no
Coriander powder ½ tsp
Cumin powder ½ tsp
Egg 1 no
Garam masala 1 pinch
Onion 1 no
Parsley 2-3 sprigs
Coriander leaves 2-3 sprigs
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
For sandwich
Pita bread 2 no
Lettuce 1 bunch
Gherkins 50g
Butter 2 tbsp
Method
1. Blend ginger, garlic, chili, coriander, cumin, egg, parsley, coriander and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan and sauté onion till translucent.
3. Add the onions and the prepared marinate to lamb mince and adjust the seasoning.
4. Allow to rest for 1 hour and roll on 4 skewers and cook over medium heat in oven or open charcoal fire.
5. Baste kebab with butter so avoid drying up.
6. Once the kebab is ready remove from skewer and place two kebabs on pita.
7. Add some lettuce and sliced gherkins on the kebab.
8. Roll each end of the pita towards centre with kebab to form a roll with two kebabs.
9. Serve hot with choice of salad your double barrel sandwich.
