Dim sums: From teahouse to tandoor

- Tarun Kapoor is executive chef at Doha’s Horizon Manor Hotel. Send your feedback to: exe.chef@horizonmanor.comThe teahouses as they are called are not only a place for tea lovers. A teahouse is a small roadside eatery that serves bottomless Chinese flavoured tea with some dim sums for the common people. I can compare the concept of dim sums and tea with that of Spanish tapas served with beverages.Dim sums originated in the canton region of China and were particularly popular among the masses due to their ease of preparation, taste, and their flavourful fillings, service style and of course the cost involved. You can call it a nice overall economical meal for the common man. Eventually as the tea houses grew in numbers and became popular, they turned into a hangout place for friends, and people of all age groups and economic status started to spend their time in those places. Now it’s like a family ritual to spend time at least once a week at tea houses. The food comes in small steam table trolleys stacked with bamboo steamer baskets and are moved from one table to another in the eatery. It is difficult to notice in the hustle and bustle of a Chinese tea house but there is an order on how dim sums are served — lighter steamed dishes come first followed by exotic and expensive items and then deep fried items and desserts in the last. The service is fast and easy and you are billed when you leave. Dim sum, the star of a Chinese tea house, 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. You will be amazed by the number of shapes dim sums can be made in. A dim sum maker is a specialised job that requires delicate fingers and a lot of practice and patience to mould and shape each dim sum into attractive shapes. The next step is to steam or fry the dim sum which is easy. I love to experiment with the food that I prepare and always try to mix and match ingredients from one cuisine with another. The below mentioned recipe is one such example where I have combined the dim sum with tandoori cuisine and have created a dish with the goodness of a dim sum with flavourful tandoori taste.  Tandoori Dim SumsIngredientsServes    4For doughFlour 250 gmSalt to tasteHot water ¾ cupFor fillingChicken mince 2 cupsOnion    2 noGarlic    3-4 clovesOil 1 tbspSesame oil 3-5 dropsOyster sauce 1 tspCoriander leaves few sprigsSalt to tasteFor the tandoori marinadeGinger paste 2 tbspGarlic paste 2 tbspLemon juice 1 tbspMustard oil 3 tbspYellow chili 1 tbspHung yoghurt 1 cupCoriander powder 1 tspCumin powder ½ tspSalt to tasteMint powder ½ tspChat masala 1 tspFor spicy tomato sauceRipe tomato 2 noRed chili fresh 3 noGarlic    4 noCumin powder ½ tspCoriander leaves ½ bunchesLime juice 2 tspSalt to tasteMethodMake stiff dough with flour, salt and water and keep aside covered with damp cloth for an hour.Sauté onions and garlic in a pan and add the remaining ingredients. Continue cooking till the chicken is cooked and keep this filling aside.For the sauce blanch the tomato, peel and deseed.Chop finely and mix with chopped red chili, garlic, cumin and coriander leaves.Add lime juice and blend to a smooth paste and adjust the seasoning.For the tandoori marinade, combine ginger, garlic paste, lemon juice, mustard oil, hung yoghurt, coriander powder, cumin powder, salt to a smooth thick paste and keep aside. Divide the prepared dough into 24 equal parts and roll each part into flat, thin circular discs. Place adequate filling in the centre and shape the dim sum in the desired shape.You can also use readymade wonton sheets for this to make things easier for yourself.Steam in a steamer for 10 minutes and allow to stand for five minutes outside to cool down.Marinate the dim sums in the prepared marinade and arrange on skewer and roast in tandoor for 5- 8 minutes.Once the marinade is dry and turns a little brown, remove from skewers and serve hot with the prepared sauce.a