Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American southwest, steam pits used for cooking have been found dating back about 5,000 years. Steaming is considered a healthy cooking technique that can be used for many kinds of foods.
Dim sum is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuisines. In the tenth century, when the city of Canton (Guangzhou) began to experience an increase in commercial travel, many frequented teahouses for small-portion meals with tea called "yum cha" or "tea" meals. "Yum cha" includes two related concepts. The first is "jat zung loeng gin", which translates literally as "one cup, two pieces". This refers to the custom of serving teahouse customers two delicately made food items, savory or sweet, to complement their tea. The second is dim sum, which translates literally to "touch the heart", the term used to designate the small food items that accompanied the tea drinking.
Yum cha is the Cantonese tradition of brunch involving Chinese tea and dim sum. The practice is popular in cantonese-speaking regions, including Guangdong province, Guangxi province, Hong Kong, and Macau. It is also carried out in other regions worldwide where there are overseas Cantonese communities. Yum cha generally involves small portions of steamed, pan-fried, or deep-fried dim sum dishes served in bamboo steamers, which are designed to be eaten communally and washed down with hot tea. People often go to yum cha in large groups for family gatherings and celebrations.
A sweetheart cake or wife cake or marriage pie is a traditional Chinese cake with a thin crust of flaky pastry, and made with a filling of winter melon, almond paste, and sesame, and spiced with five spice powder. "Wife cake" is the translation of lou po beng from Cantonese, and although the meaning is "wife", the literal translation is "old lady cake", paralleling the colloquial usage of "old lady" for "wife" in American English. In Hong Kong, it is known as a specialty of Yuen Long.
Carrot cake is cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter.
Chai tow kway is a common dish or dim sum of Teochew cuisine in Chaoshan, China. It is also popular in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam, consisting of stir-fried cubes of radish cake.
Canadian Chinese cuisine is a popular style of Canadian cooking original to take-out and dine-in eateries found across Canada. It was the first form of commercially available Chinese food in Canada. This cooking style was invented by early Cantonese immigrants who adapted traditional Chinese recipes to Western tastes and the available ingredients. This cuisine developed in a similar process to American Chinese cuisine.
Char siu bao is a Cantonese barbecue-pork-filled baozi (bun). The buns are filled with barbecue-flavored cha siu pork. They are served as a type of dim sum during yum cha and are sometimes sold in Chinese bakeries. Cha siu refers to the pork filling; the word bao means "bun".
Shumai is a type of traditional Chinese dumpling. In Cantonese cuisine, it is usually served as a dim sum snack. In addition to accompanying the Chinese diaspora, a variation of shumai also appears in Japan as and various southeast Asian countries.
Jiandui is a type of fried Chinese pastry made from glutinous rice flour. The pastry is coated with sesame seeds on the outside and is crisp and chewy. Inside the pastry is a large hollow, caused by the expansion of the dough. The hollow of the pastry is filled with a filling usually consisting of lotus paste, or alternatively sweet black bean paste, or red bean paste. They are also sometimes referred to as sesame balls.
Turnip cake is a Chinese dim sum dish. The less commonly used radish cake is a more accurate name, as Western-style turnips are not used in the dish but rather shredded radish and plain rice flour. It is traditionally called carrot cake in Singapore.
Taro dumpling is a variety of dim sum served within Chinese cuisine. It is a standard dish in dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong and around the world. Among overseas Chinatowns, it is often sold as a Chinese pastry. It is also known as taro croquette, deep fried taro dumpling, deep fried taro dumpling puff, or simply taro dumpling
Water chestnut cake is a sweet Cantonese dim sum dish made of shredded Chinese water chestnut. When served during dim sum, the cake is usually cut into square-shaped slices and pan-fried before serving. The cake is soft, but holds its shape after the frying. Sometimes the cake is made with chopped water chestnuts embedded into each square piece with the vegetable being visible. One of the main trademark characteristics of the dish is its translucent appearance.
Spring rolls are rolled appetizers or dim sum commonly found in Chinese and other Southeast Asian cuisines. The kind of wrapper, fillings, and cooking technique used, as well as the name, vary considerably within this large area, depending on the region's culture.
Wong's King Seafood Restaurant, or simply Wong's King, was a chain of Chinese/Cantonese and seafood restaurants in the Portland metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Oregon. In addition to the original restaurant in southeast Portland, the business operated in Beaverton, Estacada, and Sandy, specializing in dim sum.
HK Cafe is a Chinese restaurant in Portland, Oregon.
Ocean City Seafood Restaurant was a Chinese restaurant in Portland, Oregon.
