A Dim Sum Sunday

"The Sum Never Dims On The Chinese Empire."

Not Our Dim Sum, but Singapore's Best

Two visits in the past seven months to Jing Teng, a dim sum restaurant in Mexico City, animated Doña Cuevas and me to plan a dim sum luncheon at home.

Sra. Cuevas and I invited a total of six guests to attend. Nancy volunteered to make Wonton Soup, Ms. RedShoes was to bring a salad of mixed, organic greens from her garden, Geni and Larry brought nibbling food of seasoned peanuts and fava beans, and Ron, made a sorbet/iced Mandarin Orange soup.

I was delighted to organize the meal, as well as making Char Siu from scratch, uncovering recipes for scallion cakes, bao dough and two bao fillings.

Preparations
My first step was to go to our favorite carnicería in Pátzcuaro, La Sin Rival. On a Friday the week before the slated Sunday lunch, I had a long and detailed discussion with the son of the owner in regard to which cut of pork would work best. We decided on panceta, unsmoked bacon, better known as belly pork. I was emphatically assured that they would have it for me on the following Wednesday. I needed this meat several days in advance of the Sunday meal, as it must first be marinated, then roasted, and then chopped and stir fried with other ingredients for the filling.

Wednesday came, and the meat was not ready. I was told that it would be in on Thursday. Thursday came, and it was still not ready. I was tired and more than a little annoyed. I'd just come from the Pátzcuaro Mercado, where Carnicería La Norteña had had exactly what I needed. But I was reluctant to walk back to the Mercado, and sat down in the cafetería next door to La Sin Rival with dimming hope that son and father could obtain the promised cut of pork. After waiting 15 minutes, I was steaming. But then, Papá appeared on his motor bike with a bag. The pork was in the bag. My buns were saved!

Panceta (belly pork) and a few marinade ingredients
DC photo

Early Friday morning, I mixed the marinade for the char siu  and thawed a whole boneless, chicken breast for the other bao filling.
This is the recipe, from NoRecipes.com I used for the cha siu, with a few personalized changes, of course.

Marinated pork strips are double bagged.
DC photo

This was then refrigerated for 24 hours.

On Saturday, I slow roasted the pork strips for 1 1/2 hours. They came out irresistibly savory and fragrant. I used two strips for bao filling, about a pound each, and froze two more.

Marinated Pork Strips Before Roasting
DC photo

Marinated Pork After Slow Roasting 1 1/2 hours
DC photo

Small samples (L), were taken for testing and quality control.
DC photo

Early Sunday morning, I chopped the char siu and made the bao filling. I gussied it up by adding some diced bamboo shoots and special condiment sauces.

Dicing the Char Siu.
DC photo

I also made the Chicken—Shiitake Bao filling.

DC photo

A hard working cook must eat, so I took some diced cooked chicken breast, sliced ginger, a little rice and some ready to use Kirkland Organic Chicken Broth and made Chicken Congee. Congee is a slowly cooked rice gruel, with zesty condiments added to taste by the eater.

(The congee was not part of the dim sum meal.)

Cook's breakfast: Chicken Congee; mezcal de pechuga to the right.
DC photo

I sliced a boatload of scallions (Really, the smallest cebollitas I could find) for scallion cakes or other uses.)

Scallions are used in much of dim sum cookery.
G. Certain photo 

Several cups of scallions were used in the opener course of Scallion Cakes.

Hot Scallion Cakes. G. Certain photo
Details of the making of scallion cakes can be viewed here.

Next came the preparation of the bao doughs, containing both yeast and baking powder, as well as powdered milk. The recipe worked very well.

Meanwhile, Nancy and Mark arrived. Nancy and her helpers set up a won ton manufactory line on our ample kitchen counter.

Each won ton packet begins with a single step. This is the first.
G. Certain photo 

Wonton wrapping, step two.
G. Certain photo 

The ranks of the Peoples' Won Tons rally for the march!
G. Certain photo 

Won-ton-a-mera!
Soup by Nancy.
G. Certain photo 

The first courses, after the spicy nuts and nibbles, were the beautiful, home raised salad of Ms RedShoes and Nancy's Won Ton Soup.

Ms RedShoes' Organic Salad.
G. Certain photo 

Sayings of Chairman Bao
When the bao doughs were risen and punched and divided, bao stuffing and forming began. It had been so many years since Doña Cuevas and I had made these, that we'd forgotten how to do the fancy pleating of the wrappers. But we did the best we could. In the end, our guests were replete with bao.

Doña Cuevas stuffs chicken-shiitake bao

People's Regional Consolidated Bao Production Center

Esteemed buns, chicken shiitake. Take a bao.

Cha Siu Bao (roast pork stuffed buns).

Steamer baskets of hot bao go to the table.
G. Certain photo 

Guests get their wonton rations

Carnage, post comida.
G. Certain photo 

Ron's Sopa Fría de Mandarinas was a refreshing dessert
G. Certain photo 

I'd made some Chinese Almond Cookies.
G. Certain photo 

and some ginger snap cookies. G. Certain photo

It was a great experience, but one unlikely to be reprised in all of its complexity. I would make perhaps one dim sum dish, but not all.
Thanks to all who attended and participated.

(Promises, like bao, are often broken.)

I forgot to mention a Spicy Cucumber Salad I'd made. The recipe, in Virginia Lee's and Craig Claiborne's The Chinese Cookbook, was overly complicated, but I devised a simplified and very good version.