In Asian cuisine, steaming is a traditional cooking method. You can see that when you walk into an Asian deli. Ask them about all the dishes you can steam. The possibilities are endless. From frozen to fresh, from snack to dessert.
In the freezer, you will find by far the most products that you can steam. Take the wide range of ready-made dumplings, for example.
Dumpling is a collective name for a small snack made with dough, which may be filled or unfilled.
Dumplings can be boiled, steamed or fried. They can consist of a thin sheet of dough with a filling. The filling may be savoury or sweet. But a filled, steamed snack made of bread or potato dough is also called a dumpling.
In soup or deep fried, this dumpling is often called a wonton.
Dim sum is the name for a lunch or light meal featuring a selection of different dumplings, enjoyed by gatherings of family and friends. Not surprising that in Dutch, there’s a verb for it, ‘dimsummen’.
The Chinese deli thinks about consumer convenience too. In the freezer, you will find a wide range of ready to cook dumpling dough. With a mix of prawns, mushrooms, ginger, spring onions and a little egg to bind it, a dumpling is a quick and easy snack. Use water to seal the dough.
You steam them in around 15 minutes. Place the dumplings on a piece of greased (with a little oil) baking paper, not too close to each other.
You can also fry them in a little oil for 5 to 7 minutes.Serve dumplings with an oriental sauce of soy sauce, sesame oil, spring onion, ginger syrup and lemon juice.
And now that crash course in eating with chopsticks...