Learning How to Make Dim Sum!

Hi everyone!  Happy Friday!  Today, I'm changing things up from the norm and am going to post about a cuisine that I had the privilege of learning how to cook!

Before I dive into telling you all about my experience, let me give you some context.  If you remember this post, it was one in which I talked about my birthday.  One of the gifts I received was a certificate for a cooking class at a local culinary center.  Suffice it to say, the time from when I was given the certificate up to the time I actually did the cooking class was about 6 months.  There are two reasons for that:  a.)  Life was busy (ahem, school!) and b.) The classes get booked FAST.

There were various cooking classes I could choose from, but I ended up choosing to learn how to make dim sum.  Quick note:  dim sum is, in essence, Chinese appetizers.  The reason I wanted to make dim sum was that I partook of some amazing pork dumplings when in Oakland China town with my friend, Beth.   She's 1/8th Chinese, and even though I don't trust to her to open a bag of chocolate chips, I do trust her and her family to be able to scout out eateries that serve authentic Chinese food.  When I was looking into the cooking class wherein I would be taught to make dim sum, I saw that one of the appetizers I would learn how to make were those same pork dumplings I had in China town, so the deal was sealed and I decided to take that class!

So about a week and a half ago, my big sister, Allison and I grabbed our aprons (and I grabbed my camera of course) and headed over to the local culinary center to learn how to make dim sum!

There were about 10 other people taking the cooking class with us, which was the perfect amount!  Shortly after arriving, a chef cooked in front of us the dishes we would be making:  pork siu mei, five spice chicken steam buns, and Cantonese style noodles with vegetables.  It was neat getting to see an actual chef cooking in front of me and getting to ask questions as she cooked!

After the chef modeled the dishes to us, she split us into two groups of about 5 or 6 people each, sent us to wash our hands and put on our aprons, and led us to the kitchen!  I felt like we were on "Master Chef" because the chef designated a color to each team and gave each team a cooking space.  From there, we had to decide who would do what task on our team and work together to get the food cooking!  Confession:  I'm not naturally very good at meeting people, but even though I was cooking with complete strangers, I felt an intangible bond with them because I was surrounded by other foodies.

After the food was cooked, everyone sat down and some of the employees served us the food we made.  It was absolutely delicious 😋!  The pork siu mei was umami-rich and got a spicy kick when doused with a fiery, toasty, from-scratch dipping sauce.  The five spice chicken steam buns were amazing as well 😋!  The bun part of the buns was soft, fluffy, and slightly sweet while the chicken filling was tender and full of rich, curry flavor.  The Cantonese noodles were vibrant and got a saucy kick from the pork siu mei dipping sauce.  What made the noodles especially enjoyable is that they were not overly greasy like Americanized chow mein.

Overall, I had a great experience learning how to make dim sum!  I am looking forward to making those unique and scrumptious appetizers again and put my own spin on them 😋!  A big thank you to my big sister and her husband for giving me the cooking class certificate 😊.

That's all for now.  Don't forget to follow me on Instagram.  I look forward to posting again on Monday 😊!