Dim sim
{{Short description|Chinese snack originating from Australia}}
{{distinguish|Dim sum}}
__NOTOC__
{{Infobox prepared food
| name = Dim sim
| image = Fried and steamed dim sim (cropped).jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Fried and steamed dim sim
| country = Australia
| region =
| creator =
| course = Appetiser or snack
| type = Dumpling
| served = Hot
| main_ingredient = Meat, cabbage
| variations = Vegetarian (assorted fillings)
| calories =
| other =
}}
A dim sim is a Chinese-inspired meat and vegetable dumpling-style snack food, popular in Australia and to a lesser extent in New Zealand {{cn|date=June 2025}}. It was popularized in the 1940s, by William Chen Wing Young, a Chinese immigrant in Melbourne who originally came from Guangdong, and the father of Australian celebrity chef, author and TV personality Elizabeth Chong. The name derives from the pronunciation diim syiim (點心) in Toisanese, the predominant dialect spoken at the time by Central Melbourne's Chinese community.
Description
The commercial snack food normally consists of minced meat, cabbage, and seasoning, encased in a wrapper similar to that of a traditional siu mai dumpling.Maggie Hiufu Wong, [https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/dim-sim-chinese-australian-dumpling-cmd/index.html 'What's a dim sim? How an oversized dumpling became an Australian food icon,'] CNN News 3 August 2021 They are typically cylindrical, or sometimes a larger, globular shape. They can be steamed or deep fried, and are commonly dressed or dipped in soy sauce, tomato sauce or sweet chilli sauce. An alternative way of cooking dim sims is to barbecue them, by cutting the dim sim in half lengthwise and placing on a hot barbecue. A barbecued dim sim is known as a "Moe Crayfish", "Cray" or "Oyster" after the Victorian township of Moe. Vegetarian dim sims normally contain cabbage, carrot, vermicelli, Chinese shiitake mushrooms or other vegetable fillings, along with seasoning, although these are not generally available in commercial outlets.
Dim sims differ from typical Chinese dumplings in that they are often much larger, have a thicker, doughier skin and are shaped more robustly.{{cite web| title = Dim Sims
| work = Only Melbourne
| url = http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=10530
| access-date = 2008-06-25}}
They are primarily sold in fish and chip shops,{{cite web | title=Dim sims: The history of a Chinese-Australian icon | website=ABC News | date=February 8, 2016 | url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-08/dim-sim-invention-a-story-of-chinese-australian-history/7148450 | access-date=November 5, 2016}} service stations, corner shops, and some Chinese restaurants and takeaway outlets in Australia. Supermarkets, some Chinese yum cha wholesale outlets and Asian frozen food companies also commonly sell this snack frozen for home cooking. They can also be found at Chinese food outlets in New Zealand.
Original recipe
William Wing Young's "original recipe" for the dim sim was presented by Elizabeth Chong on the second episode of the ABC1 TV show Myf Warhurst's Nice (20 June 2012). It consisted of pork, prawns, water chestnuts, spring onions, and soy sauce wrapped in a soft skin-like wrapper.{{cite web| title = Myf Warhurst's Nice | work = Episode 2 - Nice and Tasty | url = http://www.abc.net.au/tv/nice/episodes/ep02.htm | access-date = 2013-11-12}}