024: Dim Sum Dinner
Sit back & enjoy, it’s a long one.
Hello! Welcome back to Ceremonial — I’m so glad you’re here. Before jumping in I wanted to say thanks to everyone who’s been keeping up. We hit a whole 300 subscribers this week which is incredibly meaningful to me. With that said, I wanted to open up the option for leaving donations. These will help jumpstart dreams of physical newsletters and the much anticipated line of merch. So, if you’ve been loving Ceremonial and want to see her grow, please click the link below if you feel led!
One of my favorite parts of cooking is curating the menu. Even if the menu is simply my meal plan for the week, I find great satisfaction in it. The whole idea of “what’s in season right now?” mixed with “what do we have?” and “what are our needs for the week?” is what keeps my wheels turning. As each dish falls into place, my puzzle completes itself. I observe my masterpiece with gratitude.
But what I love even more is the opportunity to curate big menus for special dinners. This week it was Dim Sum. Dim Sum is a meal made up of small dishes, traditionally served at lunch and enjoyed with tea. My love for Dim Sum sprouted in 2019 when visiting the beloved Kings Co. Imperial in NY when I ate my first soup dumpling. Since then I’ve tried my hand at making Dim Sum dishes of my own, this time combining them into one lovely, large, snacky family dinner.
I preface with saying, I’ve done my best to celebrate and enjoy a culture (through food) that is not my own. I’m thankful to be able to taste the history of different parts of the world through my own kitchen. I hope you do too.
Pork Dumplings
We know them, we love them: pan fried pork dumplings. This is the moment I’ll tell you this dish is best made with loved ones. It’s a team effort, the perfect opportunity to play music and enjoy a communal kitchen. We aren’t rushing here, we are enjoying time well spent with the delicious outcome of toasty steamed pockets of joy paired with the perfect dumpling dipping sauce. Slow down and have fun.
Chicken Bao Buns
Inspired by our local Chick’n & Mi restaurant, we have the chicken bao bun. If you aren’t familiar with making your own doughs, I can see how this would look intimidating. But you CAN do it, just watch this video on how (starting at 1:40 & watching until he finishes explaining the buns). If you follow the directions, I believe this to be a foolproof recipe. Stuff the buns with last newsletter’s sesame chicken recipe and top with a quick pickled onion, just thank me later.
Cheese & Chive Wontons
Much requested by Josiah, the ultimate snack: cream cheese and chive stuffed fried wontons with sweet & sour dipping sauce. They’re pretty straight forward and closely mimic the method of the pork dumplings but are deep fried in oil — YUM. I honestly would double the filling next time because it simply did not make enough, they went so fast.
Scallion Pancakes
This dish ended up being the crowd favorite. I have written out the recipe with minor adaptations from the original author but I highly recommend watching her youtube video explaining how to make it. The visuals greatly help with comprehension. My two mistakes (kind of) were that I wish I had rolled the dough thinner before cooking & that I forgot to do her little fluffing motion while cooking to maximize flakiness. Next time.
Honorable Mentions:
Unfortunately, we didn’t get any photos of the last two dishes. Everyone arrived for dinner, things started making their way to the table, and we were HUNGRY. So, let me just say, the duck wings were a gift from Slaughter Family Farms and a direct quote from my mom states that “this is the best duck I’ve ever had”. The ginger salad makes its reappearance from newsletter 03. I’ll link the recipes below.
- Twice Cooked Five Spice Marinated Duck Wings
- Ginger Salad Of Newsletter Past
In Other News…
Here pretty soon I’ll be announcing the date for our Fall Ice Cream Drop. So be watching out for that and let me know if there are any seasonally-inspired flavors you’re hoping to see!
Lastly, after mentioning my love for weekly menus, I thought I’d throw in one of my old segments showing how I mapped out our week of food.
I hope you eat something good today.
Amelia
Yay for 300!! And yay for dim sum! 😍
300 r u kidding me !!!!