{{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.<ref name="ABC 2016"/> It was popularised in the 1940s by William Chen Wing Young, a Chinese Australian born in Wahgunyah, Victoria in 1896, whose family originally came from Guangdong, and the father of Australian celebrity chef, author and TV personality Elizabeth Chong.<ref name="ABC 2016"/> The name derives from the pronunciation ''diim syiim'' (點心) in Toisanese,{{cn|date=August 2025|reason=點心 is pronounced /iam⁵⁵ ɬim³³/ in Hoisanese, which is quite different from the pronunciation given.}} 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.<ref>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</ref> 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.<ref name="onlymelb">{{cite web| title = Dim Sims | work = Only Melbourne | url = http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=10530 | access-date = 2008-06-25}}</ref> They are primarily sold in fish-and-chip shops,<ref name="ABC 2016">{{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}}</ref> 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.
<gallery mode="packed" widths="160px" heights="160px> Fast food dim sum and soy sauce.jpg|A fried dim sim (South Melbourne style) with soy sauce Steamed dim sims.jpg|Steamed dim sim Steamed Dim Sim.jpg|Steamed dim sim </gallery>
The term ''dim sim'' dates as far back as 1928,<ref>{{cite web |author= James Lambert |title= Australian National Dictionary Centre |work=Additions to the Australian lexicographical record III |url= http://andc.anu.edu.au/australian-words/lambert-additions-corrections/third |access-date= 2014-03-12 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140301182256/http://andc.anu.edu.au/australian-words/lambert-additions-corrections/third |archive-date = 2014-03-01}}</ref> although the modern recipe of the dish most likely was developed in Melbourne's Chinatown in 1945 by entrepreneur William Chen Wing Young for his food processing company Wing Lee.<ref name="Radio National 2013">{{cite web | title=Historyonics: the Dim Sim | website=Radio National | date=June 12, 2013 | url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/drive/historyonics3a-the-dim-sim/4749630 | access-date=November 5, 2016}}</ref><ref name="onlymelb"/> The larger, globular version of the dish is commonly known as a "South Melbourne dim sim" due to it originating at South Melbourne Market.
==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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Myf Warhurst's Nice |url=https://www.abc.net.au/tv/nice/episodes/ep02.htm/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161102103434/https://www.abc.net.au/tv/nice/episodes/ep02.htm/ |archive-date=2016-11-02 |access-date=2013-11-12 |work=ABC}}</ref>
== See also == * Dim sum * Australian Chinese cuisine * Chinese restaurants in Australia
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Dumplings}}
Category:Australian snack foods Category:Dumplings Category:Chinese-Australian culture Category:Australian Chinese cuisine Category:Cuisine of Victoria (state) Category:Culture of Australia