Dim Sum Party!

I absolutely love dim sum. It's a ton of fun. But you can't get vegan dim sum in Edmonton, so I've had to recreate my own. I had some friends over the other night, and we made a party of it! I took the pictures afterwards, so I didn't get pictures of everything. 


We started with hot and sour soup. It was really good. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture, because it went really fast! I used this recipe:

Hot and Sour Soup

8 cups vegetable broth

2 cups woodear mushrooms

1 can sliced water chestnuts

1 can bamboo shoots

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp hot sauce

3 tbsp vinegar

4 minced garlic cloves

dash of pepper

1 bunch of green onions

2 tbsp chili oil

Put everything together in a pot, except the green onions and chili oil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the green onions and simmer for another 3 minutes or so. Remove from heat and stir in the chili oil. 

We had sticky rice in lotus leaf. I was inspired by this recipe from Chow Vegan, though I used woodear mushrooms, corn, bamboo shoots and veggie dogs for my filling. I also didn't put any veggie oyster sauce in my sauce because I didn't have any. 

Next up, har gao, or shrimp dumplings. The ones pictured are not very translucent. We ate all the best ones before I took pictures. I used a recipe from VegSpinz. I had a HECK of a time with the flour, which you have to cook before using. I will definitely try the method she suggests next time. I used the method on the poorly translated package and it turned into a huge mess. Oh well - certainly a cooking adventure! 

Vegan Hao Gao

1 1/2 C. thawed, ground fake shrimp

1 tsp. fresh minced ginger

1-2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 C. chopped green onion (or chives)

1 T. ground flax seed, mixed with 1 T. warm water (to mimic an egg)

season with salt and white pepper to taste.

Mix filling ingredients in a food processor and set aside. Next, make dough. She suggests adding boiling water to the starch mix and mixing until a smooth dough forms - sounds much better than my stovetop method the package suggested. Roll about 1" of dough into a ball, then flatten. The dough is super sticky so you have to oil your surface to prevent sticking. I found using a rolling pin made the dough stick to the counter, so I flattened it by hand. The trick is to get the dough thin enough to be transparent when steamed but thick enough to not fall apart. As soon as the dough was flattened I picked it up and held it as I filled it. I found this a lot easier than trying to lift a filled dumpling. So once you're holding the dumpling, spoon filling into the center and fold and pinch to seal. Cook them for about 10 minutes in a steamer. You should have a soft, translucent dough. These were quite delicious, though a lot of work!

I also made spring rolls, with a recipe from The Asian Vegan Kitchen. I don't usually deep fry, but I figured this might be the right time to break out the deep fryer. Unfortunately I used fairly small wrappers, so there was only a single layer of wrapper on part of the spring roll, which tore when deep fried on the first batch. I decided to bake the rest so they wouldn't fall apart. Better for us, anyways. No picture - Dad ate the last one before I had a chance.

My favorite dish of the evening was the steamed buns. Soo good! My recipe is from the International Vegetarian Union. I used water chestnuts instead of bamboo shoots in the mushroom cashew filling. I've made these buns a couple times before and they are one of my favorite things. They're a decent amount of work (or at least pretty time consuming) so I don't make them as often as I'd like.

Bestest always loved dan tat, an egg custard tart, when we went to dim sum. I wasn't sure they could be veganized, but fortunately for me, VegSpinz had already done it! This recipe uses coconut oil in the tart shell and coconut cream for the custard. Yum! 

For dessert I made green tea ice cream. I LOVE green tea ice cream, but I've never seen a non-dairy version. Once again, I turned to The Asian Vegan Kitchen. The recipe uses silken tofu and matcha green tea. It's really easy to make, but has to be blended a couple times once it's been frozen for smoothness so it has to be made ahead. 

Overall, the night was a huge success! Everyone ate a ton. And of course had a ton of green tea.  It was the perfect pre-Christmas shin dig and a great opportunity to hang out with some friends. Unfortunately bestest's partner couldn't come, as he had a last minute family commitment come up. I sent home lots of left overs for him, though. :)