Quick & Easy Dim Sum Appetizers and Light Meals [Paperback]

Judy Lew (Author)

Book Description

Series: Quick & Easy | Publication Date: November 1, 2007

Dim Sum and other types of small dishes continue to be one of our hottest culinary trends. These tasty little treats--from dumplings and spring rolls to buns, noodles and mini cakes--allow diners to sample a wide variety of dishes as a snack or a full meal.

Now, Judy Lew, author of the two bestselling books in the Quick & Easy series, shows readers that Dim Sum are not only fun to eat--they're fun and simple to prepare and serve as well. Lew begins with Basic Hints (if the formation of a dumpling seems difficult at first, try to shape it in an easier style, it will taste just as delicious) and Preparations (Basic Bun Dough); then goes on to offer 50 individual recipes, grouped according to type: Buns-Rolls, Black Bean Sauce Variations, Siu Mai Spring Rolls, Seafood, Meat, Rice-Noodles and Confectionary. She also covers essentials like how to make sweet and sour sauce, using a wok, steaming rice, making soup stock and preparing tea. The volume concludes with sections on menu planning, cooking methods, utensils and a glossary.

Dim Sum Appetizers and Light Meals has been designed and packaged in the immediately-recognizable and user-friendly format of the Quick & Easy series. Each recipe is accompanied by a vivid color photograph of the finished dish, as well as photos showing ingredients and each step of the preparation.

With its emphasis on simple, fresh seasonal ingredients, Quick & Easy Dim Sum Appetizers and Light Meals will appeal to cooks at all levels of experience who want to produce delicious meals for casual family dining or festive occasions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The aim of this book is to present the essential process and technique for making Dim Sum. Use this book as a guide and try to create your own delicious Dim Sum with which to enhance your party menus. -- Book Description --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

JUDY LEW is the author of Quick & Easy Enjoy Chinese Cuisine, currently the bestselling book in the series; and the co-author of Quick & Easy Thai Cuisine, overall the top-seller. She was born in China and now lives in Seattle, where she is the Director of the Uwajimaya Cooking School. She is well-known for her cooking classes and her appearances on local radio and television programs. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and has been featured in Bon Appetit magazine. She frequently travels to Asia to do research and to ensure the authenticity of her recipes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: Japan Publications Trading (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4889962263
• ISBN-13: 978-4889962260
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #481,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this excellent, full-color guide to dim sum, November 16, 2006

By 

Gen of North Coast Gardening (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Dim Sum Appetizers and Light Meals: Quick & Easy (Hardcover)

I was so impressed with this book's layout and recipes. Each page is in full color, and every recipe has photos of what the ingredients look like, what each step of the process looks like, and what the finished product looks like, including garnishes and attractive presentation.

For example, for Egg Rolls, she first has a large photo of the finished product, then the ingredients list and photos of everything used. Then there are photos of the eight steps used in making the egg rolls, from making the batter of the wrapper to making the filling, how to roll them so they look nice and stay closed, and then finally a picture of how she fries them in the wok, with a neat wire attachment on the wok which holds the egg rolls just after you remove them from the oil.

In many books of ethnic cooking, the descriptions are accompanied by illustrations or maybe one photo. So if I have never heard of a tool or ingredient before, I have to look it up or ask someone, which often discourages me from trying something new on the fly. This book is arranged so that anyone can make dim sum meals with readily available supermarket ingredients, even if you have never tried anything like that before.

I am very, very impressed with the layout and multiple full color photos on every single page. I have tried two recipes so far and have enjoyed them both very much, so it gets high marks there, too.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book with good recipes, August 23, 2010

By 

Ali - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quick & Easy Dim Sum Appetizers and Light Meals (Paperback)

This cookbook has a lot of great recipes in it- all with step by step pictures (for those of us who are unsure as to how something fairly foreign to us is supposed to look after it's cooked: ie I can see how the pics on preparing a squid could be beneficial). I decided to make at least one recipe before I rated this book, so I cooked up the sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf recipe- I can't quit eating it! I had a couple of friends come over to try it and they absolutely loved it. My husband commented that it was just like what we had in an Asian tea house.
There is also a food/cooking item index with descriptions, uses, and some cooking methods of various ingredients that are used in many of the recipes.
Overall, if you really want to cook up authentic Asian food then this book is great for guiding you through the process! You may have to go to an Asian market to get some of the ingredients for some of the recipes, but from what I saw many of the ingredients can be bought in the international aisles at the local grocery stores.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice little book, October 14, 2010

By 

C. J. Thompson "Arctic John" (Pond Inlet, Nunavut Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quick & Easy Dim Sum Appetizers and Light Meals (Paperback)

I didn't notice that this book was one of the 'Quick and Easy' publications before I bought it. Had I done so I would have had even more reason to go ahead with the purchase as the series is really quite good.

Some of the Dim Sum dishes presented are a bit unexpected but I suppose that that may be partly explained by the fact that the book is published in Japan. I don't mean that as a negative criticism by any means because some of the non-standard entries look really interesting. It was obvious, though, that the author was open to experiment a bit beyond the usual Dim Sum fare.

Like other books in this series, there are nice photographs of each finished dish as well as plenty of step-by-step instructional pictures. I personally would have preferred more Dim Sum snacks and done without the 'Light Meal' recipes, but that didn't really affect my enjoyment of the book as a whole.