Hi, I am Chef Zara. In this post, I will guide you through the Dim Sum Cookbooks.
I love discovering new food and cooking with friends and family. One of the most common questions that I often get is for cookbook recommendations. I have created this guide for friends, family, and new friends alike. I hope that you enjoy our site.
Small Chinese Dishes 🥟
These books offer so much more than flavorful recipes. Many of the books include the rich history of dim sum dishes and fascinating looks into the authors’ lives, allowing the reader to better understand and connect with Chinese cultural traditions and the authors themselves.
Whether you have been cooking your own Chinese food for years or don’t know your way around a bamboo steamer, we hope this list has inspired you with a wide range of new cookbooks and recipes to try. These cookbooks contain mouthwatering recipes and helpful techniques to improve your cooking prowess and impress your friends and family. Dim sum is meant to be shared, after all.
List of the 10 Dim Sum Cookbooks you need to surprise everyone at home!
1. The Nom Wah Cookbook
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Recipes include bao, cakes, rice rolls, dumplings, and so much more. These recipes are perfect for helping you recreate delicious dim sum dishes. The book also contains stories of life in Chinatown, including his iconic restaurant’s origins and rich history. This is an enhanced read, going beyond recipes to engage the reader in an immersive cultural story.
In this masterful cookbook, restauranteur and former financial analyst, Wilson Tang delivers 75 incredible recipes from his restaurant, Nom Wah Tea Parlor (the oldest continuously running restaurant in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan), broken down for any skill-level home chef.
2. Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch
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This dim sum book has over 60 authentic recipes for classic Chinese cuisine, each with watercolor illustrations painted by the author. The pages are filled with easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for creating everything from Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai to Turnip Cake and many more traditional recipes.
Leong Blonder even includes a chapter called “The Role of Tea,” enabling readers to understand which tea to choose and how to brew it properly. In addition, there is a guide to which dishes can be prepared ahead of time and frozen to make cooking dim sum dishes even more straightforward.
3. Dumplings All Day Wong
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Dumplings are an essential part of dim sum dishes, and this cookbook delivers them in a big way. Author, Lee Ann Wong, breaks down the art of creating the perfect Chinese dumpling, from wontons to potstickers and everything in between.
In addition to explaining the dumpling folds and including the author’s creative fillings, this comprehensive guide also dives into various dumpling cooking techniques, from steaming to deep-frying. Dumplings All Day Wong combines traditional and modern techniques for a flavorful feast!
4. Dim Sum
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This cookbook is a classic guide for dim sum lovers. First published in 1977, Dim Sum is a beloved publication with rave reviews. It is perfect as a gift or a resource for yourself. The author, Rhoda Yee, includes 63 very authentic dim sum recipes, including many classic favorites and hard-to-find recipes.
Readers can look forward to Yee’s recipes for everything from Shrimp Turnovers to Barbecued Pork. The recipes are packaged easy to follow with photographs and illustrations, meaning even beginner chefs can find their way to traditional Chinese cooking that delights and satisfies.
5. The Essential Wok Cookbook
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This cookbook is a precious resource to lead you to a lifestyle of healthier and more affordable Chinese food. It all starts with one of the most essential kitchen tools for Chinese cooking: the wok. Author, Naomi Imatome-Yun, includes helpful step-by-step illustrations making her delicious Chinese-American recipes easy to follow for any home cook. Even better, there are thoughtful recipe labels to help you decide what to make, such as “30 minutes or less” and “under $10.”
This book goes beyond traditional dim sum and has plenty of the flavorful small bites you know and love. With recipes like Perfect Pot Stickers and Sweet Chili Shrimp, this book has no shortage of delicious dim sum dishes to take you on a flavor adventure.
6. The Dim Sum Dumpling Book
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This recipe book comes with a wide variety of dim sum dishes, including traditional favorites and modifications like vegetarian dumplings for vegetarian dim sum lovers. Chef Eileen Yin-Fei Lo even includes a range of dough recipes and dipping sauces to enhance the delicious Asian food even more.
With clear instructions for 75 recipes, from sweet pork buns to spring rolls, this book brings traditional Chinese cooking techniques to your kitchen in an accessible and delicious way.
7. Vegan Dim Sum
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For those who prefer meatless or plant-based eating, a little extra creativity is required to enjoy your favorite classic dishes. In this self-published release, Vegan Dim Sum, chef Christina Ng has done the work for you and shares over 50 dim sum recipes that are completely meat-free.
Ng also shares suggestions for a vegan pastry to make plant-based dim sum taste just like its traditional counterpart. She includes Steamed Tofu, Skin Rolls, Baked Vegetable Spring Rolls, and many more classic favorites. If you’re looking for a vegetarian or vegan dim sum cookbook rich in flavor and easy to read, this book definitely belongs on your shelf!
8. Yum Yum Cha: Let’s Eat Dim Sum in Hawaii
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Dim sum is also known as “yum cha” in Cantonese. It refers to having a meal of small dishes while drinking tea. Going for yum cha is popular among Chinese food lovers in Hawaii. To demonstrate this, authors Muriel Miura and Lynette Lo Tom have compiled more than 100 recipes to showcase the best things about it.
This exciting cookbook combines traditional restaurant favorites with dim sum recipes unique to Hawaii. In addition to steamed pork spare ribs and pork hash bites, you’ll also find vegetarian options like bean curd wraps and the most popular dim sum dessert, sweet custard tarts.
9. Damn Good Chinese Food
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In this authentic Chinese cookbook, you’ll find 50 recipes inspired by Author Chris Cheung’s life growing up in his Chinatown neighborhood. Because dim sum is focused on sharing several small plates, this book with various recipes is the perfect companion for your dim sum cooking adventures.
There are recipes for dumplings, soups, potstickers, and all-important dipping sauces. Cheung also enhances the reader’s experience by including beautiful photography and fascinating insight into the origins of each dish.
10. Dim Sum: A Pocket Guide
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While this isn’t exactly a cookbook, Dim Sum: A Pocket Guide is a handy guide for dim sum beginners. It includes 50 classic dim sum dishes to help you identify, understand, and order them at a Chinese restaurant.
If you’re new to dim sum, this guide (which is easy to slip into your purse or back pocket) will be your best friend. It helps eliminate confusion, overcome language barriers, and learn proper restaurant etiquette.
Final Thoughts
We hope you enjoyed our roundup of the top 10 Dim Sum cookbooks to help you bring authentic Chinese flavor right to your own kitchen, from the north to the south of China close to Nepal, from simply steamed pork buns to more adventurous chicken foot soup, there is no shortage of delicious, traditional recipes to level up your dim sum experience and bring the “Chinese tea house” tradition to your home.
Dim sum is a style of Chinese cuisine made up of small, bite-sized dishes, quick yet yummy breakfasts, and lunch boxes often served from a cart in bamboo steamer baskets. Dim sum dishes are usually steamed or fried, including everything from dumplings and rolls to cakes and tarts. Think of it like tapas, except with Asian food.
We’ve compiled the best dim sum cookbooks essential for the bookshelf of anyone looking to make high-quality and delicious Chinese food right in their own kitchen.
Dim Sum for life ❣
It is typically eaten for breakfast or brunch, but the traditional dim sum can also be enjoyed for lunch or dinner. There’s never a wrong time of day to enjoy this popular eating style with casual acquaintances or with the people you love. Whether you’re a beginner in the kitchen or Chinese cooking is second nature to you, these cookbooks are excellent resources for dim sum recipes. The pages are filled with easy-to-follow instructions and beautiful photography to help you capture the true essence of each dish.
These 10 dim sum cookbooks are full of flavor, so you can make an incredible dim sum meal that rivals any Chinese restaurant. Including recipes from shrimp dumplings to fried rice to pork buns and even some sweet treats, these cookbooks will help you create the perfect meal to share every time. Traditionally, dim sum is served with tea and is meant to be a shared meal. This way, you can try a little bit of everything, and everyone can get a true taste of the delectable cuisine. In Cantonese, “dim sum” literally translates to “touch the heart.” It’s more than a meal, really…dim sum is an experience.
If you have any other favorites we didn’t mention, or if you check out any of the cookbooks on our list, be sure to let us know in the comments below – we would love to hear from you! These dim sum cookbooks offer a wide variety of delicious recipes for traditional and re-imagined versions of this classic Chinese meal.
