dim sum

Get some frozen from the Asian grocer. If you make the wrappers from scratch you will need to make sure they're cooked. The filling always cooks faster. Don't be fooled. :D

In general, steamed stuff can be held in the steamer for quite long.

What's your tentative menu and what do you need? I have a book in the pantry somewhere.

as a chinese/american raise on dim sum, stick to these basic fares otherwise you are in over your head.

Char siu (shu) Bao. a steamed (or baked) bun filled with chopped char siu pork blended with hoisin sauce. the bun is usually a dough made with plain white flour and water. look up: "man tao" for the roll recipe.

Ha gao. a steamed dumpling with a filling of chopped shrimp and thinly jiulienned bamboo shoots. you can get the bamboo shoots canned (which is the way most restaurants get it anyways) at asian markets. the wrapper is a translucent tapioca/rice paper (do not used the same type as vietnamese summer rolls).

siu (shu) mai. a steamed open faced dumpling using a a wrapper of won ton skin, a filling of ground pork and shrimp.

dan tat. or custard tart. this is a chinese adaptation of european fare. it's a basic sweet yellow custard that sets in a flaky pie crust. think mini custard pie.

spring rolls. you know what these are right?

go out to a authentic chinese restaurant (guaranteed to be in chinatown of your city) any morning and order yourself some of these items and try them for yourself so you know what the real deal tastes like.

I just noticed the location is Scotland. :D

is there no localized chinese community in scotland?

Adding to 9ballprodigy's list, those are the basics but there is much much more...

Pai Guat - pork spare ribs, stir fry with a little garlic, ginger, and black beans. This can be kept in the steamer.

Turng Fun - rice noodle rolls typically filled 1 of 3 ways, whole shrimp, ground beef seasoned with ginger and scallions then made almost paste consistency with corn starch, or char shiu (roast pork you'll find at chinese BBQ houses). Served with a little soy sauce over the top.

Clay pot rice - I'm hoping you can find mini-claypots around, cook some fragrant jasmine rice with some chinese sausages and, if you can find it, dried preserve duck or pork belly.

Lao Mai Gai - glutenous sticky shortgrain rice filled with ground pork, chinese sausages, shrimp, maybe a shitaki mushroom, all in the center and the whole thing wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed.

Wuo Guok - a mashed taro dumpling filled with ground pork, dried shrimp, chopped shitaki mushrooms, battered and deep fried.

Dang Dat - chinese version of creme brulee only without the carmalized sugar ontop and poured into bite sized pie shells

Dow Foo Fa - very soft hot tofu topped with ginger simple syrup.

If your feeling adventurous

Gar Lai Muk Yiu - curried cuddle fish

Yurn Dow Foo - A firm tofu stuffed with a minced seafood concoction from local chinese markets, lightly battered and deepfried. Serve with oyster sauce, watered down and thickened if needed.

Yurn Tai Gua - chinese eggplant done the same way as the Yurn Dow Foo but pan fried.

Pay Bah Gow - ground chinese radish made into almost like a custard with bits of finely chopped scallions, chinese sausage, preserved bacon or duck, small dried shrimp, steamed into a 2inch thick block. Serve squares of this or pan fry each square just to brown.

I don't know what Scotland's access to Asian ingredients is like or how big the Chinese community is and I hope I didn't go too overboard with authenticity. Dim sums a great past time of mine and most of these are my favorites. But just make sure you have lots of hot sauce and soy sauce, maybe some plum sauce, lots of jasmine tea, and try to find bamboo steamers to make it feel authentic.

Are you trying to make dim sum canapes, or are you making dim sum a course in the meal? As for canapes, I personally feel its quite easy to push them out as you can just steam/fry trays of stuff at a time and put have the servers walk around with them. The small size of the items usually means they don't take that long to cook. In my opinion the best dim sum canapes are ones that can be skewered with a toothpick or eaten with fingers. Very common ones such as har gau (shrimp in rice flour wrapper), siu mai, spring rolls, taro fritters, Ham sui gwok (glutinous rice flour deep fried dumplings), potstickers, egg tarts, are the most accessible items to a wide variety of tastes. If you are doing it as an appetizers you can be more liberal with it and incorporate dishes that require the use of chopsticks or other cutlery. Sticky rice steamed in lotus leaf is an item that usually pleases.

Finally, if you are not hung on Cantonese items you can also go a bit further with out of province items such as "Shanghainese" "soup dumplings" xiao long bau, scallion and oil "biscuit" (can be easily made with the stuff you find at a tesco's), peking-style duck or pork served on little crepes or buns with hoisin and scallions.

If they are Chinese, that means 6000 pieces of Dim Sum. :D

I have the book. ISBN 0-941676-24-2 published by the Wei Chuan Cultural Education Foundation.

Just kidding. :D I think you can get away with 12 pieces per person if there are other things, and with kids maybe even fewer than 12.

Soup Dumplings Rock

They are called Xiao Long Bao. They are steamed dumplings filled with pork or pork and crab, and they are filled with soup. They are incredible. Here is a recipe.