The Year of the Tiger begins Tuesday and if you prefer to celebrate Chinese New Year at home, a new dim sum cookbook can help you make the same dishes you typically order in restaurants.
“Yum Yum Cha: Let’s Eat Dim Sum in Hawaiʻi” features more than 100 recipes collected by local authors Muriel Miura and Lynette Lo Tom.
Lo Tom says all dim sum is made based on three decisions: what filling you want, what covering you have, and how you’re going to cook it.
She says the recipes are very easy to make and give you the freedom to change things up.
"Sometimes you cook the same things and you just can look at a book and go, let me try that. And if you like the taste, it's good. But I have learned that food is so personal," she said. "So some people will tell me oh Lynette, I hated that recipe and I'll say I'm so sorry. That's my favorite. Because food is you know, just very, it's up to your taste."
"I just think recipes are a guide. And then you just make it how you like it, you know, and write down how you change the recipe."
Lo Tom finished the cookbook after it was initially started by Miura, who died on Nov. 7, 2020.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Jan. 31, 2022. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
