Yum cha from the Asian Grocery store

One of our favourite meals out is Yum Cha. I believe in the USA it's known as dim sum.

We like it because it's the sort of food we don't eat at home. It's a pretty inexpensive meal out overall but Chinatown yum cha definitely tastes better than suburban yum cha, at least in our part of town.

Today's solution was a trip to the Asian grocery store. For under $30 I got enough frozen and pre-made dumplings, spring rolls, pork buns etc to feed is for yum cha at home three times.

As you can see we fried some won tons and rice noodle rolls and steamed the rest. We already have an Asian steamer. these are available at all Asian grocery stores. They're also great if you want to steam fresh fish.

One of the things I like at yum cha is the simple Asian greens that are served with oyster sauce. So I batch of these as well. Greens lightly steamed, oyster sauce and sesame seed. So simple and so yummy.

This meal wasn't as fabulous as yum cha at The Regal or The Marigold but it was delicious and simple and inexpensive and something different. Now I have enough in the freezer that next time I won't even have to travel to the local shops.

Surprise pizza bites

Do you love Pinterest? I totally do.
It's such a fun way to wander through other people's homes and kitchens and thoughts even to see what people like.
When I first went on Pinterest I couldn't believe how many types of foods were being made in mason jars. You can now add to that food made in plastic cups for individual serves such as Mexican dip or individual desserts. This is such a great idea for parties - if you are a super patient person who is really going to go through and layer seven types of dip into fifty plastic cups and add corn chips or if you only have less than ten people at your parties. That idea rocks if that's the case.
Another idea that is popular which I love is the "cupcakes" in the won ton wrappers - taco cupcakes, lasagna cupcakes and tequila shrimp cupcakes. I totally love these for parties and look forward to making them.

Somewhere along the line I am pretty sure I saw pizza bites on Pinterest. Although I now can't find them there but here is a link:
http://annies-eats.com/2010/02/01/pizza-bites/

And I then saw this version which is what I tried to replicate today with a twist:
http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/archives/7195

However when I started to fill the bundt tin it became clear my dough wasn't going to stretch far enough so...we switched back to a pie plate but used a recipe closer to the 2nd one. Are you with me?

We like the following things on our pizza - ham, salami and mushroom. So I used baby bocconcinni which I halved and then we put either a piece of ham or salami or a quarter of a mushroom in the dough ball so each one is a surprise. Hence the name...

Surprise Pizza Bites
1 quantity pizza dough
6 mushrooms quartered
50g ham
50g salami
about 1/2 a tub or 100g baby bocconcinni
1 clove garlic crushed
50g butter melted.
Italian herbs (you could use dried basil or oregano instead)
Pasta sauce for dipping

1. Grease a pie plate with combined melted butter and garlic.
2. Take marble-sized dough balls, flatten then and then place salami/cheese, ham/cheese or mushroom/cheese inside. (You can see this is when my daughter and I were still on the bundt pan concept).

3.Pinch closed. Brush with butter and place in dish until done. Brush with extra butter and sprinkle with Italian herbs.

4. Let rise for 20-30 minutes while oven heats.
5. Bake in moderate oven about 30-40 minutes until golden.

6. Let sit 10 minutes and serve with warm pasta sauce for dipping.

Enjoy!