A Brief History of the Dim Sim
It was through thrifty invention and a dose of lady luck we were gifted with the golden nugget we know and love as the fried dim sim.
Chinese Chef William Chen Wing Young invented the dimmy in the 1940s. Willy’s original recipe fused the mystery of twice-minced pork, prawns, water chestnuts, spring onions and the black salty tongue titillator - soy sauce - and wrapped it in a custom dumpling pyjama.
Initially, these soggy pork pearls were steamed and only sold in Willy’s Chinese cafe in Melbourne, Victoria. However, the crunchy cabbage rock we adore today came about by pure coincidence:
William’s son, Tom, was working with his father at the time.
Tom caught up with his mate, Joe,
the local Fish ‘n’ Chip shop owner.
Fangin’ for lunch, Tom busted out a box of his Dad’s dimmies.
Joe didn’t have a steamer, so they bunged
the dimmies in the deep fryer.
And the Fried Dim Sim, an Australian icon, was born!
