A bonus episode recorded at the Dumpling Summit at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.
SFX CROWD
TP: It was a full house at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 earlier this spring for a celebration of a tasty treat that has captivated cultures throughout the world for hundreds of years…
And as well launched this season’s food-themed line-up of shows for the Countless Journeys podcast.
The Dumpling Summit brought together five local Halifax chefs in early May to kick off celebrations of Asian Heritage Month.
1:23
PW: Dumpling is a, a major, major part of our diet.
TP: Patrick Wong immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in 1974. He opened The Great Wall restaurant in 1984, which has become a landmark over the years, serving up several types of dumplings to its devoted clientele.
1:42
PW: Some make it with soup, some steam it, some pan fry them.
Personally, I like dumpling Pan fried because the pan fried it gives that nice little kind of sugary, burnt almost.
TP: Patrick has seen tastes change over the years, as the demand grew for dumpling-inspired pot stickers and wontons.
3:44
PW: Well, over the year, I see Haligonians - their eating habits change quite a bit.
4:36
And pot sticker is another thing. People, they never order them before and we didn't put it on the menu when we first started and then we put on it and people come in.
First thing “I want a pot sticker instead of eggroll.”
Remember eggroll was a must. Also wonton soup.
TP: And the wonton is a dumpling of a sort.
PW: Yeah. Wonton is a part of the dumpling, actually. Wonton - they have a northern region of dumpling , and a southern region of dumpling.
You know, China is a big country.
We divide the country north and south by the Yangtze River. So up north, because Northern Chinese they like wheat products like noodles.
Southern Chinese people like rice. And you know our own kind of dumpling.
SFX PEOPLE TASTING PATRICK’S DUMPLINGs, transition to:
Hi, what can I get for you? We have four chicken and vegetables. This vegetable, one chicken and one vegetable.
TP:
Over at the next tasting station, Kris Alvarez and Grace Firmeza are serving up a delicious selection of siopaos. These things are huge - as big as a tennis ball, but flattened a little.
Grace: we call it siopaos in the Philippines. It's like a steamed bun here. So we have three flavours.
We have pork, chicken, and mixed veggie for the vegan people.
TP: Okay. And it's steamed.
Grace: Yes ma'am. It's steamed. We cook it, we cook the fillings itself. We cook it and then, the bun to put it all together, we steam it like double cooking.
TP: Kris & Grace are originally from the Philippines, and recently opened up Xena’s Bread and Butter, a cafe and bakery.
TP: And is it a wheat base?
Grace: Yes, ma'am. It's a wheat base.
TP: And, and, traditionally are these everyday food or is it special occasions or is it a bit of everything?
Grace: It's, uh, street food in the Philippines. When you go anywhere, like in Manila, you can see a lot of, uh, vendor of steamed bun, like in a big container.
TP: And, and did you grow up on them or is it something that…
Grace: Yep. Yes ma'am. Especially when there's like a fiesta.
TP: And how many do you think you'll go through tonight?
Grace: Well, we prepare a lot. So we're hoping to finish everything. Yeah. More than a hundred.
SFX people at Shivani’s food station.
TP: Indian-born Shivani Dhamija is here tonight as well.
Her company, Shivani’s Kitchen, specializes in Indian spice kits and cooking sauces.
And tonight she’s cooked up a big batch of momos, a fusion food of sorts that has its roots in the Himalyan region. Indian and Chinese influences.
Shivani recalls the first time she discovered momos when she was a young woman in Kolkata.
Clip 3, Shivani (0:67)
I think I was coming back from the office, or something. I was really hungry and I used to pass the street. It was like a very, very busy street. Like always. The cars are moving around as the very highway was going up the front of the street. And this, this guy who he was selling momos and on a cycle. So he had this cycle and he had something big steamer with him and he was selling it. It was like a big line in front of him. And I was like, Oh, let me try his food today. And that's it. That was the I it's a how old am I now? I'm 37 now and I still haven't forgotten his momos. They were the best... As long as I lived in Kolkata, I think at least three times a week. I used to visit him after that first experience. And if I go back to Kolkata again, I will probably look for him again and his cycle.
VO PM: Shivani’s momos are much larger than a pot sticker, and are steamed rather than pan-fried.
Clip 4, Shivani (0:69)
So what momos are, they're actually like a steamed roti, which is made of all-purpose flour. And then you fill it in with veggies, lots of veggies, and it's a very thin layer of the roti or the bread and every bite you wait for that filling to come in your mouth. And it's followed with a very, very spicy chutney. Your mouth will burn...
Actually the chicken was made in my kitchen, in my production kitchen. So I took some chicken from there that was supposed to be used to make the butter chicken meal. So I took some chicken from there and then I chopped a lot of veggies and then added that. And then I also had... I was like, this seems too dry. Let me add some butter chicken sauce to it. And that's what I made the filling out of that...
Everyone has adapted these dumplings to their own flavours. And I think that's what the Indian people did. They made them momos and they call them Indo-Chinese. They know the origin was from China or Nepal and but they added their own spicy hotness flavours into it.
TP: Avilasha Neola and Aesh Rasta are originally from Nepal.
Nepalese couple 506
Avilasha: And when we heard about Dumpling Summit, we was like, oh, there's Dumpling Summit. We have to be there.
Many people don't know that dumpling is like one of our unofficial national foods. If you go to Nepal we call it Momo. And with love, we call it momocha - like in our ethnic language, cha is for dear, so momo is so dear to us. So momocha.
It's so popular in Nepal and …
Aesh: Yeah, we could have it for all three course of morning, breakfast and evening. Yeah. Yeah.
TP: And, and what's it like?
Avilasha: It seems like a Chinese Momo, uh, but a bit spicy. It's not like Indian momos, but it's a bit similar to Chinese Momos and we use, uh, buffalo Momo, like from Buffalo meat a lot rather than other meat.
Um, and if you ask any Nepalese, 90% will say that what you'll do first thing, if you go home, they will say, eat a Momo from local vendors. So anything dumpling, we are like crazy, crazy.
338 - 502
But we, uh, have improvised it to anything. So now we, we also have cabbage momo, like they, uh, wrap it with the cabbage leaf , we also have, um, buckwheat momos, and they're improvising to make more healthier Oh yeah.
We have chocolate momos.
Just like rice to Asian, Momo is like to Nepali. So we make, at home, we buy, even here in Halifax, we have few friends who are specializing in Momos.
Aesh: At least one member in every family in Nepal would know how to make momos. And, uh, if you see, uh, in comparison, let's say if you have pizza shops after each corners over here, you would have a Momo shop after each corner in Nepal.
So it's maybe even more famous than pizza over here. So it's, it's just crazy out there. That's wonderful. Yeah. People have like Momo uh, lunch, dinner, breakfast, anything, and every day. Yeah. So it's that popular.
OUT ON SFX PEOPLE LAUGHING AND EATING.
TP: Asian Heritage Month at the Museum is sponsored by TD Bank Group.
If you’d like to hear more stories like this and help new listeners discover this podcast, make sure to rate Countless Journeys on your favourite podcast app - or leave us a review.
Countless Journeys comes to you from the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, located at the Halifax Seaport.
I’m Tina Pittaway, bye for now.
9:27