Jaki Clibbon's Aussie dimmies
Who are you, what do you do and where are you really from?
I’m Jaki Clibbon. I’m Vietnamese by birth and an adoptee, making me part Aussie and British too. Mum to three and currently dedicating full time care to my youngest who has been diagnosed with ASD. I’m also a freelance private dining chef doing the occasional supper club or pop-up, and a cooking therapy practitioner.
Any thoughts on ‘Asian slaw’ to share?
When I read ‘Asian Slaw’ on a menu, my eyes skim past it. Probably because nine times out 10 it’s usually combined with a ‘Ban Mi’ (which they’ve misspelt like this) and this just makes me do a quiet eye roll. I am pretty sure I am being unforgivably snobby.
Eaten any memorable slaws, Asian or otherwise?
I went to high school in Melbourne, Australia. Aussie Slaw is the national prerequisite to an Aussie family barbie. Alongside the Aussie pavlova, it absolutely must be present at the barbie - if not now, it was definitely in the 80s and 90s when I was growing up. It is high up there in the family food gathering memories of us Aussie Gen Xers. I did love the coleslaw, albeit laden with mayonnaise, and thanks to a dairy intolerance it didn’t really agree with me.
Jaki’s Aussie Dimmies - an approximate recipe
To be fair, I would completely understand if you thought this link with Asian slaw is too tenuous. I have not ever made Asian slaw or anything equivalent, which seems extraordinary since I am ‘in’ catering. At home I have been known to use Napa cabbage for a tofu and cashew nut dish, sometimes in spring rolls or chopped up into soups. But they seemed quite an ordinary choice next to the Aussie Dimmie, which for me has an emotional and nostalgic food connection, plus the reason why the Dimmie was created is in itself a great story.
I feel the Australian Dim Sim falls into the culinary category of ‘ugly delicious’. It is an ungainly and quite bulky version of a Chinese dumpling. There are no pretty pleats or intricate folds. Rather it is loaded up with a generous amount of filling and then moulded by hand into a grenade like shape.
In the past I have made the filling with pork mince (I add pork fat, to add some extra flavour and keep the mince from drying out). Shred Napa cabbage, carrots, ginger and mix with five spice, oyster sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, salt and sugar.
The dough (credit to chef Raph Rashid for this one) includes:
All purpose flour
Potato starch
Butter
Salt
Water
As I am actually thinking of offering the Dimmie on a future menu, I have been fantasising of a vegetarian version. It’ll probably be made up of cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, mung bean noodles, carrots and the seasonings…
What will you serve your slaw with (dishes, drinks)?
Dimmies are not invited into the restaurants where glorious assortments of dim sum are laid out and eaten with chopsticks. They are found in railway platform kiosks or fish n chips shops and they are steamed or fried. They are served up in twos with a good splash of soy sauce and served in brown paper bags, just about grease proofed long enough for you to finish eating them. They are the junk food dumpling, a quick hangry fix, the after pub/club craving. So, these are eaten on the street, burning your mouth and washed down with whichever choice of drink you purchased alongside the dim sim. Most likely a 7up for me!
Who will you invite to eat your slaw?
Probably an odd answer, but growing up in Melbourne, I had a beautiful and slightly unhinged little dog, called Thatch. She was a Blue Heeler breed. We went everywhere together. She sat in the back of my Honda Civic '76, with her head resting on my shoulder and her tongue flapping. We drove fast around coastal roads, listening to Alanis Morrisette, she died unexpectedly at a young age, but memories of her and dimmies remind me of sunnier days growing up in Melbourne. I would like to go for one last drive along the coast with her, to our favourite back beach. Find somewhere to sit and eat a dim sim drowned in soy sauce and watch Thatch chase seagulls.