It was popularized in the 1940s, by William Chen Wing Young, a Chinese immigrant in Melbourne who originally came from Guangdong, and the father of Australian celebrity chef, author and TV personality Elizabeth Chong.

[1] The name derives from the pronunciation diim syiim (點心) in Toisanese, the predominant dialect spoken at the time by Central Melbourne's Chinese community.

The commercial snack food normally consists of minced meat, cabbage, and seasoning, encased in a wrapper similar to that of a traditional siu mai dumpling.

Vegetarian dim sims normally contain cabbage, carrot, vermicelli, Chinese shiitake mushrooms or other vegetable fillings, along with seasoning, although these are not generally available in commercial outlets.

William Wing Young's "original recipe" for the dim sim was presented by Elizabeth Chong on the second episode of the ABC1 TV show Myf Warhurst's Nice (20 June 2012).