My mother-in-law is a Cantonese zongzi (rice dumpling) expert.
She was famous for making the best zongzi in her hometown in Kampar.
Since the Zongzi Festival (also called Duanwu Festival, Dragon Boat Festival) falls on the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, I decided to make my own rice dumplings, tapping into her expertise and experience of more than half a century!
Naturally, it is a huge success under the guidance of the guru. The amazing aroma of the zongzi perfumes the kitchen and provokes a feeling of satisfaction that makes my belly rumble. I just sat down to enjoy this dumpling with a bottomless pot of Pu’er tea.
This post is based on her secret recipe written in a small notebook with half faded ink, and I am grateful for her generosity and permission to share it on my blog.
Note: Zongzi is also called Chinese sticky rice dumplings, Chinese tamales, or just rice dumplings in English.
The history of zongzi 粽子is closely related to a famous poet and patriotic minister Qu Yuan 屈原 of the Kingdom of Chu during the Warring States 戰國 period of China (ranging from 481 BC to 403 BC). Qu Yuan served as a minister for the Chu but was ousted for opposing the alliance of a much larger kingdom called Qin. When the Qin eventually conquered the capital of Chu, Yingdu, the grief was so intense that he finally committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River 汨羅江 on the 5th of May.
Moved by the patriotism of Qu Yuan, the local people rolling their boats to save him. The act to save Qu Yuan was the origin of the dragon boat races during this festival. After they had failed to retrieve his body, they threw packets of sticky rice into the river, hoping the fishes would eat the rice instead of his body.
Chinese people serve zongzi every year on the day when Qu Yuan committed suicide, which happens on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar. This day had slowly evolved to become the Duanwu Festival or Double Fifth Festival; both means the date and month as mentioned.
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Duanwu Festival (also called Dragon Boat Festival) has slowly shifted its focus from commemorating Qu Yuan to become a carnival, with dragon boat competition and eating zongzi as the key features.
Today, eating this rice dumpling remains as an important tradition among the Chinese. The way of wrapping and the ingredients in the zongzi also varied considerably in different regions.
In this article, I will show you how to make the zongzi that is popular among the Cantonese people.
Making zongzi is relatively easy, except for the time commitment to prepare and cook it.
While plenty of Chinese cooking techniques rely on feel over empirical function, I try to simplify it with step-by-step instructions.
There are two types of leaves commonly used to wrap zongzi. It can be either reed leaves or bamboo leaves.
The fresh leaves are the best since it is aromatic and soft. However, it is rarely available even in Asia with a large population of Chinese. Therefore, nearly everyone who makes zongzi is using dry leaves.
Dried leaves are brittle and hard and not suitable to use it to wrap zongzi.
Therefore, you need to rehydrate the leaves before using them for wrapping.
The easiest way to prepare the leaves for wrapping is to boil them. Boil for 30 minutes and then soak it in the pot overnight.
You will find that the leaves are fully rehydrated, with dark green color the next morning.
The following is a list of common ingredients I use to prepare Cantonese zongzi. You can omit certain ingredients if you wish to, or increase the amount of those you like. There isn’t any fixed rule to follow.
Pork belly is the indispensable ingredient in making Cantonese zongzi. The meat should be marinated overnight to give it a deep savoring flavor.
Pork belly is ideal for making zongzi as there is a little oil in other main ingredients. You can use other cuts of pork but make sure to include some fat in it.
Glutinous rice 糯米 (also called sweet rice) is the major component of the filling. It is the only type of rice suitable for making rice dumplings.
Look for a good brand of glutinous rice. I have encountered some unscrupulous vendor adulterate the glutinous rice with other cheaper rice.
There are a few types of beans and nuts for making rice dumpling. Groundnuts, mung beans and black eye peas are among the popular one. I use mung beans in this recipe, follow my mother-in-law’s recommendation. She made Cantonese zongzi for many years who is an accomplished zongzi expert.
Note that you may notice some mung beans are green and some are yellow as what I use. You need to remove the green outer skin of the mung beans by soaking them in water overnight. Since it is tedious, most people who make zongzi will buy the mung beans with the skin already removed, which is yellow.
Shiitake mushroom is a common ingredient for zongzi. It has the aromatic flavor complement to the pork and salted egg yolks.
Chestnuts are optional. However, I like to include in the recipe as it has a strong contrast to the meaty flavor of the pork and the sticky texture of the glutinous rice.
You can roast them briefly before using it to wrap the rice dumpling. It is optional.
Dried seafood renders a deep savory flavor to the rice dumplings. Try to get it at the Asian grocery shop which sells dried seafood. Some people do not include in the dumpling due to the higher cost, but I bet you will love the unique flavor, which is way apart from the fresh one.
You can get these ingredients at your favorite Asian market or any other store that sells traditional Chinese food items.
The preparation of salted duck egg yolks is straightforward. You are lucky if you manage to buy the yolks alone (without the white). If not, you have to buy the whole salted eggs and figure out what to do with the whites.
Salted egg is a familiar delicacy in a variety of Asian dishes. It is duck egg, not chicken. The eggs are either boiled in water or steam before eating. You can just eat with steamed rice or congee, or as an ingredient in a recipe. Cantonese zongzi often includes the salted egg yolk for its unique flavor. Since it is salty, the flavor is still intense after cooking the zongzi for hours.
The above ingredients are what my mother-in-law uses, but you can also consider adding various fillings to the rice dumplings. Red beans and Chinese sausages are two common items you can consider.
cNow it comes to the most challenging and exciting part- wrapping the zongzi, how to wrap zongzi with a pyramid shape.
Follow these steps, and watch the video demonstration embedded in this post.
You may try to get the special twine to wrap zongzi from the Asian grocery shop. You can use any kitchen twine, like those trusting the turkey if it is not available.
If you use the zongzi twine, soak it in a bowl of water for half an hour before using it. The twine will rehydrate and won’t break easily.
Secure the leaves with the twine is tricky. You need some practice to get it perfect. You can watch the demonstration in the video to understand the entire wrapping process.
Hook a bunch of string to an anchor point. Use one hand to hold the zongzi and the other to tie it tightly and a dead knot.
Note that it is important to tie them tightly since we want to cook them for a few hours. As for the knots, nearly everyone will cut the twine when they want to eat. Therefore, it does not matter whether you can easily open the knot.
Cooking zongzi is simple but lengthy. You can schedule it when you are at home, in which you can do another thing while cooking. There aren’t many things you need to do after you set the pot on the stove. Just wait and add some water occasionally if necessary.
Frozen zongzi can be kept up to a few months.
When you want to eat later, take them out from the freezer and defrost them at room temperature for a few hours.
Steps to reheat the zongzi
The worst thing while eating zongzi is when the rice sticks onto the leaves, and unable to remove the rice dumpling in one piece. As a result, you get a mess of broken rice dumplings on your plate instead of a beautiful golden pyramid.
When you unfold the leaves, the rice dumpling may crack, deformed, and stick onto the leaves. It is messy, and certainly frustrated.
You will never have this troublesome messy encounter anymore once you master the method.
My mother-in-law is an accomplished Cantonese zongzi master with the experience of more than half a century!
While I have included some of the common advice from her in writing this post, there are a number of ‘trade secrets’ that she revealed to me, which are rarely mentioned in books and other related food blogs.
Below is a list of the secrets she wants to share with you:
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