Home Cooking: How to Wrap a Rice Dumpling

Home Cooking is a monthly series where we share creative and tasty recipes for you to try at home!

Every year on Duanwu Jie (better known as Dragon Boat Festival), sweet and savory rice dumplings find their way into supermarket displays and kitchens across China. Wrapped in bamboo leaves and tied with yarn, zongzi used to be made by hand, packed with tender meats, nuts and glutinous rice. Today, few born after 1970 have the slightest idea how to wrap the triangular pouches, while older generations have mostly given up in favor of store-bought alternatives. This month, we bring you an exclusive recipe from Chef Wen of the Garden Hotel, Guangzhou - an expert in authentic Cantonese cuisine with more than 28 years of experience - so that you may pass along the tradition of one of China's oldest and most treasured treats!

Ingredients:

• 6 duck egg yolks, salted 

• 1 lb pork belly 

• 2/3 cup peanuts, raw 

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce

• 1/2 cup minced shiitake mushrooms

• 5 cups sticky rice, short grain

• 2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp sugar

• 1/2 tsp white pepper, ground

• 1 tsp oil

• 1/2 cup water

• 36-40 dried bamboo leaves (can purchase on Taobao)

• 2 cups glutinous rice

• Cotton twine to tie the zongzi

Preparation: 

1. Pre-soak glutinous rice for a day or until the rice is soft and tender.

2. Rinse and clean the bamboo leaves.

3. Use salt water to boil the bamboo leaves for 15 minutes to further purify the leaves.

4. Air dry the leaves, make sure both sides are dried.

5. Soak the pork in soy sauce for 20 minutes and mix with salt, sugar, pepper, oil and water before putting into the leaves.

6. Soak shiitake mushrooms in water until soft, and then finely mince.

7. Hold three bamboo leaves together at different angles, like a 6-point star. Roll one end of a leaf into a cone shape (cone should rest at the center of the leaves).

8. Fill the empty cone with glutinous rice, add the meat filling and other ingredients into the center.

9. Use the other end of the bamboo leaves to cover the cone and continue to wrap tightly around the dumpling.

10. Tie yarn around the dumpling, holding it together.

11. Steam over boiling water for three hours, without letting it touch the water.

This recipe is courtesy of Chef Wen at the Garden Hotel, Guangzhou.

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