Step By Step On How to make delicious Meat Sticky Rice Dumpling / Zong Zi / Glutinous Rice dumpling

Описание: Zong Zi is the traditional and iconic Dragon Boat Festival food. That's why the festival is also called the Zongzi Festival or Rice Dumplings Festival.

Eating Zongzi has become a symbolic act for Chinese people to express their homage to Qu Yuan's patriotism, advocacy of tradition of filial piety, and admiration of dragon-worship.

Zongzi is attached to the Dragon Boat Festival in the Warring States Period (475 - 221 BC) to commemorate the patriotic poet, Qu Yuan. After Quyuan drowned himself on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, people would throw Zongzi into the river every year on that day to protect his body from fish’s bite.
Later, Zongzi gradually became the festival food. Nowadays, apart from the festival day, people can also eat this snack anytime they wish.

The main ingredient is glutinous rice, but the fillings vary a lot in different regions. In general, northern ones have a sweet flavor with red dates and red bean paste as fillings, while southern ones are likely fat and salted with different kinds of meat as stuffing. They are wrapped into the bamboo or reed leaves to get the special fragrance.

Note : You can get most of the Zongzi ingredients in your local Asian grocer. If you
cannot find any bamboo leaves you may opt to use a small metal bowl for the fillings
and steam it for 2 hours !

How to Make a Zongzi
1. Prepare the ingredients: sticky rice 500g split mung beans 500g, dried Chinese mushroom 10 pcs cut into half or quarter , Chinese sausages 3 pcs cut in slices, salted duck yolks 10 pcs cut into half, cube size pork belly or lean meat 800g , dried bamboo leaves 40 pcs, cotton strings. This recipe will make about 18 pcs zong zi !

2. Wash the glutinous rice, split mung beans, dried Chinese mushroom and follow
by soaking it separately for 3 hours or overnight.
3. Wash the dry bamboo leaves, and soak them in cold water overnight.
4. Add 5 tbsp cooking oil in wok, stir fry the meat and cut Chinese mushroom with oyster sauce 4 tbsp, dark soy sauce 3 tbsp, white pepper 2 tbsp and 5 spices powder 2 tbsp.
5. Add in 1 litre cold water, simmer till the meat has turned soft and tender.
6. Remove the meat and mushroom separately and set aside
7. Mix the remaining sauce with glutinous rice
8. Get ready all other ingredients in position to wrap zong zi.
9. Fold two bamboo leaves into a cone-shaped fossa, and fill glutinous rice and other ingredients in it with a spoon. The fillings should not be too packed, and then wrap and tie it with strings or boiled straws.
10. Boil the Zongzi. It needs 2-3 hours for them to be well done based on their sizes. To save time you may choose to cook in a pressure cooker.
11. Make sure the zong zi are fully covered with hot water and continue
add more hot water if the water level drops while cooking.
12. Zong zi is ready to serve when glutinous rice becomes soft and sticky.

How Do You Eat Zongzi?
1. The Chinese northern style sweet Zongzi can be eaten either warm or after cooling down and is usually sprayed with a layer of white sugar or honey. The southern style meat Zongzi can only be eaten when warm.
2. Remove the bamboo or reed leaves before eating.
3. You should not eat too much at a time in case of stomach ache and digestion difficulties.
4. It should be matched with some vegetables.
5. For a slim figure, you’d better decrease the quantity of other staple foods after eating Zongzi.

How long can Zong Zi last?
STORAGE: Place the Zongzi into an air-tight container (or a sealable plastic bag) when they are completely cool. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. REHEAT: Place the Zongzi (defrosted) into boiling water.