Happy Dragon Boat Festival! Did you know it was the Dragon Boat Festival (Duānwǔ Jié 端午节) today? Here in China we're having a long weekend thanks to the exploits of long-dead poet and statesman Qu Yuan. After spending years in exile accused of treason, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the river, leaving behind beautiful poetry and devastated loyal supporters. Each year on the anniversary of his death, his supporters would throw offerings of rice into the river as a tribute, and to stop fish from eating his body. Zòngzi 粽子 or sticky rice parcels, represent these rice offerings and are filled with a sweet filling (red bean, jujube, favoured in northern China) or savoury filling (pork, mushroom, preferred in southern China) and wrapped in bamboo leaves.
I learned how to make zongzi yesterday, under the watchful eye of Chef Gao at the Chinese Cooking Workshop. They've just upgraded from their old opium den on Weihai Lu and moved into a lovely light-filled kitchen on Dongping Lu, not far from my house. Never mind that they don't usually offer classes in making zongzi, Chef Gao knows how to make everything so I just called them up, rounded up a few friends, and we all spent the afternoon making zongzi. Lovely!
Zongzi - Sticky Rice and Pork Parcels
Ingredients
- 20 large dried bamboo leaves
- 400g fatty pork, cubed
- 1/4 cup plus 1/4 cup dark soy sauce (dark soy is for colour, and unsalted - do not substitute normal or light soy)
- 1/4 cup shaoxing rice wine
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2.5cm piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- 250g uncooked sticky rice
- In a bowl mix together 1/4 cup dark soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sugar, salt, ginger and spring onions
- Add pork pieces and allow to marinade for up to 24 hours, minimum 2 hours
- Add remaining 1/4 cup dark soy sauce to sticky rice and mix well until grains are well coated
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil, immerse bamboo leaves and boil for three minutes until leaves become soft. Drain.
- Take a bamboo leaf and hold it with the spine facing up
- Fold the leaf as shown, approximately one third of the way along its length
- Fold again, this time lengthways as shown, open out the base of the folds to form a cup
- Fill with 1-2 spoonfuls of coated sticky rice, a piece of marinated pork, then another 1-2 spoonfuls of rice
- Holding the filled portion in the cup of your hand, fold the long part of the leaf over the top
- Tuck in both sides of the parcel, then pinch the overhanging leaf together and fold sideways as shown
- Holding parcel firmly, wrap tightly with string and knot to fasten
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add zongzi so they are fully submerged
- Simmer for two hours (water will darken due to dark soy sauce), then drain
- While still hot snip string wth scissors and unwrap
- Enjoy!
- (can be frozen, uncooked, for up to one month)
Shanghai's best location for learning to cook Chinese food:
Chinese Cooking Workshop
2 Dongping Lu, near Hengshan Lu
Labels: Dragon Boat Festival, festivals, recipes, Shanghai
