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by Butterfingers

Zhongzi – Glutinous rice pyramids wrapped in bamboo leaves 粽子

June 22, 2012 in Uncategorized

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I love my folks and visiting them always includes many foodie highlights. This visit up, my mama taught me how to make zhongzi, also known as rice pyramids, Chinese tamales, glutinous rice cakes and glutinous rice tamales.

Zhongzi is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Festival 端午節) period, which falls on the 5th of the 5th on the lunar calendar. This festival commemorates the poet Qu Yuan 屈原. I remember this story well from my Chinese classes and storybooks and it’s one of those stories all Asians should know. This year 2012, it falls on the 23rd June.

“Qu Yuan (c. 340 BCE – 278 BCE) was a patriotic nobleman who served in court in the state of Chu 楚国, in the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty 战国时代. However, after resisting the alliance with the corrupt state of Quin, Qu Yuan was banished.  While living in exile, Qu Yuan spent his time writing poetry, becoming one of the most well-known Chinese poets throughout history. Sadly, 28 years later, the state of Chu was attacked and dominated by the state of Quin. After Qu Yuan heard the devastating news, he drowned himself in the Milo River 汨罗江 on the 5th of the 5th in 278 BCE.
 
The locals, who admired his patriotism, made glutinous rice pyramids wrapped in bamboo leaves and threw them into the Milo River, in hopes that the fish in the river would eat the zhongzi and leave Qu Yuan’s body’s alone. The locals then searched for the body in boats and thus, the dragon boat race became a tradition to mark the occasion.”
 

Zhongzi flavours and fillings vary from city to city and country to country. My family is from Tainan, which is south of Taiwan – the ingredients that my mama prepares are more on the savoury side and also, adapted for my family’s taste buds (I secretly add more pickled duck egg yolk and shiitake mushrooms to the ones I make). This dish is made with glutinous rice, which is also known as sticky rice, sweet rice, waxy rice, botan rice, mochi rice, biroin chal and pearl rice. Even though it’s called glutinous rice, like all rice types, it is completely gluten-free.

Makes 10

Ingredients:

To prepare the zhongzi requires quite a bit of time, as all the ingredients for the filling needs to be cooked before being encased in bamboo leaves and rice. For a vegetarian version, add more mushrooms and veto the pork.

  • 5 cups glutinous rice (soaked in warm water)
  • 20 bamboo leaves (soaked in warm water)
  • 1 tbsp Shallots mix (purchasable in Chinese stores)
  • Oil to fry shallots and to add to rice
  • 10 shiitake mushrooms
  • 1 tbsp dried shrimp
  • 1 cup peanuts with husk (boiled, but intact)
  • 2 strips of cooked pork rashers or pork belly (slice into 10 pieces)
  • ½ cup soya sauce
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 10 strings

Method: (To see method in step-by-step pictures, click here to the original post)

  • Add a tbsp of oil to the rice and water, this will prevent your zhongzi from sticking to the bamboo leaves at the end.
  • Cut the mushrooms into halves and make sure to have already soaked them if they were dry.
  • Fry up the shallots and when it becomes golden brown with some oil, add the shrimp into the frying pan for another few minutes.
  • Separately, fry the pork belly till golden brown then add the soya sauce and sugar till caramelised.
  • This is the tricky part (see steps). Place two bamboo leaves, with the shiny side facing upwards, on top of each other, opposite ways. Fold it 4/5ths of the way to the right, with the right end on the inside and the left holding it on the outside.
  • Drop in a few peanuts, then press it down gently with a tbsp of rice.
  • Add the filling in – 2 mushroom halves, a yolk, shallots and shrimp, and pork.
  • Fill it to just under the brim with rice, making sure there are no air spaces in between.
  • Fold the leaves over the top, pressing the rice down.
  • Steam for 1 hour and serve.
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by Butterfingers

Taiwanese steam-fried pork buns

October 11, 2011 in Uncategorized

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In Taiwan, you can find a wide range of delightful snacks at night markets, which is, also known as street food. One of my favourites is the steam-fried bun. The direct translation for the bun from Mandarin Chinese, is “water fried bun”. The bun is semi-fried and semi-steamed, but very little oil is used in the process. These delightful buns are delicious and pretty much one of the easiest things to make in Taiwanese cuisine.

The dough of steam-fried pork buns is light and fluffy, housing a succulent filling of mainly cabbage and pork mince. Unlike western dishes, Majority of Asian cuisine uses pork mince instead of beef. The reason is that in Taiwanese and Chinese history, cattle farming didn’t exist because, even though they were a food source, they were needed for agricultural purposes. Pigs, on the other hand were bred for consumption purposes alone. This meant that pork was more affordable than beef.

It’s usually quite difficult to raise the buns off the pan without breakage, so my mama found a way to lift the buns off the pan easily by adding corn starch to the water used to steam the buns. Another bonus from her method is that the corn starch makes the buns even crispier.

Ingredients:

Dough: You can also use your own dough recipe.

  • 250g bread/cake flour, sifted
  • 10g sugar
  • 3g instant yeast
  • 135g water
  • 10g sugar
  • 10g canola oil
  • extra flour for dusting

Filling :

  • 500g minced pork
  • 200g chopped cabbage
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 tsp chopped garlic
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp white pepper
  • 2 tbsp of soya sauce
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp 5 spices seasoning

Mix till the filling becomes sticky.

Method:

  • Make the dough
  • Divide the filling into 12 portions. (see step 1)
  • Create a floured surface and divide the dough into 12 pieces.
  • Roll out a piece with a rolling pin so that it becomes a flat disc. What often helps is rolling out the edges thinner than the centre to prevent the bun from breaking when being cooked. (see step 2)
  • Scoop one of your 12 portions of filling into the centre of the dough, creating a round ball of filling. (see step 4)
  • Gather the edges to the middle, making sure that you pinch them together hard enough so that there are no gaping holes. (see step 5)
  • Flatten the pinched section and dust it with flour. – Set aside to rest for 10 minutes, allowing the buns to rise. (see step 6)
  • Repeat

Pictures of the method can be seen on the original post on my blog – Butterfingers

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