 Dragon boat festival rice dumplings, or zongzi, may according to legend, in 278 BC, have been used to distract ravenous fish from nibbling on the body of martyred poet Ch’u Yuan after he drowned himself in the Mi-Lo river in protest against a corrupt government. This month, though, the dumplings, with increasingly varied ingredients, shapes and sizes, can be found all over the city in celebration of HK’s annual Tuen Ng festival. Mostly they’re stuffed to the brim with glutinous rice combined with sweet or savoury titbits and dangled from Hong Kong’s market stalls and cafes.
Zongzi are similar to the lotus-leaf rice found at any dim sum restaurant worth its weight, but have a distinct list of ingredients and recipe. bc went wandering around the byways of the city to see where some of the best dumplings are being offered and to learn a thing or two about how to make our
very own rice dumplings at home.
The shape of dumplings can vary from tetrahedral (like a pyramid) to cylindrical with a lot of variation on actual size. They are traditionally wrapped in long, green bamboo leaves that can be bought at the market in convenient, ready-to-wrap packages. The bright green of the wrapping is what differentiates dragon-boat rice dumplings from their run-of-the-mill cousins.
While some local markets and cafes will be selling traditionally made festival dumplings, others are looking to get a little more creative with their offerings. For a limited time, the Tsui Hang Village Restaurant in Kowloon (G/F, Miramar Shopping Centre, 132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2376 2882) will serve agaricus blazei rice dumplings with XO sauce ($58), While at the market, you’ll want to pick up a generous amount of white glutinous rice to fill your dumplings and the sweet or savoury ingredients to mix with the rice. Some of the more popular savoury fillings include red-cooked pork, Chinese sausage, dried Chinese mushrooms, salted duck eggs, cooked green beans, dried shrimp and even chestnuts. For the sweet dumplings, look for red-bean paste and skinless mung beans. Also, grab some bamboo twine to tie the dumplings up once you’ve rolled everything together. Remember it’s traditional to make a large number of dumplings that can be hung together in groups of about a dozen... so stock up!
After you’ve stuffed, rolled and tied up your dragon boat dumplings, plan on a good amount of time to boil them – perhaps several hours depending on how the rice is treated prior to filling. The good news is that they freeze and reheat well in case your eyes are a bit bigger than your stomach.
Our man, Mr Au, over at the Wanchai Market off Wan Chai Road gave us a step-by-step tutorial on how to stuff and roll your own dumplings.
kumquat sweet rice dumplings, and conpoy rice dumplings in celebration of the Tuen
Ng Festival.
The Loong Yueng Cantonese Restaurant at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile (50 Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2315 1006) has three flavours available until 19 June. Traditional dried conpoy and black mushroom rice dumplings ($108) are matched with mixed-bean glutinous rice dumplings ($78 for two) and kumquat and bean paste glutinous rice dumplings ($78 for two). The lord of dumpling makers, Maxim’s, also gets in on the holiday action with traditional and newer-styled dumplings. The traditional king rice dumpling is stuffed with pork, roasted duck, salted egg yolk, dried scallop, lotus seed, chestnut and dried mushroom ($96). The mixed rice dumpling boasts rice, corn, straw mushroom, peanut, ginkgo, dried yellow fungus, dried black fungus, vegetarian ham and chestnut inside ($54). Then a new Taiwan-style dumpling combines marinated pork and egg rice ($64 for two) and, lastly, a special ice dumpling combination box with taro, mango, green tea and red-bean flavours ($58 per box of 6) will cool your palate after all those hot dumpling delights. The ice dumplings are wrapped in plastic and come in a nifty, bright-green plastic carrying box to insulate them on their journey to your home freezer. When you’re ready to eat them, put them in the fridge for an hour to defrost slightly and enjoy. Call 2101 1333 for more information. |
