Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)

Introduction

Zongzi is a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo, reed, or other large flat leaves. They are always eaten in Duanwu (Dragon Boat Festival). They are cooked by steaming or boiling. In the Western world, they are also known as rice dumplings or sticky rice dumplings.

The rice is usually mixed with different fillings dependent on the region within China you are eating a zongzi from. Cantonese style savoury fillings including Char Siu (barbecued pork), Chinese sausages, black mushrooms, salted eggs, chicken, cooked peanuts or chestnuts, and taro (Kho, 2009). The Beijing population likes their zongzi to be filled sweeter ingredients such as red bean paste or dates (Kho, 2009). Better known in Western culture as the Chinese Tamale or Rice Dumplings, they are cooked by steaming or boiling in water for several hours (Li & Hsieh, 2004). They are usually wrapped in a pyramidal way and can easily be eaten and held in your hands.

Origins

Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) are traditionally eaten during the Duanwu Festival, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar (approximately late-May to mid-June).

A popular belief amongst the Chinese of eating zongzi involved commemorating the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period. Known for his patriotism, Qu Yuan tried unsuccessfully to warn his king and countrymen against the expansionism of their Qin neighbors. When the Qin general Bai Qi took Yingdu, the Chu capital, in 278 BC, Qu Yuan's grief was so intense that he drowned himself in the Miluo river after penning the Lament for Ying. According to legend, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent the fish from eating the poet's body.

Description

The shapes of zongzi range from being approximately tetrahedral in northern China to an elongated cone in southern China. Wrapping a zongzi neatly is a skill that is passed down through families, as are the recipes. Making zongzi is traditionally a family event of which everyone helps out.

While traditional zongzi are wrapped in bamboo leaves, the leaves of lotus, maize, banana, canna, shell ginger and pandan leaves sometimes are used as substitutes in other countries. Each kind of leaf imparts its own unique smell and flavor to the rice.

The fillings used for zongzi vary from region to region, but the rice used is almost always glutinous rice (also called "sticky rice" or "sweet rice"). Depending on the region, the rice may be lightly precooked by stir-frying or soaked in water before using. In the north, fillings are mostly red bean paste and tapioca or taro. Northern style zongzi tend to be sweet and dessert-like. Southern-style zongzi, however, tend to be more savory. Fillings of Southern-style zongzi include salted duck egg, pork belly, taro, shredded pork or chicken, Chinese sausage, pork fat, and shiitake mushrooms.

Zongzi need to be steamed or boiled for several hours depending on how the rice is made prior to being added, along with the fillings. However, as the modes of zongzi styles have traveled and become mixed, today one can find all kinds of zongzi at traditional markets, and their types are not confined to which side of the Yellow River they originated from.

In modern times, one can usually find zongzi in food markets as well as street carts strewn around Asia. It is a popular snack amongst travelers who want a taste of authentic Chinese food. While they are readily available through these means, zongzi are also in high demand when the Dragon Boat festival occurs each year, when it is traditional to eat the rice dumplings (Simonds & Swartz, 2002).

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Yuanxiao (Tangyuan)

Tangyuan or Yuanxiao is a Chinese food made from glutinous rice flour mixed with a small amount of water to form balls and is then cooked and served in boiling water. Tangyuan can be either small or large, and filled or unfilled. They are traditionally eaten during Yuanxiao or the Lantern Festival, but also served as a dessert on Chinese wedding day, Winter Solstice Festival, and any occasions such as family re-union, because of a homophone for union.

It is said that the custom of eating Yuanxiao originated during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth century, then became popular during the Tang and Song dynasties. Historically, a number of different names were used to refer to tangyuan. During the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty, the name was officially settled as yuanxiao (derived from the Yuanxiao Festival), which is used in northern China. This name literally means "first evening", being the first full moon after Chinese New Year, which is always a new moon.

In southern China, however, they are called tangyuan or tangtuan. Legend has it that during Yuan Shikai's rule from 1912 to 1916, he disliked the name yuanxiao because it sounded identical to "remove Yuan" , and so he gave orders to change the name to tangyuan. This new moniker literally means "round balls in soup". Tangtuan similarly means "round dumplings in soup". In the two major Chinese dialects of far southern China, Hakka and Cantonese, "tangyuan" is pronounced as tong rhen and tong jyun respectively.

The fillings inside the dumplings or Yuanxiao are either sweet or salty. Sweet fillings are made of sugar, Walnuts, sesame, osmanthus flowers, rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, bean paste, or jujube paste. A single ingredient or any combination can be used as the filling. The salty variety is filled with minced meat，vegetables or a mixture.

The way to make Yuanxiao also varies between northern and southern China. The usual method followed in southern provinces is to shape the dough of rice flour into balls, make a hole, insert the filling, then close the hole and smooth out the dumpling by rolling it between your hands. In North China, sweet or nonmeat stuffing is the usual ingredient. The fillings are pressed into hardened cores, dipped lightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containing dry glutinous rice flour. A layer of the flour sticks to the filling, which is then again dipped in water and rolled a second time in the rice flour. And so it goes, like rolling a snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size.

The custom of eating Yuanxiao dumplings remains. This tradition encourages both old and new stores to promote their Yuanxiao products. They all try their best to improve the taste and quality of the dumplings to attract more customers.

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Laba congee (Eight Treasures Porridge)

Laba congee, also known as Eight Treasures Porridge or Babao Porridge, is a ceremonial congee dish eaten on the eighth day of the twelfth month in the Chinese calendar. The day on which it is traditionally eaten is commonly known as the Laba Festival. In the past, people ate the porridge to keep warm and celebrate the Laba Festival. Today it has been a home-style snack in everyday life. Because of all kinds of nutrient-rich ingredients contained in the congee and the easy cooking method, Eight Treasures Porridge now is popular throughout China. If well cooked, the gruel tastes sweet, soft and smooth, not greasy at all.

Traditionally laba congee is made with eight ingredients; nowadays, however, more than a dozen are used, including glutinous rice, millet, red and green beans, lotus seeds, dried dates, chestnuts, peanuts, almonds and walnuts. It is a nutritious winter food. The classic encyclopedia of herbal medicine Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) says that rice porridge “increases the life force, produces saliva, nourishes the spleen and stomach, and resolves sweating due to weak constitution or health.”

When the custom of eating laba congee was passed down to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the laba ceremony in Beijing’s Yonghegong Lamasery became the most celebrated event. In the temple there is an ancient bronze pot, two meters across and a meter and a half high, four tons in weight, designed especially for laba congee.

According to historical records, Yonghegong made six pots of the congee for the festival, each of which used 80 kg millet, 50 kg coarse cereals, 50 kg dried fruits and 5,000 kg firewood. The first pot was offered to the Buddha; the second went to the emperor and the imperial court; the third to imperial kinsmen and the abbot of the temple; the fourth to senior officials; the fifth to members of the lamasery, and the last pot to commoners.

Ingredients:

kidney beans, sorghum rice, barley, longans, oats (avena sativa), rice, millet, peanuts, mung beans and black rice

Note:

1. 15 dried longans are needed. 30g of each of the rest ingredients should be prepared. These ingredients serve 2-3 persons.

2. Except the ingredients mentioned above, some others can also be added to make more tasty porridge, such as lotus, raisins, red dates, red beans, Chinese yam and wolfberry.

Preparation Work:

Soak the black rice and peanuts for 3-4 hours in advance.

Methods:

Step 1: Clean all ingredients and remove the water. Pour them into an electric cooker and add in more water.

Step 2: Turn on heat and boil the mixture for about 20 minutes. When the steam comes out, remove the cover in case the porridge overflows.

Step 3: Boil for another 30-40 minutes until the congee turns pasty with small bubbles. Or pick out some black rice or peanuts to see if they have been totally cooked.

Tips:

1. People with diabetes are suggested not to add much sugar when having the gruel.

2. Don't eat much canned Eight Treasures Porridge, because they usually contain preservative.

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Mooncake

Mooncake is a Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival is for lunar worship and moon watching, when mooncakes are regarded as an indispensable delicacy. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the four most important Chinese festivals.

Typical mooncakes are round pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 3–4 cm thick. This is the Cantonese mooncake, eaten in Southern China in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau. A rich thick filling usually made from red bean or lotus seed paste is surrounded by a thin (2–3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea. Today, it is customary for businessmen and families to present them to their clients or relatives as presents, helping to fuel a demand for high-end mooncake styles. The energy content of a mooncake is approximately 1,000 calories or 4,200 kilojoules (for a cake measuring 10 cm (3.9 in)), but energy content varies with filling and size.

General description

Most mooncakes consist of a thin, tender pastry skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling, and may contain one or more whole salted egg yolks in their center as the symbol of the full moon. Very rarely, mooncakes are also served steamed or fried.

Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony", as well as the name of the bakery and the filling inside. Imprints of the moon, the Lady Chang'e on the moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit (symbol of the moon) may surround the characters for additional decoration.

Traditional Styles

Fillings: Many types of fillings can be found in traditional moon cakes according to the region's culture: Lotus seed paste Considered by some to be the original and most luxurious mooncake filling, lotus paste filling is found in all types of mooncakes. Due to the high price of lotus paste, white kidney bean paste is sometimes used as a filler.

Sweet bean paste: A number of pastes are common fillings found in Chinese desserts. Although red bean paste, made from azuki beans, is the most common worldwide, there are regional and original preferences for bean paste made from mung beans, as well as black beans, known throughout history.

Jujube paste: A sweet paste is made from the ripe fruits of the jujube (date) plant. The paste is dark red in color, a little fruity/smoky in flavor, and slightly sour in taste. Depending on the quality of the paste, jujube paste may be confused with red bean paste, which is sometimes used as a filler.

Five kernel: A filling consisting of 5 types of nuts and seeds, coarsely chopped, is held together with maltose syrup. Recipes differ from region to region, but commonly used nuts and seeds include: walnuts, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, peanuts, sesame seeds, or almonds. In addition, the mixture will usually contain candied winter melon, jinhua ham, or pieces of rock sugar as additional flavoring.

Crusts: Moon cakes with Chinese characters, meaning the moon cake contains egg yolk filling and is made from a bakery named "Golden Gate Bakery". Mooncakes usually have the bakery name pressed on them.

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