Taiwanese street food festival 台味食煮 - Day 18 - Grandma's Zhong-zi 阿嬤的粽子

Finally it feels like summer in the Netherlands, 3 month later than its in Taiwan! We have a say: "do not put away your winter clothes until dragon boat festival" meaning after this traditional holiday, summer official arrives. The Dragon boat festival, a.k.a Duanwu festival which falls on the fifth of May of lunar calendar, is not just an announcement for our family, but my grandma's birthday. This traditional holiday again brings all family members together from all over the worlds, yet to show our appreciation and affection to the essence of big family, my lovely granny.

Zhong-zi is made of glutinous rice (sticky rice) stuffed with fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. They are cooked by boiling or steaming based on family recipe. I have learnt how to make a perfect zhong-zi since I was a girl tracing back to 15-years-old, from the greatest chef ever, my grandma. Besides it is a family event of which every helps out,  giving away of zhong-zi to wish the best good luck to students who are going to attend entrance exam in summer time. This is because ,in Mandarin, "wrapping up zhong-zi (包粽＝包中）is homophonic to "success in getting into your dream school".

Wrapping up by zhong-zi experts

I am very proud of myself being capable of making  decent zhong-zi because it s all about the shape which is not easy to make. The shape of zhong-zi range from tetrahedral to cone depending on your family recipes. I have not had chance to join this family event for years, yet this year I took extra days off and flew back home because I did not want to miss this important festival again. 

Here comes our way of making zhong-zi. Rather than using well-cooked Youfan;油飯, we prepare semi-cooked ingredients separately and water boil for 40 -50 mins after zhong-zi is made.Do not be intimidated just yet, it sounds like it requires lot of preparation, it is definitely worthy if you ever tried zhong-zi before. Lets start from easy part, bamboo leaves. Clean bamboo leaves with brush in clear water one by one and lay it dry. There is no technic required but patience. While waiting, we can start with ingredients, there are 3 main filling needs to be prepared.

1) Braised Pork: Pork marinated over night with soy sauce, sugar, white pepper powder and rice wine. Heat an oil pan, toss with sliced garlic, stir fry with handful of pre-soaked dried mushroom (squeezed out water) until its aromatic, place the pork on one side and turn to the other one when it turns golden yellow. Pour 2 cup of stock (could be replaced with water), soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce and again white pepper powder, cook until it is boiled. Turn to low heat, led on and stew for 40 mins until pork is soft and tender. You could also take advantage of rice cooker after its boiled with 1 cup of water for outer pot.

You will not get bored for this food because there are more steps to be taken. 2) Gluten rice, one of the decisive ingredients of making zhong-zi successful. We prefer using long grain glutinous rice which keeps its shape better and prevents overcooking. 1 kg of glutinous rice you could make approximately 20 zhong-zi. Clean and drain rice, heat a medium pan, no oil needed, pour in rice and star stirring fry. Add spoons of soy sauce (kg of rice: spoon = 1:1)and fry until its aromatic and complete dry in the pan. Put aside for cooling down.

Last ingredient but not the least, 3) the essence of fragrance of zhong-zi : finely chopped shallots, dried shrimp, chopped dried radish and deep fried onion. Fried all ingredients with medium heat with small touch of soy sauce and black pepper.Now everything is ready to make zhong-zi. Unfortunately I did not record how to make it myself, I found one which is recorded from a family clip on youtube which is exactly the way I make it, starting from the way of placing bamboo leaves and folding into a cone to wrap it tightly with a cotton string. Boil a big pot water, place zhong-zi and cook until its boiled again, turn to low heat and cook another 40 - 50 mins with led on.

A good zhong-zi is well-shaped after 50 mins cooked in the boiled water. Lot of people eat with sweet-spicy sauce, I personally like original flavor with bamboo freshness. I feel I small this charming flavor only by looking at the images while I am editing this article. Maybe it's another round of zhong-zi in the Netherlands. It is just feel like summer here, so why not !!

夏天對我來說是阿嬤的季節, 端午節前後就是阿嬤的生日,從小看阿嬤包粽子學包粽子,我的夏天不管人在哪裡這個味道隨著氣溫上升滿到我的心頭.久違的部落格,我想用紀錄我跟阿嬤的點滴回歸,這也是我開始這個JiJu Cooking Fun的原因之一.