Yields about 8 Zong Zi (about 100 g for one uncooked Zong Zi)

• 400 g                                  glutinous rice 白糯米
  20                                       dried bamboo leaves (larger size easier to wrap) 粽叶
  10                                       straw ties, or kitchen twine 棕绳
  200g                                  pork belly, skin removed, cut into small strips of 16 pieces五花肉
  4                                         salted duck egg, halved咸鸭蛋
• 4                                         dried Shiitake mushrooms (soaked in the hot water for 20 minutes before use)香菇
• 60g                                      Jinghua ham (or Spanish ham), cut into 8 small cubes金华火腿
• 8                                         chestnuts (ideally fresh chestnuts. If dried one, need soak them in hot water for 4 hours.), cut it into half size去皮板栗

Rice Marinade

4 tablespoons                 light soy sauce生抽

Pork Belly Marinade
1 tablespoon                   light soy sauce生抽
1/2 tablespoon                dark soy sauce老抽

1/2 tablespoon                 sugar白糖
1 tablespoon                    Chinese cooking wine料酒
1 teaspoon                        five spice powder五香粉
4                                          slices of ginger 姜片
2                                          spring onions, chopped to the length of 5cm香葱

 Method

1. Rinse the bamboo leaves and straw ties thoroughly in running water, then put in a large tub with hot water to soak for an hour or so.  When the water has cooled, check to see if the leaves are bendable.  If still stiff, refresh the tub with hot water and soak another hour. If you use cold water, repeat the above process by just leaving the dry leaves in the water overnight. Once the leaves are completely bendable without breakage they are ready to use.  Keep them soaking in the water until you use them.
2. Rinse the rice and soak for an hour in cool water.  Strain out water thoroughly then mix in light soy sauce.  Let marinate for another hour.
3. Remove the pork belly skin. Slice the meat into 16 pieces (make sure meat and fat are equally split). Mix in the marinade, cover and refrigerate for an hour or so.  Note here: you cannot substitute pork for pork fat.  It just won’t work and you’ll get a dried out tough piece of meat inside your Zong zi instead of meltingly pull-apart pork and the fragrant taste of pork fat infused through the whole dumpling.  Pork fat? Yes, any fat is delicious. You probably eat Zong zi only once a year. So go for it!
4. Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in boiling hot water (just barely cover). When the mushrooms are soft through, take them out, give them a squeeze to get rid of excess water and half each mushroom. Wash the black stuff off duck eggs, then break open the eggs and remove the hard yellow yolk inside, cut into halves and put aside. Cut the Jinghua ham into 16 equal pieces. Steam the ham with 20g sugar (rock sugar is ideal) for about 20 minutes.
5. Now let’s assemble. With all the prepared ingredients at hand, take two bamboo leaves and cut off the hard tips at the base.  Put them side by side, overlapping by 1cm or so (depends on your leaf size).  It should feel structurally like one leaf and not two.  Fold the base up by around 10cm and then immediately fold in the right hand side of leaf structure by approx 5cm to create a sturdy little pocket as per the photo below. There should be no opening at the bottom otherwise the rice might escape during cooking later.
6. Hold this pocket together with one hand, use the other hand to scoop 3 tablespoons of rice into the pocket, then you can pile on 2 pork pieces (making sure each dumpling has pork fat in it), 1 halved salted egg, 2 quarters of mushrooms, 1 piece ham and 2 chestnut pieces. Finally add 1 more tablespoon of rice to the top.
7. Now comes the tricky part. Hold zong zi longwise from your body.  Fold over right bit of bamboo leaf (sticking out beyond your fillings) snuggly over the fillings, then fold left bit of bamboo leaf over that and tuck it under your thumb as per the photo below.  Try to get a snug fit of leaves over fillings, not packed but snug.  Do not squeeze the zong zi while you’re holding it or else the rice will come out packed and sticky instead of fluffy. Gentle cradling is the operative word here, I think.

You should have enclosed all the zong zi fillings and rice with this last fold.  Now you will only have a the remaining tip of the bamboo leaf (sticking towards you at this point) to fold.  Grab it and pull slightly to create snug fit.  Pinch the leaves together along the bottom edge of zong zi and fold upwards and tuck again under your thumb.  The dumpling should be completely wrapped by the bamboo leaves now.  Use scissor to cut off any protruding leaf tips or just tuck them under.

Grab a tie or string with your free hand.  Wrap around the top of the zong zi once and tie a knot.  Then wrap the straw tie (or string) around and around as snuggly as you can, again not squeezing the zong zi to death at any time, until you reach the bottom and then tie off with another secure knot.  Cut off any loose ends and you have wrapped your zong zi!

How to cook Zongzi

1. Add enough water to cover Zongzi and then bring to a boil. Simmer for 90 minutes and then soak for around 1 hour after turning off the heat.
2. Remove the leaves and serve directly.

Named after the 2500-year-old Chinese ancient gastronomic capital, the dish is the most well-known fried rice home and abroad. Yangzhou, the cradle of the huái yáng cuisine淮阳菜系, was then one of the most polished cities in the world during its heydays in the Tang and Qing. Fry the rice first then pour into the beaten egg, the golden liquid of the egg will nicely coat each grain of the rice.

Serves 3-4,

• 2-3                         dried shiitake mushrooms, softened and diced 香菇切丁
• 25g                        fresh or frozen peas 豌豆
• 25g                       carrot, peeled and diced，胡萝卜丁
• 8-10                      shelled shrimp, deveined，虾，去皮
• 600g                     cold, cooked Thai fragrant rice (1 cup/250g when uncooked)，煮熟的泰国香米
• 2                           large eggs, beaten
• 30g                       Chinese or Spanish cured ham, diced，火腿丁
• 3 tablespoons    vegetable oil
• ¼ teaspoon         salt (or a pinch of salt to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon        ground white pepper 白胡椒粉
• 1 tablespoon       light soy sauce，生抽
• 2                            spring onions, thinly sliced, 葱花

Method

1. Cover the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water and leave to soak for 30 minutes (you should keep the brownish water left as it can be used as ‘stock’ later when frying the rice.). Then remove the stalk. Cut the ham, shiitake mushroom caps into small dice. Thinly slice the spring onions. Beat the eggs. Break the rice up into small clumps to make it easier to fry.
2. Heat up around 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in wok over medium heat and fry green peas and diced carrots for 2-3 minutes or until softened. Add diced shiitake mushroom and cook for another 1 minute. Transfer out. Heat up 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in the same wok to fry shrimp until slightly seared. Transfer out. This takes about 1 minute.
3. Place rice in wok and dig a small hole in the center of the rice. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and pour in the beaten egg. Give a quick stir so the egg and rice can be mixed well quickly.
4. Add green beans, carrots, mushroom, shrimp, ham, light soy sauce, sprinkle pinch of salt and white pepper. Give everything a big stir-fry and mix well. Add 1-2 tablespoon of brownish shiitake mushroom ‘stock’ and add green onion and fry for another 30 seconds.

 Tips

1. Thai fragrant rice is ideal for cooking fried rice. Soft rice is not a good option. If you happen to have soft rice grains (e.g. Japanese rice. you can slightly reduce the water when steaming the rice. So the grains are harder and better for fried rice.

Serves 2-4,

• 1 (about 400g)                 bitter gourd凉瓜, thinly sliced, cut in 5cm in length
• 2 tablespoons                  cooking oil
• 3 cloves                             garlic, minced 蒜末
• 1 tablespoon                   fermented soy beans, carefully washed and minced 豆豉，洗净切碎
• 3-4                                     bird red chili, roughly chopped， 泰辣椒，切碎
• 1 tablespoon                   light soy sauce生抽
• 1 tablespoon                   Chinese cooking wine料酒
• 1 teaspoon                       caster sugar白砂糖

Method

1. Cut the bitter gourd in half. Take one half, split it from the middle, use a spoon to remove the seeds and the white inner membrane. Sliced the cleaned gourd into strips in 5cm in length.
2. Heat the 2 tablespoons cooking oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add minced garlic, fried for 1 minute till fragrant, add gourd strips, stir fry for another 1 minute. Add fermented soy beans and chili and stir fry for 1 minute.
3. Add cooking wine and light soy sauce, mix well with rest of the ingredients in the pan and stir fry for 1 minute. Lastly, add sugar in the frying pan and stir for 1 minute.
4. Plate it and Serve.

 

 

bái zhuó, one of the unique cooking methods in Chinese cookery and the healthiest and tastiest ways to cook your favorite vegetables. The dish contains only four ingredients and takes five minutes to put together.

Serves 2-4

• 250g           Baby Kai Lan (or chopped big Kai Lan) 小芥蓝
• 1 tablespoon     light soy sauce 生抽
• 1 tablespoon     cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon     Chinese Goji berries 枸杞子, soaked in the water for 20 minutes
• Water for poaching

 Method

1. Bring water to a boil in a big pot. When water is boiling, turn down heat to medium high. Carefully add 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil in the water. Turn up the heat. Working quickly, cook the kai lan for about 1-2 minute in the water. I would do this in small batches.
2. Place the Kai Lan in a serving plate. Place Goji berries on top of the vegetable. Drizzle a tablespoon of soy sauce over the plated Kai Lan.
3. Serve