Zongzi
Dragon Boat Festival honors Qu Yuan, a Chinese minister & poet who drowned himself in the Milou river. The locals raced out on boats in an attempt to save this revered public figure, but unfortunately, his body was not found. It's said that they dropped balls of sticky rice into the river so that the fish wouldn't eat his body.
This incident is memorialized on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese calendar with dragon boat races and the making of a stuffed sticky rice dumpling known as Zonzgi. There are tons of versions of Zongzi from numerous countries. Some are sweet and others savory. One thing remains constant, they are addictively delicious. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS:
24 oz dried bamboo leaves
5 lbs glutinous rice
1 cup roasted peanuts
2 ¾ lbs pork butt, cubed
3 stalks green onions
5 cloves garlic
1 star anise
4 cups Coca-Cola
½ cup soy sauce
1 TBSP rice wine
2 tsp vegetable oil
12-15 large dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated
1 cup dried baby shrimp
⅓ cup dark soy sauce
24 salted duck egg yolks
20-30 cooked chestnuts
Soak dried bamboo leaves in water over night. Also soak glutinous rice in enough water to cover by a few inches for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight. The next day, soak peanuts in boiling water for 1 hour to soften.
Cut up pork butt into bite sized cubes. Add the pork to a medium sauce pan along with green onions, garlic, and star anise. Cover with Coca-Cola, soy sauce, and dash of rice wine. Bring to the boil over high heat. Once to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 ½ - 2 hours until the meat is tender but not yet falling apart.
Remove the tough stem of rehydrated dried shiitake mushrooms and cut into large chunks. Heat a medium pan over high heat and add in vegetable oil. Sauté the mushrooms for 7 minutes until they have given up their liquid. Add in dried baby shrimp along with dark soy sauce and mix to combine. Remove from the heat and set aside until needed.
Set up a station with bowls of the stewed pork butt, shrimp & mushrooms, the drained peanuts, salted duck egg yolks, and cooked chestnuts.
Place two leaves with the smooth side facing up on top of each other. Trim the hard stem end off of each leaf. Brush the top leaf lightly with vegetable oil and then arrange the leaves top to bottom and end to end so that you have a uniform thickness.
Hold both sides at about the ⅓ and ⅔ length marks and bring the ends together on the top side to create a conical V shape. Press in with your finger just right of the center to create a pleat. Continue to bring the two ends together until they overlap. Smooth out the pleat on the underside and adjust as needed making sure the size of the fold is minimal.
Place a layer of rice into the cup and spread it out into an even layer. Add in pieces of pork, mushrooms and shrimp, duck egg yolks, chestnuts, and peanuts. Add a top layer of rice, smooth over, and press it down to make it compact. Fold over the top strands of the bamboo leaves. Tuck in the sides of the base and fold over the top sides of the leaves. Pinch the top and lay the entire package top side down using gravity to keep the package closed and compact. Continue to wrap the leaves under keeping the triangular shape of the zongzi.
Tightly tie cotton twine around the zongzi making multiple loops over the folds of the leaves. Secure with a knot by wrapping a few times and pulling tightly. Continue the wrapping process until you have 25 - 35 zongzi. To cook, boil them in water, on a low simmer, for 2 hours.
