It’s duanwu festival (aka dragon boat festival) on 14th June 2021. Thought I should try making these rice dumplings using the traditional method i.e. wrapping with bamboo leaves. It’s quite a complex process and took me a while to get right. Need to bear in mind a couple of important points:
- Make sure the bamboo leaves fully cover the dumplings, without any leakage.
- Ensure the dumpling is secured tightly with twine. To me, this part of the process is pretty tricky.
- Failure to get these 2 points right could end up with a soggy dumpling soaking / disintegrating in the water. 😝😜🤪
INGREDIENTS
For 12 portions
Rice:
600gm glutinous rice
2 Tbsp garlic & shallot mixture
3 Tbsp oil
1.5 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1.5 Tbsp oyster sauce
3/4 tsp 5-spice powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
30 bamboo leaves
twine
Filling:
400gm pork belly (cut into 1″ pieces)
12 pcs cooked chestnut
6 pcs salted duck egg yoke (cut into 2)
6 mushrooms (soaked in hot water, drain & cut into 4)
Seasoning
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp 5-spice powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp garlic
1 tsp sugar
METHOD
1. Soak the glutinous rice and bamboo leaves separately overnight.
2. Make the filling:
- Marinate the pork belly pieces with the seasoning. Leave to marinate for 2-3 hours.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan. Add 1 tablespoon of minced garlic shallot mixture. Fry until fragrant.
- Add the marinated pork belly and fry until brown.
- Add mushrooms and chestnuts.
- Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Stir well.
- Remove from the pan and leave in the fridge overnight.
3. The next day, fry the rice:
- Add 3 tablespoons of oil to the pan.
- Add the garlic and shallot mixture and fry until fragrant.
- Add the drained glutinous rice and fry for a couple of minutes.
- Add the dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, 5-spice powder, salt and white pepper.
- Stir well for 5 minutes. Switch off the heat.
4. Wrap the dumplings:
- Use 2 pieces of bamboo leaves and make a cone.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of fried glutinous rice unto the cone. Push down with spoon, to fill the bottom of the cone.
- Add 2 pieces of pork belly, 2 pieces of mushroom, 1 chestnut and 1/2 salted egg yolk.
- Top with 2-3 tablespoons of fried glutinous rice.
- Wrap the leaves around the cone to make a pyramid shape dumpling.
- Secure tightly with twine.
5. Put all the dumplings into the pressure cooker. Add boiling water to cover the dumplings. Pressure cook on high for 45 minutes.
6. When ready, remove the dumplings to a sieve and allow the dumplings to dry out.
7. Un-wrap and serve with hoisin and chilli sauces.
