This year, '
Duan Wu Jie' falls on the 12th of June (Wednesday). As usual, week days is pretty much the busiest time for most housewives & working mothers. Most of them are trying to sneak off for more rest time by the end of the day and not many willing nor want to wrap their own dumplings or
zongzi anymore these days. So, mostly ended up buying the store bought
zongzi or special order homemade dumplings which cost about RM3.50 to $5.50 each for
savory zongzi & RM1.00 to RM1.50 each for
alkaline zongzi. I bought a few vegetarian
zongzi one week before '
Duan Wu Jie' cause my girl really loves them. My boy has never tasted any
zongzi so far. He hates pork & he never interested in any vegetarian
zongzi as well. Yeah, such a picky eater he is ! So at the very last minute, I decided to make some dumplings on this '
Duan Wu Jie'. No jokes !
haha.... I only started making them at 6pm that day but I soaked everything early in the morning. Yeap, skip dinner ! Luckily, hubby didn't complaint a thing. >o< It took me 3 hours to complete everything, from steaming the rice to wrapping and then final steaming.
Phew.... I even managed to giveaway some the same night.
These are the wrapping items that I used. You need to soaked them overnight or at least 4 hours before used. Wash & wipe dry just before used. And make sure you handle the lotus leaves with care.
Ingredients : (9-10 servings)
4 cups glutinous rice, soaked for 4 hours
5 pcs lotus leaves, soaked & halved
10 pcs zhang/bamboo leaves, soaked & trimmed both end
10 strings
300-400gm skinless mung bean, soaked for 2 hours
2 pkts of ready to use chestnuts
250gm vegetarian pork, marinade with dark sweet soy sauce
Ingredients for
rice gravy :
1-1/2 cup chicken broth (or 1-2/3 cups for softer rice)
4 TB vegetarian oyster sauce
2 TB light soy sauce
2 TB garlic oil
2 TB sesame oil
1-1/2 tspn five spice powder
1 tspn ground pepper
(combine everything & mix well)
Method :
Wash & drain the soaked rice, then steam for 30 mins without adding in water. Once the rice is ready, remove rice from steamer and straight away stir in rice gravy mixture and mix well. Then set aside.
For skinless beans, wash & drain then add in a pinch of salt and mix well. Finally, steam for 30 mins without adding in water. And set aside ready to use.
Ingredients for
stir fry dried shrimps & mushroom :
100gm dried whole shrimp, soaked
10pcs dried mushroom, soaked & sliced
100gm dried whole oyster, soaked
5 shallots, sliced
some cooking oil
Seasoning :
2 TB vegetarian oyster sauce
1 TB dark sweet soy sauce
pepper to taste
*thickening (1/3 cup water mix with 2 tpsn tapioca flour)
Method :
Heat wok or pan and saute sliced shallots & dried shrimp till fragrant. Add in mushroom & oyster and cook for about 2 mins. Then add in seasoning and following by thickening. Off the heat once the gravy became thickened. Then set aside ready to use.
TO ASSEMBLE :
(1) line lotus leaf onto working table the top with 2 pcs of zhang leaves.
(2) put on 3 spoonful of rice to the leaves then top with stir fry dried shrimp & mushroom, chestnut, vegetarian pork & 2 spoonful of cooked beans. And top with one spoonful of rice.
(3) roll the bottom lotus leaf to cover the rice, then fold in both side one by one.
(4) then again roll the parcel over to the longer side of the leaf neatly.
(5) finally, tide the parcel with reed or any string as desired. Trim off the extra reed once its done.
Here's the finishing ! Neat ya.... Finally, steam for another 45-60 mins. Yes, that quick ! Make sure you watch out the steamer water, not to let it dry out.
Now.... finally, this dumpling actually attracted the youngest guy at home...
yeap...that's my boy ! He asked for one but unable to finish up the whole thing. I think it's a bit too much for him. The size of this dumpling perfect to serve two persons. However, good that he finally tried one. :o) Enjoy & have a lovely weekend everyone.
