la Page de Colette: Cooking Class for May- Zongzi

Today was yet another in the series of monthly classes. Winnie, who schedules the classes and owns the restaurant is working hard to make the classes relevant to us by asking which dish we would like to make, as well as incorporating traditional seasonal Chinese foods. Last month we had one of each; the beef was a special request, and the steamed green dumpling was in honor of grave sweeping day.

On May 28, some Chinese will celebrate Dragon Boat Festival. According to wikipedia, the holiday commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period. Qu Yuan tried unsuccessfully to warn his king and countrymen against the expansionism of their Qin neighbors. When the Qin Dynasty general Bai Qi took Yingdu, the Chu capital, in 278 BC, Qu Yuan's grief was so intense that he drowned himself in the Miluo river after penning the Lament for Ying. According to legend, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eating the poet's body. Another version states that zongzi were given to placate a dragon that lived in the river. So now, the tradition is to make these steamed ride dumplings.

While traditional Chinese zongzi are wrapped in bamboo leaves, the leaves of lotus, maize, banana, canna, shell ginger or pandan leaves are sometimes used as substitutes in other cultures. Each kind of leaf imparts its own unique smell and flavor to the rice. The fillings used for zongzi vary from region to region, but the rice used is always glutinous rice (also called sticky or sweet rice). Today, we made "sweet" zongzi.

Since the recipe is actually quite simple, the demonstration was really about how to stuff, fold and tie the dumplings. The chef (the same one who showed us the butterfly steamed buns- or lotus buns- expertly folded the leaves, placed the rice and with a few quick flicks of her wrists, had the damn things folded, looking like triangles and tied. Needless to say, we were not as adept. It was fun trying, and as usual we were able to take the fruits of our labor home with us to steam. It's good to know, and if I can find other recipes for fillings, I think that I would love to make these in the future.

So here is the recipe:

Zongzi

150 grams of dry red beans
500 grams of glutinous rice
Dried bamboo leaves
string for tying

1. Wash glutinous rice with water and soak for 2 hours or more
2. Clean red beans, and mix with rice (after the rice has soaked)
3. Place the leaves in water for a bit
To assemble the dumpling:
**4. Overlap 2 bamboo leaves lengthwise, with the leaf vein away from you. Fold into a cone and fill with some glutinous rice. Depending on the size of the leaf, the filling may be as much as a third cup. Fold the overhanging edge over, pinch over the existing sides and press down to compress the dumpling. Using the string, tie in to a pyramid shape. Secure the string tightly.
5. Steam at high heat, to start, then at lower heat for 4 hours.
**Perhaps look online for photographic instructions. I think that as long as the leaf edges are tight, it does not matter about the shape of the dumpling.

We were served these at lunch which followed the demonstration. Although they are called sweet dumplings, they are really not sweet at all. I guess what they mean is that they are not savory. So it is suggested that you put a small bowl of sugar to dip the dumplings in before you eat them. Some people suggested syrup. I thought that maybe a black sesame sugared paste might actually be quite tasty.