Recipe for Making Zhongzi (粽⼦子) by Susan Man

The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar at the beginning of the summer season. The festival commemorates the
death of the exiled patriot and poet Qu Yuan who lived in ancient China in third century BC. During the two-day holiday, the more athletic celebrants take part in dragon-boat races which reenact the frantic efforts of fishermen who raced to try to save the beloved poet from drowning. The more literary celebrants recite the poems of Qu Yuan to keep his spirit alive. And ALL of us take part in making and eating zhongzi (粽⼦子), bundles of sticky rice that the fishermen threw into the water to divert demons and fish from Qu Yuan’s body when it became obvious that he had died.
Although, zhongzi is a national dish in China, there are many regional variations on how to make them. There are savory or sweet ones; there are big and small ones; there are simple ones with a few ingredients and there are those stuffed to the gills with all sorts of delicacies. The Cantonese style is savory, big, and filled with everything you’ve ever loved in the Chinese cuisine! You may have guessed that the types sold in stores as “Cantonese Zhongzi” bears little resemblance to what you make yourself.
The best time to make zhongzi is, of course, during the Dragon Boat Festival. The ingredients are easily available and on sale! The key to success is organization and preparation. I usually make zhongzi sixty or more at a time (using a 10 pound bag of sticky rice). I feed them to my family until they resist, give them away to my friends, and freeze them later use. They freeze particularly well, and each zhongzi is good for a meal, especially nice when paired with a salad.
Ingredients
• Bamboo leaves
• String (to tie the zhongzi)
• Sticky rice, also known as glutinous rice (soaked at least 2 hours)
• Mung beans, hulled and split (soaked with the sticky rice)
• Peanuts (soaked at least 2 hours)
• Dried black-eyed peas (soaked at least 2 hours)
• Boneless pork butt (sliced and marinaded at least 4 hours in soy sauce, sugar, rice wine, and garlic powder)
• Chinese sausages (cut into small pieces about ½ inch)
• Chinese mushrooms (sliced and marinaded at least 4 hours in soy sauce, sugar, rice wine)
• Dried shrimp (soaked at least 2 hours)
• Dried scallops (soaked at least 2 hours)
• Salted duck eggs (optional)
Preparation
1. Prepare the bamboo leaves carefully. Choose leaves that are flexible, large, and will not split.
2. Clean the sticky rice, rinsing until the water no longer is cloudy. Add salt (about 1 teaspoon per pound of rice) and soak at least 4 hours.
3. Add mung beans that have been rinsed.
4. Lay out all ingredients along with the bamboo leaves and string.
5. Wrap the zhongzi carefully taking care the rice will not leak out during cooking. Add prepared ingredients as desired. Many videos are available on YouTube showing how to wrap the zhongzi. My method works well for the larger Cantonese zhongzi.
6. Boil in slightly salted water for approximately three hours.
Tips
• The best tip in successful zhongzi making is to properly prepare the bamboo leaves. They impart a distinctive flavor to the zhongzi and soft, flexible, and sufficiently large bamboo leaves will making making zhongzi a snap! I boil them at least 15 minutes to clean and soften them and leave them soaking until ready to use. They should be warm during the wrapping.
• Have a code to determine the type of ingredients inside by the string. My code is to use a loop for the salted duck egg, two short strings for vegan (no meat), and a long and short string for carnivores.
• Boil zhongzi separately for those who are vegan, vegetarian, or have allergies
(such as a peanut or seafood allergies).
• As my vegan granddaughter is staying with me this summer, I am especially taken by how healthy this dish can be with a mixture of rice, beans, peanuts, and mushrooms. Mung beans in particular are especially healthy as they are a type of soy bean. I cook the vegan zhongzi separately.
• Be particularly aware of those with peanut allergies. I cook those zhongzi with peanuts separately.
• The basic marinade I use is ¼ cup soy sauce, ¼ cup sugar, and 1 Tablespoon rice wine. It can be adjusted according to use.
• I use an electric pressure called an Instant Pot that shortens the cooking time to 30 minutes. This is a wonderful appliance that I use constantly in my kitchen for soups, stews, braising tough cuts of meats.
• When reheating zhongzi you can boil it in water (slightly salted) or steam it. I get slightly less good outcome by using the microwave oven.