Dragon Boat Festival: Myths, Legends & Recipes for Rice Dumplings (端午節)

Happy Duanwu Festival

This blog post is resulted from a very interesting exchange with friends on Facebook yesterday, after I shared pictures of Zongzi (Sticky Rice Dumplings). As you know, many Chinese traditional festivals are associated with food one way or another, and in the case of Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on the 23rd of June this year, there are various legends and myths surrounding the origin of why we eat Zongzi, race dragon boats and drink realgar wine on this particular day.

Duanwu_Festival is celebrated in China, in many other parts of Asia as well as overseas on the fifth day of May (hence also known as Double Fifth) according to the lunar Chinese calendar. Consequently the date varies each year according to the Western Sun calendar.

One of the most popular myths is associated with the death of Chinese poet Qu Yuan, who has written a number of much loved poetry and served the King of Kingdom Chu during the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty. When his beloved kingdom was taken by the enemy Qin, the patriotic poet threw himself into the Miluo river and drowned himself. Legends had it that in order to avoid the poet being consumed by fish, the local people made rice dumplings to throw into the river. They also went to the river with their boats searching for his body and scaring the fish from eating him, hence the birth of Dragon Boat racing.

Dragon Boat Racing in Guangdong Province in China

You can read more on Duanwu_Festival – that is why we have Wikipedia I shall, however, entertain you with how to make Rice Dumplings as there are dozens of ways to do it. For the really adventurous, I am including one recipe in English and one in Chinese.

Now sit back and enjoy the feast through the pictures. If you have a local Chinese supermarket, or a good Chinese restaurant near you, treat yourself. Love it or hate it, you’ll remember the wonderful myths that come with it.

Zongzi (Chinese: 粽子) is a traditional Chinese food made of glutinous rice, stuffed with different fillings, and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. It is steamed or boiled.

Ingredients (20 Zongzi)

40 large dried bamboo leaves (2 for each)
20 long strings (for binding leaves)
1 kg sticky rice
2 kg pork belly, sliced into 3 cm (1″) cubes
10 salted duck’s egg yolks
40 small dried shiitake mushrooms
20 dried, shelled chestnuts
10 spring onions, cut up into 1 cm (1/2″) lengths
500 g dried radish
100 g very small dried shrimp
200 g raw, shelled peanuts (leave them out if you are allergic to nuts)
1/2 cup soy sauce

Zongzi with Red Beans

1/4 cup rice wine
Vegetable oil
5 cloves of garlic, roughly crushed
1 teaspoon black pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 star anise
1 teaspoon five spice powder

Cooking Method 

1. 

   Zongzi with Pork

   Soak rice in water for three hours, drain.

2. Stir-fry pork for a few minutes. Add chestnuts, soy sauce, rice wine, ground pepper, 1 teaspoon of sugar, star anise and five spice powder, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 1 hour. Remove pork and chestnuts from liquid and set aside.
3. Boil peanuts until tender (30 minutes to 1 hour).
4. Soak mushrooms until soft. Clean and trim stalks. Cut into 2 or 3 pieces. Stir-fry with a little liquid from pork stew.
5. Halve duck egg yolks.
6. Chop up dried radish finely and stir-fry with 1/2 teaspoon sugar and garlic.
   

   肉松糯米盏

7. Stir-fry spring onions until fragrant.
8. Stir-fry shrimp for a few minutes.
9. To a large wok or bowl, add rice, peanuts, radish, shrimp, spring onions, a little liquid from the stew mixture and 2 tablespoons of oil. Mix well.

How to Wrap Zongzi

1. Soak bamboo leaves in warm water for 5 minutes to tenderise,
2. Take 2 leaves with leaf stem or spine facing out. Overlap them lengthwise in inverse directions (pointed end of one leaf facing the rounded end of the other).
3. With both hands hold leaves to make a leaf pouch that you cup firmly in one hand.
4. Add a small amount of rice mixture, compressing with a spoon.
5. Add 1 piece each of pork, chestnut, mushroom, duck egg yoke.
6. Add more rice until you have nearly a full pouch. Compress firmly with a spoon.
7. Fold leaves over the open top of zongzi, then around to side until zongzi is firmly wrapped. Zongzi should be pyramid shaped with sharp edges and pointed ends. Trim off any excess leaf with scissors.
8. Tie up zongzi tightly just like shoes laces with a double knot.
9. *Steam for 1 hour, unwrap and serve.

健康素粽

材料：三宝米 3碗、棉绳1米、萝卜干1/2杯、香菇6朵、粉叶12片、栗子6粒、水煮花生1/2杯、素蛋黄60g、素肉松30g.

调味料：

1、黑胡椒粉1/8小匙、糖1/8小匙、麻油1/4小匙、酱油1/4小匙。

2、盐、白胡椒粉、素蚝油各少许。

做法：

1、将粽叶以热水煮8分钟，洗净擦干水分备用。

Serve with Chilli or sauce of your choice

2、萝卜干泡水10分钟后切碎并挤干水分；香菇泡软切块；栗子泡水2小时，香菇、栗子蒸熟(约15~20分钟)。

3、先将碎萝卜干、香菇丁及调味料, 炒香备用。

4、煮好的三宝米加入调味料拌匀。

5、粽叶2片重迭，卷成尖桶状，放入2大匙做法之三宝米，再放入1小匙碎萝卜干、香菇丁、栗子、素蛋黄、素肉松，再放1大匙三宝米，稍压一下，包成粽状，用棉绳捆紧。

6、置入蒸笼蒸10分钟即可。

More recipes here. More links: China Highlights; DuanWuJie; Zongzi Pictures & Variety.

You can also follow this two-minute video instruction on YouTube