Zongzi (glutinous rice dumpling)

Besides mooncake, Zongzi (glutinous rice dumpling) is another Chinese traditional food specially linked to a festival, Duanwu festival, which is celebrated in the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. When I was small, I only had the chance to eat them during the festival. The making of Zongzi is time consuming and it needs the special leaves, such as the bamboo leaves or reed leaves to wrap the glutinous rice. I did not remember the details how my mother made them. I only remember that my mother was busy preparing for making them even a day ahead the festival. She soaked the glutinous rice and the dried bamboo leaves in the water and cooked the fillings for the dumplings. The next day, mum would wrap the dumplings with leaves and tie them using strings. I tried to help mum wrap them, but I gave up. I think wrapping them is the most difficult part of making Zongzi. A lot of practice is needed to make sure that they have right shape and won`t loose up. After being wrapped, they are put into the steamer. We still need the patience to enjoy them. They will be ready after steaming for more than an hour. When I grew up and the income of our family increased, we did not make them at home anymore and we bought them for the festival. But the Zongzisi that I ate in my hometown are all sweet. The fragrance of the leaves, the smoothness of the sticky rice and the sweetness of the fillings, which contain usually the red bean paste or jujube, makes me long for the Duanwu festival each year. When I grew up and left my hometown, I had the chance to taste the Zongzi from different regions of China. There is a large variety of Zongzi. They have different fragrances depending on the wrapping leaves and they may have different shapes depending on the wrapping methods. The Zongzi my be savory or sweet since different regions use different fillings. I like them all. This week when I passed through the pastry shop in Chinatown, I was attracted by a pleasant poster fixed on the shopping window. This is a huge Zongzi cut into halves showing the golden egg yolk and other fillings inside. In Chinese, it is written GuoZhengZong. Guo means wrapping, zheng means steaming. I know this name represents the well-known savory glutinous rice dumpling in one region of the Canton province, situated in the south of China. The dumpling in my hometown has four faces of triangle. The GuoZhengZong has a shape of pyramid. It is wrapped using a king of leaves that only grow in that region which provides a unique fragrance to the rice inside. The leaves also prevent the food from perishing. It uses green bean, seasoned pork, and salted egg yolk as stuffing. I ate it once when I was in China. Although this season is not the Duanwu festival, I still want to eat it. One Zongzi is big enough for my lunch.  If you taste one, you will understand why it becomes so well-known in China.