Zongzi

Zongzi

(Rice Dumplings in Bamboo Leaves)
(zong zi) A traditional Taiwanese recipe.

Ingredients
40 large bamboo leaves (2 for each zongzi)
20 long strings (for binding leaves)
1 kg uncooked glutinous rice
2 kg fatty pork, sliced into 2 to 4 cm cubes
10 salted duck's egg yolk, shelled, cut into halves
40 small dried shittake (black) mushrooms
20 dried chestnuts
10 stalks of spring onions (scallions), cut up into 1 cm lengths
1/2 kg dried radish diced very finely
100 g very small dried shrimp
200 g raw peanuts (shelled, with skins)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup rice wine
cooking oil
5 cloves of garlic, rougly crushed
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 pieces star anise

Method

Preparing ingredients

Soak rice in water for three hours, drain.
Stew pork and chestnuts for 1 hour in soy sauce, rice wine, ground pepper, 1 teaspoon of sugar. and star anise. Set aside pork and chestnuts in bowl.
Boil peanuts until tender (30 minutes to 1 hour).
Soak mushrooms until soft. Clean and cut off stalks. Stir-fry with a little liquid from the stew. Set aside in bowl.
Shell and halve the duck eggs. Set aside in bowl.
Chop up dried radish finely and stir-fry with some 1/2 teaspoon sugar and the garlic.
Stir-fry spring onions until fragrant.
Stir-fry shrimp very quickly.
In a large wok or bowl, add rice, then add spring onions, radish, shrimp, peanuts. Mix together well.


Notes
Eat zongzi plain or with a sauce of your choice. Wrapped tightly in plastic, zongzi freeze well. To reheat, thaw, and without removing the bamboo leaves, re-steam (best option), or microwave. Before micro-waving, poke a very small hole in the wrapping and pour in 1/4 of a teaspoon of water to help prevent the zongzi drying out. To test for doneness, plunge a sharp fork into the centre of the zongzi. If the pointy end of the fork is hot, so is your snack.