ZongZi in November

ZongZi (粽子) is one of my favorite foods. When I was growing up, the best time was ZongZi trading. Each family made its own and traded with friends and neighbors. Mom always put little ribs in hers, instead of boneless meat like others. My best friend’s mom made big fat ones that has peanuts, chestnuts, marinated egg, plus a chunk of meat. Another one made ones without any fillings, only 4 kinds of grains. Some made native Taiwan style that stir-fry the ingredients before wrapping it in the bamboo leaves. We kids always had a blast eating all those different ZongZis. Happy time.

Legend has it that ancient Chinese wrapped rice in bamboo leaves and threw them into the river so that fish won’t disturb a belove poet and politician, Qu Yuan (屈原), who threw himself into the river. Dragon boat racing was to memorize the effort to save him.

Every region in China has a unique ZongZi style. Northern China has simpler recipes, usually with sweet rice and dates. Southern China ones are far more elaborate. The ShangHai style is probably the most celebrated and recognized one. Most famous restaurants immitate it. The foodies would request the HuZhou (æ¹–å·ž) style to be authentic.

In modern time, few families make ZongZi anymore; store-bought ones are easy and tasty too. My kids grew up, however, knowing that Mom will make them every lunar May, as predictable as moon cake and Thanksgiving turkey. The process fascinated them and the end products are so much yummier. When they moved away to colleges, they found the need to learn the skills. That’s why we are having ZongZi in November.

The problem is, like most master chefs, Mom never had the recipe. She improvised and eye-balled. “I add soy sauce until it feels right,” she said. This time, I observed and recorded the steps.

Cut pork into strips roughly the size of your thumb, or about 1.5 oz. Marinate in soy sauce over-night, add black pepper to taste.

Rinse, then soak the rice for about 2 hours. Drain away water. Add Soy sauce until the rice are evenly colored.

Soak dried shrimps and mushroom in warm water until soft. Cut off mushroom stems and scissor them into thin strips.

Rinse bamboo leaves with boiling water. Scissor off the head of the stem. Wipe off excessive water. Set aside for cool.

Put two leaves together. Fold them into a cup, put rice to about a third, then shrimps, 2 pieces of meat, and mushroom strips. Fill the rest with more rice. Fold close the leaves. Tie it like a roast. (You must see pictures for this.)

Boil water. Put ZongZis in. Bring to boil and turned down to simmer. Cook for 90 minutes. Turn off heat. Soak for another hour. Reduce soak time for later batches.