Zongzi

Well, I guess I managed to find the time to prepare quite a few CNY goodies this year. I can't believe how adventurous I'm being, in terms of cooking new foods. I had never made Nian Gao before... but now I can say that I did. All that's left is for me to attempt the ever popular Zongzi. Would I do it? Of course...

Zongzi

Ingredients:

- 650g glutinous rice, soaked overnight and drained

- Dried bamboo leaves, boiled, washed and soaked

- Hemp strings

- 1 bag of redbean paste

Method:

1. Boil a large pot of water; add in the bamboo leaves and string and continue to boil water for 10minutes.

2. Stop boiling, but keep leaves and string soaking until ready for use.

3. Roll paste into balls and set aside.

4. Take two leaves, and form a cone out of them. Fill the cone half-way with glutinous rice, then add a ball of bean paste. Continually tap the filling, to ensure that it is being firmly packed down. Top off the cone with some more glutinouse rice.

5. Wrap up the zongzi and then tie them up with the string.

6. Boil a large pot of water and drop in the zongzi. Boil for 1 hr, remove and serve.

We love to eat our sweet Zongzi dipped in granulated sugar, brown sugar or really any type of sweetner (condensed milk could be good with it too... albeit strange). My parents were quite impressed with the rice dumplings I made, and were amazed at my "wrapping-job" knowing that this was my first attempt at working with bamboo leaves. Hmmm... what can I say, I have a gift!