端午節粽 Zongzi

端午節粽 Zongzi

1st June 2017 3 By livinguktaiwan

端午節吃粽子通常都會到街上買,因為自己包的真要很用心及花上非常多時間。

For those who don’t know what these little parcels are, they are rice dumplings or zongzi and are traditionally eaten at the Dragon Boat Festival around June each year.

粽葉及米要先浸好,各樣餡料又要切,又要煮及調味,之後粽子還要煲上一、兩小時才完成。其中包粽子就最講究技巧,一方面要確保餡料全部包在米內,另一方面既要保持粽子的特別鑽石形外觀,也要在煮的過程中不會因膨脹而裂開。少一點心力或不花上一整天時間也不行。

Glutinous rice is lined on the inside of the bamboo leaves, then different fillings  such as belly pork, egg yolk, peanuts, dried Chinese mushroom is placed on top of the rice. Finally the dumpling is carefully folded into its unique diamond shape.  The whole process takes quite a lot of time and effort as you have to pre soak the rice and bamboo leaves, prep all the filling, and then boil the dumpling for a couple of hours.  Wrapping and tying the dumpling into the diamond shape is an art in itself, and is quite difficult to master.  You have to make sure the rice is wrapped all around the filling, and that there is no leakage when the dumpling is boiled.

所以剛過去的端午節,收到幾位臺灣朋友送上的自家制粽子真的很窩心。它們不單是紀念端午節,或是傳統小吃,或小禮物那麼簡單。每一隻粽子裡其實也包含著友誼,愛心及溫馨。謝謝妳們噢 !
All these zongzi here are hand made by friends in Taiwan.  Each zongzi is unique, as is each friend.  To me, they’re not just a celebration of an old Chinese festive season, a traditional snack and a gift.   They are a sign of friendship, warmth and love from people whom I’ve only known for a few months.   Thank you.