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Chinese Name: 粽子
English Name: Zongzi; Dumplings; Traditional Chinese Rice-pudding
Category: Snack小吃
Main Ingredients: Glutinous rice
Zongzi粽子 is a kind of food made by steaming glutinous rice wrapped in Zongye粽叶. It is one of the traditional festival foods of the Han nationality汉族 in China. Dumplings, as one of the most profound traditional foods in Chinese history and culture, have also spread far. The custom of eating dumplings at the Dragon Boat Festival端午节 has been popular in China for thousands of years, and has spread to North Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
The main materials of dumplings are glutinous rice and stuffing, which are wrapped with Ruo leaves箬叶 (or new leaves柊叶, Acanthus ilicifolius cotyledons簕古子叶, etc.). The shapes of dumplings are various, including sharp angles, quadrangles, and so on. Zongzi has a long history. It was originally used as a tribute to the ancestors and gods.
As early as the Ming明朝 and Qing Dynasties清朝, dumplings wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and their fillings appeared bean paste, pine nut kernel, jujube, walnut, red bean and so on. “Ham zongzi火腿粽子” also appeared in the Qing Dynasty. Dumplings became auspicious food in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to legend, before going to the examination room, all scholars who took part in the imperial examination at that time had to eat the “pen Zong笔粽” specially wrapped for them at home. It looked slender and very like a brush, homonymous with “must win必中” in order to win favor.
The name of dumplings is different in the South and the north. The north is rich in millet. Make dumplings with millet and make dumplings into horn shapes. In ancient times, it was called “horn millet角黍” in the north. Due to different eating habits, dumplings have formed a north-south flavor. In terms of taste, dumplings can be divided into salty dumplings and sweet dumplings. Northerners eat more sweet dumplings, while southerners prefer salty dumplings.
Until today, every year in the early May of the lunar calendar农历, Chinese people have to soak glutinous rice, wash Zongye and wrap dumplings, with a wide variety of designs and colors. From the stuffing, there are Beijing jujube dumplings wrapped with red dates in the north. In the south, there are mung beans, streaky pork, bean paste, Babao, ham, mushroom, egg yolk and other fillings, including Guangdong salted meat dumplings and Zhejiang Jiaxing dumplings.
How to make Zongzi?
Ingredients：
- 1000g glutinous rice
- 400g Zongye粽叶
- 50g raisins
- 100g jujube
Instruction:
- Step 1, Wash the leaves of the dumplings and put them into the pot. Add water and cook them soft. Then remove them and drain them.
- Step 2, Wash the glutinous rice, drain and set aside.
- Step 3, Put the jujube into a bowl, steam it soft, take it out, and remove the core while it is hot. Then dry clean the grapes and drain them.
- Step 4, Take 3 pieces of the leaves of the dumplings with rough surfaces facing each other. First, put 1 / 3 glutinous rice in it, then add honey dates and little raisins, then put 2 / 3 glutinous rice into triangular zongzi, and finally tie it tightly with a rope.
- Step 5, Put the wrapped zongzi into the pot, add water, cook over high heat for about 2 hours, and then simmer over low heat for about 3 hours.
Tips:
- Zongzi should not be eaten cold but must be eaten hot. Because the main ingredient of zongzi is glutinous rice, the content of amylopectin is high. After the glutinous rice is heated, the amylopectin contained in it will gelatinize, which is conducive to being decomposed by digestive enzymes and easier to digest. But once cooled, starch is not easy to digest.
- When eating dumplings, it’s best to drink some tea at the same time to help swallowing and digestion.
- Eating dumplings should be accompanied by cold green vegetables and fruit salad to alleviate gastrointestinal discomfort.
