Saturday, December 11, 2010

Bak Chang (Savoury Rice Dumpling) 咸肉粽子 - Featured in Group Recipes

I know now is not the right time to introduce glutinous rice dumpling, as Dumpling festival
(端午節) which traditionally is celebrated in June (fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar) was long overdue. However, since we migrated to NZ we didn't have a chance to eat nice Malaysian made Bak Chang (in Hokkien) a.k.a. zhong Zhi粽子.

Even though we could get sticky rice dumplings here in Asian shops but they were mostly Mainland China flavoured, the taste was very much different from the Malaysian style savoury rice dumplings. Thanks to my Taiwanese classmate Lily and Linda, I got to taste Taiwanese flavour bak chang too. Nevertheless, we still missed Penang Nyonya bak chang, especially those made by Ray's auntie. Hubby loves her bak chang very much, he can wallop 4 sticky rice dumplings in one go!

With Chef Ah Lan around, of course Bak Chang was one of the long overdue order placed with herJ. Even though this was not rice dumplings time, we still managed to get the right ingredients to make them. I suppose this sticky rice dumpling has been blended in our daily meal and no longer served as seasonal meal.

Bak Chang (Savoury Rice Dumpling) 咸肉粽子- Featured for Dec 10th
To many, the making of Bak Chang is rated at difficult level, especially on the wrapping and tying parts. The wrapping method involves making 2 sheets of bamboo leaves into a cone shape, stuffing in the fillings and wrapped into pyramid shape and finally secured with hemp. It is really not as easy as it sounds. If any one of the steps isn't done properly, then the bak chang will slip open while being boiled. I had attempted to wrap 5 dumplings and had one fell out. L But as a beginner with passing rate of 80%, I reckoned it was not a bad start after all, wasn't it? I believe practice makes perfect, I hope gradually I will master it.

Below is the video clip showing the making process and the right technique of wrapping bak chang.




BAK CHANG (RICE DUMPLINGS)


INGREDIENTS
60 pieces dried bamboo leaves (soaked overnight)
2.5 kg glutinous rice, (soaked overnight or at least 4-6 hours, drained)
20 pieces Mushroom (soaked and drained, cut into half)
200g Dried Shrimps (soaked and drained)
200g Chestnuts (soaked overnight, cleaned)
600g Pork belly cut into 30 pieces
250g shallots (cut into thin slices)
100g Peanuts (boil to cooked, drained)
Cooking oil
30-40 Hemp/raffia strings to tie

Optional fillings
Salted duck egg yolk
Dried oyster
Dried Chinese sausage

Glutinous Rice Seasoning:
Dark soya sauce  - mix till brown colour to your liking
2 tbsp Five spice powder
Salt  - to your taste
Pinch of pepper

Pork belly marinade:
1 tbsp of five spice powder2-3 tbsp dark soya sauce – until  dark colour to your liking)
4-5 Light soya sauce
Pinch of pepper

(Make 30 dumplings)

MEHTOD

FILLINGS:
1.  Heat up wok with enough oil to brown shallots, dish up set aside.
2.  Heat up enough cooking oil to sauté mushroom, chestnuts and dried shrimp by batches until
dry and fragrant. Dish up.
3.  Marinate pork belly for at least 2 hours (We marinate overnight).
4.  Heat up 2 tbsp oil, stir fry pork belly for a minute. Dish up
5.  Heat up enough cooking oil, pour in glutinous rice add in peanuts and seasoning, stir fry glutinous rice until well blend, taste test as you go. Dish up to a big basin.

WRAPPING :
6.  Using 2 pieces of the bamboo leave turn or shape into a cone, half fill with glutinous rice, add a piece of pork, mushroom, portion, chestnut and few dried shrimps and cover with glutinous rice to the top. Lightly press and cover with the extended ends of leaves and form into the shape of dumplings.
7.   Wrap up the leave and seal tight with a hemp or rafia string to secure the cone.
8.   Boil a large pot of water, twist the bundles of dumplings and drop in and boil for 2 hours over medium slow fire. Top constantly with boiling water to maintain level of water at all times.
9.   When cooked, remove the dumplings and hang to drip dry.

Note:
The dumplings must be immersed in boiling water all the time during cooking.

肉粽子

馅料制作材料:
60片干竹叶(浸泡一夜)
2.5公斤糯米,(浸泡至少4-6小时或隔夜,沥干)
20 朵香菇(泡软,沥干,切半)
200克虾米(浸软,沥干)
200克栗子(洗净浸泡过夜,沥干)
600克五花肉(切成30块)
250克葱头(切成薄片)
100克花生(煮熟,沥干)
食用油
麻绳/草绳,作捆系粽子用
可选的馅料
咸鸭蛋黄
蚝豉
中式香肠

糯米调味料:
适量老抽调到深棕色
2汤匙五香粉
适量盐你的口味
少许胡椒粉

五花肉腌料:
一汤匙五香粉
2-3汤匙老抽 -调到深棕色
4-5汤匙酱油
少许胡椒粉

(30枚粽子)


做法:


1。烧热镬,倒入适量食油爆炒葱头,盛起备用。
2。烧热油分批爆香蘑菇,板栗,虾米至干盛起备用。
3。五花肉腌至少2小时(我们腌过夜)
4。烧热2汤匙油,翻炒五花肉一分钟盛起备用.
5。烧热适量油,倒入糯米加入花生及调味料,翻炒至糯米搅拌均匀,测试口味后盛起在一个大盆地。
包扎:
6。取2张粽叶,毛面相对,折成三角形,加入糯米,猪肉,香菇,板栗,虾米再加入糯米覆盖到顶部。轻轻按下,盖上粽叶,给包起来绑上麻/草绳。
7。煮一大锅水,放入粽子和用中火慢煮2个小时,不断用开水时刻保持水位。
8。熟时,取出粽子,挂起滴干即可食用
注意:烹饪期间粽子必须浸泡在沸水中。

15 comments:

  1. Great tutorial! And so beautifully wrapped! Unfortunately I can only gawk at this and buy the not too good stuff (homemade is always the best) as I'm allergic to the bamboo leaves ... itch, itch, itch... maybe I can just put it in a dish and steam?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ping:
    Thanks. Credit to our master chef :-P
    Sorry to hear your allergy problem.

    In fact nowdays less and less people know the right method of making bak chang especially on the wrapping part.

    Hence, I hope the video will at least help those keen learners to uphold our traditional rice dumplings culture.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yin, I love this rice dumplings, but never made them...years ago I would help my mom...yours look delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This looks very tempting! I like very much seeing the insides of the dumpling it looks divine!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yin
    Thank you very much for share zongzi recipe; i made them exactly follow all your advices; they taste great

    http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/5164/dsc04605vert2.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jacob:
      You are most welcome and thanks for visiting. Glad to hear that you managed to make them and enjoyed their taste.
      Trying to view the photo of yours but too bad error message on domain unregistered not able to access. :-(

      Delete
  6. hope now is fine

    http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r327/zuchvik/DSC04605-tileyin.jpg

    anyway i need spend more time on your blog and find something for next week; big thank you for your work here Yin; regards from Scotland

    Jacob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jacob:
      Thanks for sharing the link again, yes managed to see it. Really nice zhongzi for first timer. Most important you managed to get all the ingredients even back in Scotland.
      Thanks for your kind words and having supports all the way from the other corner of the world, this will keep me working on the blog to share more good food especially traditional Chinese food if I can.

      Delete
  7. Hi Yin,

    Thanks for sharing your Bak Chang recipe. I am a Malaysian living in Texas, USA and I'm sure I can find most of the ingredients in the Asian food mart over here.

    Thanks also for sharing all your other Malaysian recipes! They look so scrumptious....I want to make them all!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sow Lin:
      It's my pleasure in welcoming you to my blog. Happy to know my sharing benefit you. Hope to see you again and update me on your tryout. :-)

      Delete
  8. Hi! Your bak chang recipe looks awesome. I used to eat halal bak chang from muslim stall but they didnt sell it now.

    Maybe i can use the same marination for chicken. anyway, your blog is filled with incredible recipes. thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ashlings:
      Hi there, sorry for the late reply. thanks for the compliment much appreciated.

      Yes, of coz you can replace with chicken or even do away the meat and use beans that you prefer to be vegetarian bak chang instead.

      Delete
  9. nice food
    thank you for the recipe

    ReplyDelete
  10. where to buy 13 cm bamboo leaves......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most Chinese grocery store during the dumpling festival season should have.

      Delete

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