Chinese rice dumplings, also known as “Zong Zi” or “Bak Chang” is one of my family’s favorite food. It is a typical Chinese traditional food that made of glutinous rice stuffed with various fillings and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. Eating of Zong Zi means the coming of Dragon Boat Festival or “Duan Wu” Festival, which officially takes place on the fifth day of the fifth month in Chinese lunar calendar. Dragon Boat Festival is a memorial day for Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet from Chu Kingdom in China who was deeply loved by his people. This year it falls on June 8.

I still remember when I was young, my mother used to prepare homemade Zong Zi only once a year during Dragon Boat Festival. She gave Zong Zi to friends, relatives and also neighbours as festive food gifts. In return, she also received plenty of others’ homemade Zong Zi. The taste for each family’s Zong Zi would be very much different although the ingredients used were almost the same. Tasting Zong Zi was very exciting and full of expectations for us. That time, during this festival, it was quite normal that we ate Zong Zi three times a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unbelievable but it’s true! However, Zong Zi is a fattening and high cholesterol food that is not so suitable to consume too frequently.

Glutinous rice forms the main ingredient of Zong Zi. The fillings that my mother used often contain fat pork or chicken meat, chestnut, Chinese black mushroom, dried shrimp and salted duck egg yolk. She used bamboo or reed leaves to wrap all the ingredients, tied it with bamboo string and then boiled it for at least an hour to make Zong Zi taste distinct. Unfortunately, my mother had already passed away and I didn’t have her “secret recipe” to be shared with you.

If all these materials are made available, you may try to make Zong Zi at home. Do some searches on net to look for the best Zong Zi’s recipe and you can also find some videos showing how to wrap Zong Zi and have fun!

Alternatively, nowadays, a variety of Zong Zi whether it’s plain, sweet or savory types can just be easily found everywhere from restaurants to markets during the fifth lunar month. Just buy and give them as gifts to your friends, relatives or colleagues is a way of sharing good food and memorizing Qu Yuan during this festival.

Below is another special type of Zong Zi that tastes sweet! This is a Nyonya style’s Zong Zi, can be easily found in Malacca. The white and blue colors of the glutinous rice looks a bit weird but no worry, it’s all naturally made with no artificial coloring. Have you ever tasted it before?