Dragon Boat Festival Recipes

Zongzi - Eight Treasure Rice Bundles, Won Tons Recipe

Mar 5, 2009 Margie Nelson

Punxsutawny Phil saw his shadow, meaning perhaps that winter will be a long one. Think warm thoughts with a traditional Chinese Summer Solstice Feast dish.

The Chinese mark the change of seasons with festivals and ceremonies where food, of course, has both religious and social importance. Summer brings the Dragon Boat Festival, named after elaborately carved rowboats which were raced on rivers and harbors. The origins of the 2,000 year-old festival remain obscured by time-some say it honors poet-statesman Qu Yuan, others tie it to fertility and harvest. The festival, held every year around summer solstice, features the preparation of zongzi, or rice dumplings, wrapped elaborately in bamboo leaves.

Cyndi Woo, a cooking teacher at Santa Barbara City College Continuing Education, calls her zongzi recipe Eight Treasure Lotus Rice Bundles.

Zongzi are wrapped with pliable lotus leaves, which can be purchased in inch-thick stacks, folded in twine, at Asian markets. The bundles are filled with chicken, ham or sausage, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, petite peas, green onion and jicama.

If planning a party menu, serve with Firecracker Won Tons (recipe below), a salad of fresh asparagus spears and julienned jicama, tossed in a dressing of honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil and garlic, (mix to taste) garnished with sesame seeds, candied ginger and green onions. Trader Joe's bottled Sesame Soy Ginger Vinaigrette goes very well with this. Finish off the feast with any favorite butter cookie recipe and/or mango sorbet flavored with ginger.

Firecracker Won Tons Recipe

Ingredients for Firecracker Won Tons:

• 1 package won ton wrappers
• Cooking oil for frying
• 1 lb. ground pork or ground beef
• 1/3 cup minced bamboo shoots
• 1/3 cup minced jicama
• 3 green onions, minced
• 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh garlic
• 2 tablespoons finely minced cilantro
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry or Chinese rice wine
• 1 heaping tablespoon of cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon ground Szechuan peppercorns or ground black pepper

Ingredients for Dipping Sauce:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown or turbinado sugar
• 1 tablespoon Chinese chili oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 green onions, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Directions for Firecracker Won Tons:

1. Stir ingredients for dipping sauce together and set aside while making won tons.
2. Mix filling ingredients together in a bowl until evenly blended.
3. Using a butter knife, center a pencil width, 3-inch long roll of the filling near one edge of a won ton or small spring roll wrapper. Roll up into a cigarette shape and just before reaching the opposite edge, dip a finger into some water and moisten the edge to get a good seal.
4. Gently pinch each of the ends flat and give a little twist near the filling, so that the won ton now forms a firecracker shape.
5. Place on a tray and cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel.
6. Continue filling and rolling, but do not stack the won tons on top of each other.
7. Heat the cooking oil in a wok or large soup pot to 350 degrees.
8. Carefully slide in about six or eight won tons and fry until barely golden brown.
9. Drain on a cookie rack or crumpled paper towels and cool for a few minutes.
10. Serve with the bowl of dipping sauce.

Zongzi - Eight Treasure Rice Bundles Recipe

Ingredients for Zongzi:

• 4 to 6 fresh or dried lotus leaves
• 4 cups glutinous "sweet" rice
• 3 or 4 tablespoons shortening
• 2 lbs. chicken breast and thigh meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 cup diced ham or Chinese sausage
• 1/2 cup chopped bamboo shoots
• 8 medium or large dried black mushrooms, softened and chopped
• 3 to 4 green onions in matchstick shreds
• 1 cup petite peas
• 1/2 cup peeled, diced jicama
• 1 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
• cooking oil

Ingredients for Marinade:

• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry or rice wine
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Ingredients for Sauce:

• 2 teaspoons sugar or honey
• 1 to 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry or rice wine
• Dash of fresh ground pepper

Ingredients for Thickener/Glaze:

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/3 cup cold water

Directions for Zongzi:

1. Marinate chicken overnight.
2. Soak lotus leaves and rice, separately, in cold water overnight (or at least 1 hour).
3. Steam drained rice for 1/2 hour in a metal steamer rack or wrap loosely in cheesecloth and steam in a bamboo rack.
4. Mix shortening into hot rice.
5. Set leaves and rice aside, unrefrigerated.
6. Heat a wok or deep-sided skillet and stir fry the chicken in a bit of oil for two minutes, then add the remaining filling ingredients and stir-toss for another minute.
7. Drizzle in the sauce ingredients.
8. Continue to stir fry for about 30 seconds.
9. Quickly stir together the thickener/glaze, then pour it in a slow stream along the side of the wok or skillet, continually tossing the chicken mixture. Thickener will become clear and syrupy as it heats.
10. Trim the lotus leaf edges if necessary, and using one leaf at a time, lay out a mixture of rice, chicken stir-fry, pine nuts and more rice.
11. Wrap well by folding the sides in to form a tight square. Tie with a light string, if needed.
12. Set up a steamer and when a full head of steam is formed by the boiling water, put the bundles in the rack and cook for 30-40 minutes.

The rice should be sticky and the bundle fairly firm. Recipe makes approximately 4 to 6 bundles.

The copyright of the article Dragon Boat Festival Recipes in Asian Cuisine is owned by Margie Nelson. Permission to republish Dragon Boat Festival Recipes in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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