Nonya Dumplings by Angela Seah Thulin

Greetings from Sweden!!!

It's that time again! The yearly Dragon Boat festival 端午节.
Time to get busy wrapping and eat glutinous rice dumplings again ... 

Rice dumplings is a traditional chinese food usually eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings (pork, water chestnuts, mushrooms) and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves in triangular shape, they are cooked by boiling. 

Another version which is my favorite - Nonya dumpling (Peranakan) - has its own distinctive flavour. It is wrapped with braised pork, spices and candied winter melon which is really a must to add to get the traditional sweet and savoury taste. 

Facebook link - https://www.facebook.com/sassyangelakitchen/photos/a.469369326602999.1073741845.233664896840111/532662256940372/?type=3&theater

Ingredients - 

Rice
1/2 tbsp oil
300g glutinous rice
1 tsp salt
dashes of white pepper
2 Pandan leaves, tie into a knot


Filling
1/2 tbsp oil
10g garlic, minced
25g shallot, minced
200g lean pork meat (I used pork collar)
1 tsp salt
dashes of pepper
15g dried chinese mushroom, diced
1 tbsp Feng He Garden dark soy sauce
55g candied winter melon, diced
1 tbsp coriander powder

Other materials
50 bamboo leaves, or more 
Raffia string
Pandan leaves, cut into 1.5'' long (prepare 25pcs)


Steps -
1. Wash and wipe the bamboo leaves. 
2. Soak the mushroom overnight. Wash and soak the glutinous rice for 3 hurs.
3. Wash, pat dry the pork and cut into small pieces.
4. Soak and dice the chinese mushrooms. Dice the candied winter melon.

Cooking the filling - 
5. Heat oil in a wok, fry the shallots and then garlic till fragrant. 
6. Add the pork, salt, pepper and mushroom in. Stir fry till it turn opaque..
7. Follow by adding dark soy sauce and candied melon and simmer for about 10 minutes. 
8. Add coriander powder and adjust taste accordingly.

Cooking the rice -
9. Heat oil in a wok, add the rice, salt, pepper and toss in the tied pandan leaves in and stir fry briefly to release its fragrance using low heat.
10. Once combined and fragrance released, off the flames.

11. Wrap and boil dumplings for at least 2 hours. 

Recipe origin: Annieliciousfood

Notes -
1.You may need to add 1/2 tbsp of sugar to the filling if you are using other brands of soy sauce. Remember that your filling has to be strong in flavour in order to balance up with the glutinous rice.
2. The bamboo leaves that i bought this time were pretty small in size, they were really fresh and fragrant, but I find them too small for wrapping and recommend to use the normal bigger leaves.
3. Using a Le Creuset pot to boil, my dumplings took about 1 hour 20 minutes.

50 leaves in a packet but was pretty small in size. Suggest using the normal bigger leaves (see pic below)

preferred choice

So here i start -