This year Duan Wu Jie (端午节) or Dragon Boat Racing Festival was held on 15th of June. Around that day, I have watched a piece of news in a Taiwanese channel inquiring several youngsters in high school about the history of having this festival. None of them could answer correctly. When I was a student in Chinese primary school, we had learned about the history and the reason on why we ate rice dumplings (粽子) and had boat racing. And now it still remains in my memory. However, these days the real meaning of this festival has gradually been forgotten. Despite of this, in this post I’m not planning to write about the history of this festival again since I already wrote about it last year. You can search ‘My Duan Wu Jie’ for the information.
In fact rice dumplings or Zong Zi can take many shapes and have different tastes based on the custom of place and people who make it. In Cambodia, rice dumplings are more on the Khmer traditional style. As I’ve observed, it’s quite simple as to have only sticky rice, green bean paste and a long piece of fatty pork. We can also find a common rice dumpling, called ‘Num Chang’ which is as simple as sticky rice wrapped with bamboo leaves. People would buy this kind of rice dumpling for the festival. For my family, the way of making the rice dumpling is passed on from generation to generation. My grandmother was very good at making kinds of Chinese snacks and this rice dumpling is the only one that my mother could learn from her. However, the taste and the way she makes it are not exactly the same as my grandmother did since it has always been modified and improved based on the taste bud of family members. She has been making it several years and makes it at least once a year. However, I have never learned from her.
The following pictures demonstrate the main components of our rice dumpling. Perhaps you can try to make it by yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment