| Zongzi 粽子 |
| 10:49, July 16, 2008 |
Zongzi is a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. They are cooked by steaming or boiling.
Zongzi is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar (approximately early- to mid-June), commemorating the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period. Known for his patriotism。 He drowned himself in the Miluo river after penning the Lament for Ying. According to legend, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eating the poet's body.
The shape of zongzi range from relatively tetrahedral to cylindrical. Wrapping a zongzi neatly is a skill which is passed down through families, as are the recipes. Like tamale-making in Mexico, zongzi-making was traditionally a family event with everyone helping out, but that is less common now.
While traditional Chinese zongzi are wrapped in bamboo leaves, the leaves of lotus, maize, banana, canna, shell ginger or pandan leaves are sometimes used as substitutes in other cultures. Each kind of leaf imparts its own unique smell and flavour to the rice.
The fillings used for zongzi vary from region to region, but the rice used is always glutinous rice (also called sticky or sweet rice). Depending on the region, the rice may be lightly precooked by stir-frying or soaked before using.
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