Nyonya Sticky Rice Dumplings

This is my version of Nyonya Zongzi. The taste is very different from salty meat Zongzi. When the first time I taste it, it is incredibly tasty, it’s slightly spicy but not too sweet.

It has a strong spice flavor due to the fact that of using whole coriander and white peppercorns which were toasted and grinded into powder form.

The biggest difference between the regular Zongzi and Nyonya Zongzi is in the filling -- one’s savory while the other's sweet.

The regular salty Zongzi normally includes pork belly in a big piece, mushrooms, dried shrimp, chestnuts and salted duck eggs. And include a lit bit of five spice powder for some fragrance.

The Nyonya Zongzi includes braised minced pork, dried shrimps, candied winter melon, and the strong spice from the whole grinded coriander seeds and white peppercorns is the key to the greatest flavor. And it comes with a blend of sweet and savory, with aromatic spice notes and a hint of sweetness. The blue and off-white appearance with a piece of pandan leaf, not only given the Zongzi a visually distinct, but also a satisfaction in taste.

One this is good about this Nyonya Zongzi is he fillings can be made in advance and refrigerated. If you prefer the filling to be sweeter add some rock sugar. Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference. Seasoning has to be strong as it will be diluted through the boiling process.

If you are new to making dumplings, start with wrapping small ones first. As you practice more, you could progress making bigger dumplings.

I realized that I started to appreciate it after I learnt how to make Nyonya Zongzi.

 

INGREDIENTS

18 – 20 pieces pandan leaves (cut into 2 inches long)

40-50 pieces of bamboo leaves and straw rope/cotton rope

1kg glutinous rice

50 blue pea flowers

Some Cooking oil

1½ teaspoons salt

100ml water

6 shallots

4-5 cloves of garlic

 

Filling

300g pork belly (diced)

6 soaked diced shiitake mushrooms

30g dried minced shrimps

100g chopped candied winter melon 

½ of Chopped shallots

½ of minced garlic cloves

150ml of mushroom water

 

Seasoning (Filling)

3 tbsp bean paste

30g coriander seeds

20g white pepper

2 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp soy sauce （depend）

METHODS

1.Soak the mushrooms and dried shrimp until soft.  Diced the mushrooms and chopped the dried shrimps. Reserve 150ml of mushroom water from soaked mushrooms.

2.Blanch the skinless pork belly with 1 tablespoon of cooking wine for about 12 minutes. Take the pork out, let it cool and dice into small pieces.

3. Toast the coriander seeds and white peppercorn until fragrant and a lit bit brown. Remove and grind it. Sieve them to remove the larger particles and get a finer powder. Combine both of them and mix with 1 – 2 tablespoons of water to form a paste.

4. Chopped the shallots and minced the garlic. Half for filling and the other half is for stir frying the glutinous rice.

4. Chopped the candied winter melon.

5. Heat the pan with some cooking oil, sauté half of the chopped shallots and minced garlic until translucent. Add dried shrimps, cook until fragrant. Stir in soya bean paste, diced mushrooms, pork belly and candied winter melon.  Pork in dark soy sauce and the reserve 150ml mushrooms water. Continue stirring until the filling dries up. Taste and adjust saltiness with light soy sauce. Let it cool and keep the fridge.

6. Soak the glutinous rice overnight.

7. Soak the bamboo leaves and straw rope overnight. Blanch them in boiling water for 10 minutes.

8. Wash and boil dried blue pea flowers until the water turns dark blue.

9. Heat some cooking oil in a wok, sauté the remaining chopped shallots and minced garlic. Stir fry briefly, add glutinous rice together with 1 ½ teaspoon of salt and 100ml water. Continue stirring until the rice dries up.

10. Remove 2/3 of the rice. Add the blue pea flower to the leftover rice in the wok, keep stirring until the rice dries up again and all the rice well coated with the blue pea flower water.

 

Assembly

1.Wipe the bamboo leaves, stack two leaves smooth side up, cut off both ends and fold the leaves into corn shape. Put in a piece of pandan leaf.

2. Fill the glutinous blue pea rice and press down hard.  Add a full spoon of filling, cover with white rice, and some blue pea rice at the top. Compress it tightly into the bamboo leaves and fold into a pyramid shape. Tie with bamboo string tightly.

3. Bring the pressure cooker with enough water to boil over high heat, put in the rice dumplings, cover the pressure valve when steam begins to emerge, reduce to medium and low heat and cook for 30 minutes, then turn off the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the pressure valve and completely release the steam in the pot, then remove the dumplings from the pressure cooker.