Duanwu with a Nyonya Twist

Duanwu (端午节) Festival also known as Dumpling/Dragon Boat Festival falls on 12 June this year which is tomorrow!  I will spare myself from dishing out the story behind it and jump to the part on dumplings aka zongzi ( 粽子) or Chang in the Hokkien dialect.  It is during this time that we feast on rice dumplings stuffed with various fillings which are wrapped in bamboo leaves.

I tried my hands at making my own Chang last year.  Unfortunately it didn't turn out too well.  But I think I pass the test this year. My changs didnt loosen or worse still opened up during the boiling process, besides tasting quite good unlike one of my past experience where it turned out totally bland.  Lesson learnt was one has to go heavy on the seasonings for the fillings as it tends to thin out during the boiling process.  And when that happens there's no rescue except to cry over it!

I have chosen to do the Nyonya twist this time.  First up is the traditional Nyonya Chang.  I can still remember how it was love at first bite when I had a first taste of Nyonya Chang.  It was so delicious, bursting with a unique blend of flavors which is very different from the more common meat dumplings. A combination of pork, mushroom and winter melon fried in a mixture of coriander and fermented bean paste, sweeten with palm sugar and getting some savory flavors from soysauce.   And with some blue tinged rice from the blue pea flower, the nyonya chang looks pretty and sexy like a nyonya in her striking kebaya :)

I used Amy Beh's recipe with some slight modification for this Nyonya Chang and I am very satisfied with the taste.

Recipe - Nyonya Chang
Source : Kuali.com (Amy Beh)
Yields approximately 12 dumplings

Ingredients

• 700g glutinous rice 
• Some screwpine leaves, cut into 4 cm lengths
• Dried bamboo leaves, washed and boiled until soften 
• Hemp strings for tying
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar

Filling

• 5 shallots, minced
• 2 tbsp chopped garlic
• ½ cup oil 
• 3 tsp preserved soya bean paste (tau cheong)
• 7 tbsp coriander powder (ground ketumbar), mixed with 170ml water into a paste (reduce to 5 tbsp)
• 450g belly pork, skin removed and cut into very small cubes
• 12-14 dried mushrooms, soaked and diced
• 100g candied winter melon, diced

Seasoning (combined)

• 3 tsp pepper
• 5½-6 tbsp sugar or to taste (replaced with gula melaka according to taste but slightly heavier)
• 1 tbsp thick soy sauce (2 tbsp)
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce (2 tbsp)
• 2½-3 tsp salt or to taste
• ½ tsp ground black pepper

Method

To prepare rice (I apportioned the rice to tinged some blue with the blue pea flower)

1. Boil some water together with 30 blue pea flowers to get blue tinged water.
2. Soak 200g of the rice with this water for at least 3 hours.
3. Soak the rest of the rice with water at the same time.

To prepare the filling

1. Heat oil in a non-stick pan, fry shallots and garlic until aromatic. Add soya bean paste and coriander paste. Fry until fragrant.
2. Add pork, winter melon and mushrooms, and mix in combined seasoning. Fry until pork is heated through. Dish out and set aside.

To assemble the dumplings

1. Drain the glutinous rice and briefly rinse the rice.
2. Overlap 2 bamboo leaves lengthways then fold into a cone. 
3. Fill in this order into the cone-2 tbsp blue glutinous rice, 2 tbsp filling, 2-3 tbsp white glutinous rice.
4. Cover with a piece of screwpine leaf. Press down to compress the dumpling. Wrap into a pyramid shape. Tie tightly with hemp string to secure. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up.
5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and sugar then put in the dumplings and immerse them completely. Cook in rapidly boiling water for 2-2½ hours. Remove the dumplings and hang them to drain off excess water. (I boiled mine in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes)

I also tried another Nyonya variation that I thought was pretty interesting.  You never know what you will get when the Nyonya lends her touch,  I came across this Sambal Kiam Hoo (salted fish) Chang while flipping through the complimentary Malay Mail papers that the hotel provided when I was in Penang. The recipe is courtesy of Debbie Teoh, a popular Nyonya cuisine chef.

Verdict? It's a unique combination of spicy and salty flavor.  The use of turmeric, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves gave it a fragrance similar to the rendang dish.  The mix of salted fish with some pork in a sambal like gravy was tasty and definitely something unlike a typical meat dumpling.



Recipe - Sambal Kiam Hoo Chang
Source : Debbie Teoh in Malay Mail, 7 June 2013
Yields approximately 8-10 dumplings

Ingredients

• 450g glutinous rice
• 1 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder (replaced with 1 tbsp turmeric powder plus 2 tbsp shredded turmeric)
• Dried bamboo leaves, washed and boiled until soften 
• Hemp strings for tying
• 1 tbsp salt
• Some screwpine leaves, cut into 4 cm lengths

Filling

• 15 dried chillies, soaked in hot water until soften
• 10 shallots (120g), peeled
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 stalk lemon grass, finely sliced
• 1cm fresh turmeric, skinned
• 150g salted fish, cut into 0.5cm cubes (reduced to 120g)
• 8 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
• 1 1/2 tbsp sugar or to taste
• 200g belly pork cut into 20 pieces measuring 1.5cm and marinated with pepper and 1 tsp sugar (cut into small cubes)

Method

To prepare rice

1. Soak rice with water mixed with turmeric powder and shredded turmeric for at least 3 hours.

To prepare the filling

1. Blend chillies, shallots, garlic, lemongrass and turmeric to form a spice paste.
2. Heat the cooking oil in a wok and deep fry salted fish until fragrant and light brown in colour.  Remove and set aside.
3. Heat fresh cooil oil and saute spice paste until fragrant.  
4. Add fried kiam hoo, kaffir lime leaves and sugar.  Stir until sugar has melted.

To assemble the dumplings

1. Drain the glutinous rice and briefly rinse the rice.
2. Overlap 2 bamboo leaves lengthways then fold into a cone. 
3. Fill in this order into the cone-2 tbsp glutinous rice, 2 tbsp of pork belly, 1 tbsp sambal kiam hoo,  2-3 tbsp glutinous rice.
4. Cover with a piece of screwpine leaf. Press down to compress the dumpling. Wrap into a pyramid shape. Tie tightly with hemp string to secure. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up.
5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and sugar then put in the dumplings and immerse them completely. Cook in rapidly boiling water for 1 1/2- 1 3/4 hour. Remove the dumplings and hang them to drain off excess water. (I boiled mine in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes)

Note : Modifications in blue

Happy Chang Feasting!