06/02/2025
Celebrating Dragon Boat festival this past weekend by making zong zi.
It's been years since I've made them because they are a labour of love (for soaking and prepping ingredients, wrapping, and cooking them).
As a child, I watched my grandma make these every year. As I got older, she let me wrap them, which would be a complete mess of ripped bamboo leaves, rice explosions, and interesting looking zong zi.
Now, as an adult, I'm a seasoned wrapper and even use the bamboo leaves that come ripped (like how grandma did with all my screw ups). I think she would be proud 😊
Making my own zong zi allows me to pack it with more filling and less filler (the T&T ones are always so disappointing) and it reminds me of my grandma 💜
The filling in my zong zi is pork (I use pork shoulder which is leaner than pork belly but still has some fat), mung bean, shiitake mushrooms, Chinese sausage, and dried shrimp 😋
Pro tips:
-marinate the meat in a zip lock bag, easier to massage the marinate and meat and easy clean up
-cooking them on high pressure for 30 mins in the IP, saves so much time!
