Traditional Zongzi (糭) Recipe: Just in time for Dragon Boat Festival

ZONGZI RECIPE
Here's my dad's recipe for zongzi, just in time for Dragon Boat Festival.
This recipe makes around 30-35 zongzi.

You can see follow a step by step video here

Ingredients

• 1 Pack Chinese Pork Sausage
• 230g (1 Bag) Dried Shrimp
• 33 Salted Egg Yolks
• 455g (1 Bag) Frozen Chestnuts
• 1 Pack Bamboo Leaves
• 1.5kg Split Mung Beans
• 300g (1 Bag) Unsalted Raw Peanuts
• 3.5lbs Pork Belly
• 4kg Sweet Rice
• 5tbsp Oil
• 5.5tbsp Salt (2tbsp for pork marinade, 2tbsp for rice, 1.5tbsp for mung beans)
• White Pepper (To Taste)
• 2tbsp Sugar
• 2tbsp Five Spice Powder
• 1 Roll Twine -

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Directions

Ingredient Prep

1. Overnight Prep: Soak bamboo leaves, split mung beans, sweet rice and peanuts overnight. Cut pork belly into pieces and marinate it in 2tbsp of sugar, 2tbsp of salt, 2tbsp five-spice powder and leave it in the fridge to marinate overnight.
2. Clean each leaf by giving it a scrub, boil it for 2mins, and set aside.
3. Soak dried shrimp if they are crumbly. Set aside.
4. Separate salted egg yolks, rinse the yolks, half it (optional) and set aside.
5. Cut sausages into even pieces and set aside.
6. Strain rice until dry, add in 2tbsp of salt, 3tbsp of oil and mix. Then set aside.
7. Strain mung beans until dry, add in 1.5tbsp of salt, 2 tbsp of oil and mix. Then set aside.
8. Strain peanuts and set aside.
   

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Assembly

1. 1. Make sure the side of the leaf with the spine is facing outwards (Note: be gentle with the leaves to prevent ripping)
2. Easy method: Grab a leaf, fold it into a cup shape, making sure the tip of the corner overlaps. Place 2 big spoonfuls of rice, followed by a spoonful of mung beans, sprinkle some dried shrimp, add an egg yolk, add a chestnut, add some peanuts, add a piece of sausage and a slab of pork belly. Top it with another spoonful of mung beans and lastly a spoonful of rice. Grab another leaf and wrap it along the side. Fold in the sides to cover the ingredients, make sure to hold the bottom of your wrap tightly and stand it upright. Tap the sides of the zongzi a few times to make sure all ingredients are together tightly. Fold the top piece of the leaf down to seal your zongzi. Grab some twine to tie it up.
3. Traditional method: Get 2 pieces of leaves, criss cross them and fold it in to form a cup. Place all the ingredients in like the previous method, then slide a leaf on to each side. Fold the leaves towards the middle to cover the ingredients, give it a tap to make sure all ingredients are together tightly, then fold the top and bottom pieces of leaves towards the middle to seal the zongzi. Grab some twine to tie it up.
4. In a pot of water, drop in as much zongzi as you can, make sure the water covers all the zongzi.
   
5. Bring the water to a boil and boil zongzi for 2.5hrs. Turn off the heat and let it simmer in water for another 30mins. (Tip: Make sure to check on water levels while boiling. Add water when water drops below the zongzi)

Enjoy!

bon appetit