快乐小子的双语工程 Day225

Eric妈妈

万思乐学V-learn 小西妈双语工程1901期210Eric打卡。 Day225

Dragon boat festival

The origin

The history of zongzi 粽子is closely related to a famous poet and patriotic minister Qu Yuan 屈原 of the Kingdom of Chu during the Warring States 戰國 period of China. Qu Yuan served as a minister for the Chu but was ousted for opposing the alliance of a much larger kingdom called Qin. When the Qin eventually conquered the capital of Chu, Yingdu, the grief was so intense that he finally committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River 汨羅江 on the

5th of May.

Moved by the patriotism of Qu Yuan, the local people rolling their boats to save him. The act to save Qu Yuan was the origin of the dragon boat races during this festival. After they had failed to retrieve his body, they threw packets of sticky rice into the river, hoping the fishes would eat the rice instead of his body.

Eating zongzi has become a custom during the Dragon Boat Festival, symbolizing the rice offerings to Qu Yuan.

Millet, whole wheat grains, barley, red beans, mung beans or peanuts are also mixed into the rice to make it more tasty.

一. Prepare

1、Prepare the leaves to wrap the rice dumplings

Wash the leaves. Wash the leaves thoroughly to remove any muds.

• Use cold water. Place the leaves in a stockpot. Fill up the pot with cold water until it is sufficient to submerge the leaves.

Add some oil. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil into the water. Vegetable oil helps to prevent the glutinous rice from sticking onto the leaves when you wrap the filling later.

Use a heavy bowl. Place a bowl on top of the leaves to stop them from floating on the water.

Boil the leaves. Use high heat to bring the water to a boil, then reduced the heat for another half an hour.

Soak overnight. Remove the leaves from heat. Soak the leaves in the water overnight.

Wash the leaves. Remove the leaves from the water the next day. Wash the leaves under running water. Keep the leaves in water until you want to wrap the zongzi. The leaves will become brittle again if you let them dry out.

Snip off the end. Snip off at least three centimeters from the end near to the stem of every leaf. The part can puncture easily during wrapping.

2、Look for a good brand of glutinous rice. 

Rinse the glutinous rice a few times under running water until the water is clear.

Soak the glutinous rice in water overnight (or at least four hours).

Add some salt. Drain the water away and mix with light soy sauce and salt. Set aside for wrapping the zongzi.

Stir-fry. Stir-fry with some vegetable oil briefly.

3、There are a few types of beans and nuts for making rice dumpling. Groundnuts, mung beans and black peas are among the popular one.

• Rince. Rince the mung beans.
• Soak. Soak the mung beans for an hour. Then mix with the seasonings.
• Stir-fry. Stir-fry with some vegetable oil briefly

4、Shiitake mushroom is a common ingredient for zongzi.

• Soak the mushrooms. Soak the dry shiitake mushrooms in water for two hours or until fully rehydrated. You can shorten the soaking time with hot water.
• Cut into strips. Remove the stems. Cut the mushrooms into thin strips.
• Set aside for wrapping the zongzi.

二. How to wrap zongzi

Now it comes to the most challenging and exciting part- wrapping the zongzi.

• Use two leaves. Pick two pieces of leaves, smooth side up. Place the smaller one slightly to the left and on top of the large piece.
• Form a cone. 
• Fill up the cone with the filling. Fill the cone with a tablespoon of glutinous rice at the bottom. Then add the egg yolk, pork belly, mung beans, and mushroom.
• Cover the filling with two tablespoons of glutinous rice.
• Fold and wrap:
• Hold the cone with one hand to secure its shape.
• Fold down the leave to close the cone. Press it firmly, so it will not fall apart and get a tight seal.
• Fold the extra leaves to one side of the zongzi.
• Lastly, secure the shape of the zongzi with a twine.

三、How to tie the zongzi

If you use the zongzi twine, soak it in a bowl of water for half an hour before using it.

Hook a bunch of string to an anchor point. Use one hand to hold the zongzi and the other to tie it tightly and a dead knot.

Note that it is important to tie them tightly since we want to cook them for a few hours. As for the knots, nearly everyone will cut the twine when they want to eat. Therefore, it does not matter whether you can easily open the knot.

这可是个技术活啊，一不小心就散了，爷爷赶快来补救

在爷爷的指导下，妈妈第一次包好了粽子，小宝说“妈妈什么都会做”！真是铁粉啊😂😂

四. How to cook the zongzi

Follow the steps below:

Use a stock pot. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. The amount of water should be enough to submerge all the zongzi.

Boil for six hours. Boil over low heat, i.e., reduce to a bare simmer for about six hours.

Add only boiling water. Check the water level from time to time. Maintain the level of water to just enough to submerge all the zongzi. Add only boiling water when necessary.

Freeze for future enjoyment. Remove them from the water after six hours. You can eat it right away or freeze them after they cool to room temperature.

五. How to reheat zongzi

Frozen zongzi can be kept up to a few months.When you want to eat later, take them out from the freezer and defrost at room temperature for a few hours.

Steps to reheat the zongzi

1、Steam to reheat

2、Add about one liter of water into a wok.

3、Place a steamer rack in the wok, make sure the water level is below the steamer rack to avoid the zongzi from getting wet.

4、Place the zongzi in the steamer.

5、Steam for twenty minutes

6、Bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to steam another twenty minutes.

7、Switch off the stove. Do not remove the lid. Let the latent heat continue warming up the zongzi for another 5 minutes.

8、Unfold the leaves and serve