Bak Chang (Glutinous Rice Dumplings)

Making Chinese Dumpling

('Bak Chang' in Hokkien)

It is a tradition that my family keeps every year, no matter how busy or how lazy one(the mother, of course) feels.

However, the sole purpose in making them is for eating and not for sacrificing or for throwing into any stream or river.

The Dumpling Festival Day falls on the 5th day of the 5th Chinese Lunar Month, when Chinese families commemorate an ancient hero who sacrificed his life in defiance of a tyrant ruling China at that time. He jumped into a river and drowned. To prevent his body from being eaten by fishes in the river, the ancient Chinese believed that the dumplings they threw into the river would feed the hungry fishes instead.

So much for some historical background. The important thing about any kind of cooking is the preparation of the ingredients and the things needed .  It cannot be denied this will involve quite a substantial amount of work because it is not like cooking a pot of rice to which you can just throw in the ingredients that make it delicious and enjoyable.  Making dumplings involves the wrapping of the rice into  diamond shapes using bamboo leaves, not any other kind of leaves, for their flavour will be  enhanced by these special leaves.

Ingredients :

(Makes about 22 )

1 kg of glutinous rice

300g black eye beans

20 - 22 pcs medium sized mushrooms

500g meat (pork or boneless chicken), cut into 20 -22 cubes

shallots (200g) cut finely

garlic ( 5 pips)

grounded pepper(2 teaspoonful)

 

thick soya sauce(1 -2 tablespoonful)

salt, sugar

When cutting the meat, always make a few peices extra(say 3) because sometimes we tend to make one or two dumplings a little smaller, and towards the end we find we have some more rice to make another one or two. The same for the mushroom pieces.

Prior preparations:

A roll of rafia string, cut into 6 lengths of about a metre

which are then folded in two. Make two bunches, each with 3 'folded in twos', tie at the top so that

a loop is form for hanging the bunch of dumplings(looks like a stringy octopus). Split each string into two and now you have 12 free strings in each bunch for tying.

Bamboo leaves: these can bought in plastic bags sold in supermarkets serving the Chinese community of which is usually indicated on the packet, the quantity. As long as there are about 50 pcs of leaves( 2x 22), it will be sufficient for use. Each dumpling needs at least 2 leaves, to ensure no leakage or breakage.