The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, is a traditional Chinese holiday. It falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month each year. During this festival, people participate in dragon boat races, eat zongzi, and pay tribute to the ancient poet, Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan was a patriotic poet and politician who lived during the Warring States period of ancient China. He committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River as he could not bear to see his country fall. To commemorate Qu Yuan, people started making zongzi on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival and threw them into the river to prevent fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body, which is considered the traditional origin of zongzi making during the festival.
Zongzi is a type of food made from glutinous rice and filling, usually wrapped in bamboo leaves into a pyramid shape. Zongzi comes in various flavors, including savory, sweet, meat-filled, and bean paste-filled, with different regions having their own unique methods and flavors of making it.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Soak the bamboo leaves and glutinous rice in water overnight in a separate bowl.
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Divide the red bean paste into 10 balls.
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Take two or three bamboo leaves and overlap them so that they form a cone. Put in 1 1/2 tablespoons of glutinous rice, add 1 red bean paste ball, then put in another 1 1/2 tablespoons of glutinous rice to cover the red bean paste. Fold the leaves over to seal the cone.
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Tie the zongzi with cooking twine, making sure it is tightly packed. Repeat until all the rice and bean mixture is used up.
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Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Turn heat to medium and add the zongzi and let them cook for 2-3 hours, or until the rice is fully cooked.
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Remove the zongzi from the water and let them cool for 15-20 minutes before unwrapping them and serving. Serve zongzi with sugar or maple syrup. Enjoy!
Notes
To save time, I purchased ready-made red bean paste from a Chinese store, but you can also make it from scratch using red beans if you'd like.