Today is Duam Wu Jie, the festival of eating Bak-Zhang (Zhong- Zi, which means Pork Dumpling). It falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar (approximately late May to mid-June), commemorating the death of Qu Yuan. What i remember about the legends was, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eating the Qu Yuan's body.To find out more about the story, just click here.
So, whenever there is a festival, we will all go to my mother in law's place for dinner. She would normally cook all her skillful dishes...
Fish maw soup with meat balls, chicken floss, lettuce, and some onions.
Pork Leg soy sauce with Mushroom.
Ngo Hiang (Meat Roll)
Mixed vege.
Steamed fish with special recipe
This is my favourite Longan Jelly with Fanta Red...
Did not take too many pictures coz, we were having dinner with the elderly.
Tonight is purely dinner gathering. Everyone was very full after the dinner so i did not eat the Zhong zi. We already ate Zhong zi on Sunday, my mother in law made about 100 of zong zi and asked all of us to go and eat. Hubby's aintie also brought over some for them, so we tried all the different type of the Dumpling, pork, peanuts with pork, and Sambal flavor.
It is not easy to wrap the glutinous rice (after soaked in water) with flavoured fried meat in the Pandan leaves, making it tetrahedral shape.
It needs very neatly skill, which is passed down from the grandmothers to the mothers, and then to the children.. Too bad, i don;t know how to make it.
The pandan leaves impart very nice sweet smell to the pork dumpling, where you can smell it from very far. To find out more about zong zi, click here. I think in China, the shapes are different in different region...
Well, actually you can easily buy Bak Zhang on normal days. Places you can find are like the Kuih Stalls, Kopitiam, Hawker stalls, etc... I sometimes eat Bak Zhang as breakfast, lunch, or supper. I love to eat those with pork, peanuts, lotus seeds and yam.
"Happy Duan Wu Jie!!'
Thanks!
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