Recipe of Award-winning Homemade Zongzi～Rice Dumplings

Hey everyone, it’s Drew, welcome to my recipe site. Today, we’re going to make a distinctive dish, homemade zongzi～rice dumplings. One of my favorites. For mine, I’m gonna make it a little bit tasty. This will be really delicious.

Homemade Zongzi～Rice Dumplings is one of the most well liked of current trending meals on earth. It’s appreciated by millions daily. It’s easy, it’s fast, it tastes delicious. Homemade Zongzi～Rice Dumplings is something that I have loved my entire life. They are fine and they look fantastic.

My mother-in-law is a Cantonese zongzi (rice dumpling) expert. She was famous for making the best zongzi in her hometown in Kampar. Since the Zongzi Festival (also called Duanwu Festival, 端午节, Dragon Boat Festival) falls on the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, I decided to make my own rice dumplings, tapping into her expertise and experience of more than half a century! Great recipe for Homemade Zongzi～Rice Dumplings.

To begin with this particular recipe, we must first prepare a few ingredients. You can cook homemade zongzi～rice dumplings using 18 ingredients and 14 steps. Here is how you cook that.

The ingredients needed to make Homemade Zongzi～Rice Dumplings:

1. Make ready ※ the Main ingredients ↓
2. Prepare 3000 g Glutinous rice (short grain)
3. Get 1500 g Pork shoulder roast
4. Get 150 g Red onion
5. Prepare 130 g Dried shrimps
6. Take 30 pieces Dried mushrooms
7. Make ready 52 pieces Salted egg yolk
8. Prepare 600 g peanuts
9. Get ※ Seasoning materials ↓
10. Get 2 tablespoon Sugar
11. Get Salt or chicken powder (to taste)
12. Take 1 cup Soy sauce
13. Take Pepper powder (to taste)
14. Get 5 spice powder 1 tablespoon
15. Get Sesame oil
16. Make ready ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
17. Prepare bamboo leaves 104 pieces
18. Prepare 3 (1 bunch) twine (each bunch for 20 pieces)

To cook the zongzi: Get a medium-sized pot and neatly nest the zongzi inside, avoiding large gaps. Put a large plate directly on top of the zongzi to weigh them down. Fill the pot with cold water, until the zongzi are submerged. The fresh and unique fragrance of the reed leaves or bamboo leaves can greatly set the pure.

Instructions to make Homemade Zongzi～Rice Dumplings:

1. Dried leaves are unable to be used, they are needed to rehydrate in water before using them for wrapping. - - The easiest way to prepare the leaves for wrapping is to boil them for 30 minutes or to soak them in water overnight. - - Place a heavy bowl on top of the leaves to stop them from floating on the water. - - the leaves will become dark green color when they are fully rehydrated next day. - - Wash the leaves under running water, and keep the leaves in water until you want to wrap the zongzi.
2. The glutinous rice! It is the only type of rice suitable for making rice dumplings. - - there are two kind of glutinous rice, the short grain and long one (see the picture) - - If you use the long glutinous rice, then needs to soak it in water at least 4 hours. - - the short one doesn't need to soak in water. - - Wash the glutinous rice a few times until the water is clear. - - Drain the water away, and set aside for wrapping the zongzi.
3. 【 the filling 1 】 - - Cut the pork into 3cm squares. - - Put the pork in a stew pot and add soy sauce + 5 spice powder + white pepper + sugar - - Bring the pot to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes, the meat won't so tender after 30 minutes, and that is ok as it needed to cook again later. - - Take out of the meat from the pot, only leaves the gravy in it, the meat is for wrapping the zongzi, and the gravy is for stir-frying the rice. set them aside for using later.
4. 【 the filling 2 】 - - Soak the dry shiitake mushrooms in water until fully rehydrated. - - Remove the stems. cut into 2 or in the size you like ~ - - Stir-fry them with some oil for a few minutes until gets their flavor, then aside for wrapping the zongzi.
5. 【 the filling 3 】 - - Salted duck egg yolk - - Taiwanese zongzi often includes the salted egg yolk for its unique flavor. - - Try to get it at the Asian grocery shop. if you couldn't find it, then simply use stewed eggs instead that would be ok too.
6. 【 the filling 4 】 - - Dried shrimps are one of the indispensable ingredients, it brings a deep savory flavor to the rice dumplings. - - Soak them for at least one hour, then clean and remove impurities. - - Stir-fry with some oil for 2~3 minutes to gets their savory flavor, then set aside for frying rice later.
7. 【 the filling 5 】 - - Wash peanuts, put them in pot covered with water and add a little salt, bring to boil and then cook over a medium heat for 20 minutes. then set aside for using later.
8. Put oil in a large wok and add chopped red onion in, stir-fry with gentle heat, be careful don't over fried and let it goes bitter. - - Put the rice in the wok when the red onion started turning into the golden color. - - then add ↓ - - 2 bowls of gravy - the step 3 - stir-fried shrimps - the step 6 - cooked peanuts - the step 7 - - Mixture well, stir-fry with gentle heat and make sure the rice coating with gravy nicely, keeps to stir-fry until the gravy reduce, then turn off the heat.
9. Wrapping the zongzi - - take two leaves and crossing each other. Fold up the bottom to create a cone. (see the picture)
10. Find a place to hook a bunch of twine - - Holding the cone leaves with left hand, the add the fillings - - firstly some mixed rice, then meat + mushroom + egg yolk and then put some mixed rice on top to covered the fillings…. - - Use one hand to hold the zongzi and the other to then to fold and wrap, and then to tie it tightly with a knot. - - ★★★ It is very important, Please Make sure to tie the zongzi tightly, so that it doesn't fall apart. (as it is still raw rice.)
11. There are 2 ways to cook the zongzi (Rice Dumplings) - - in boiling water or to steam - - the tastes are totally different.
12. It tastes very softly when cooked in the water, but its aromatic flavor would be less a bit. the good part is lower calories. - - you would feel amazing when you cook zongzi by steam, smell so good, fabulous taste, it was the way that I took. - - anyway, if you cook it in the boiling water, needs at least 40 minutes, it takes about 1 hour by steaming. Both ways might be needed to take longer in cooking, it is judging by the taste of our own.
13. Serving hot or cold are all great!
14. Enjoy! ^_^

Fill the pot with cold water, until the zongzi are submerged. The fresh and unique fragrance of the reed leaves or bamboo leaves can greatly set the pure. Bring out the prepared sticky rice. Soak rice in water for three hours, drain. Stir-fry pork for a few minutes.

Turn to Food to Elevate Your Mood

For the most part, people have been trained to believe that “comfort” foods are bad for the body and need to be avoided. But if your comfort food is candy or junk food this holds true. Other times, however, comfort foods can be totally nutritious and it’s good for you to eat them. There are some foods that, when you eat them, could improve your mood. If you seem to be a little bit down and in need of an emotional pick me up, try several of these.

Eggs, you may be astonished to find out, are terrific at battling depression. Just make sure that you do not throw out the yolk. The yolk is the part of the egg that is the most crucial in terms of helping raise your mood. Eggs, the yolk particularly, are rich in B vitamins. These B vitamins are great for helping to improve your mood. This is because these vitamins increase the function of your brain’s neural transmitters (the parts of the brain that affect how you feel). Try eating a couple of eggs to feel better!

Make a trail mixout of various seeds and nuts. Peanuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, almonds, pumpkin seeds, etc are all fantastic for helping to elevate your mood. This is because these foods are loaded with magnesium, which helps to increase serotonin production. Serotonin is a feel-good substance that tells the brain how to feel at any given moment. The more serotonin you have, the better you are going to feel. Not only that, nuts, in particular, are a great protein food source.

If you want to overcome depression, try consuming some cold water fish. Herring, trout, tuna, wild salmon, and mackerel are all full of omega-3s and DHA. These are two substances that promote the quality and function of the grey matter in your brain. It’s true: chomping on a tuna fish sandwich can basically help you overcome depression.

Some grains are truly great for repelling bad moods. Barley, millet, quinoa, etc are excellent at helping you feel better. They fill you up better and that can help improve your moods too. Feeling starved can really make you feel terrible! The reason these grains are so great for your mood is that they are not hard for your body to digest and process. They are simpler to digest than other foods which helps kick up your blood sugar levels and that, in turn, elevates your mood.

Green tea is excellent for moods. You were sure green tea had to be included in this article, right? Green tea is rich in a certain amino acid called L-theanine. Research has found that this amino acid induces the production of brain waves. This will better your brain’s concentration while at the same calming the rest of your body. You likely already knew it is not difficult to be healthy when you consume green tea. Now you know that green tea can improve your mood as well!

Now you know that junk food isn’t necessarily what you need to eat when you wish to help your moods get better. Try a few of these suggestions instead.