Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese festival in May or June. In China and in Chinese communities worldwide, that means boat races for some, but delicious zongzi for all. At this time of year, the unmistakable smell of bamboo leaves is in the air, and there are few things more tantalising to the nostrils than steaming zongzi. Zongzi are eaten all year round but during the Dragon Boat Festival (the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar year) and for the following month or so, millions are consumed. Normally eaten as a snack; a hefty snack – one Chinese zongzi eaten in the afternoon will keep you going until dinnertime. Two zongzi and, well … forget dinner.

The main ingredient of zongzi is glutinous rice. Other ingredients and flavourings vary from region to region. They come in different sizes and shapes, and some are wrapped in leaves other than bamboo. Most are savoury, some are sweet, some are boiled, some are steamed.

Professional zongzi makers are getting more creative every year, but I have never eaten anything better than the product made from the recipe below for typical pyramid shaped steamed Chinese zongzi.

Quite a lot of ingredients are involved, and a trip to the Chinese grocery will be necessary if only to buy the bamboo leaves. But I reckon the key to a great taste is the fatty pork. The fat turns to oil when it is cooked and its flavour diffuses through the zongzi. Don't be swayed by the anti-fat Nazis into buying the leanest meat you can find – skimp on fat and you lose flavour. Besides, the small piece of pork in each zongzi is just one of many ingredients.

I won't kid you by telling you that making zongzi is easy. It is time consuming, and you will want to allocate the best part of a day for shopping, preparation, and cooking. It can be tricky putting zongzi together and wrapping them into nice pyramids – organizing a little work gang to help is a good idea. So, if you are going to do it, scale up. My recipe makes 20 pieces but for a little extra labour, you could double the quantities and make 40.

Traditional Chinese recipe of Zongzi (Rice Dumplings in Bamboo Leaves)

Makes 20 dumplings

Ingredients
40 large bamboo leaves (2 for each zongzi)
20 long strings (for binding leaves)
1 kg (2.2 Ib) uncooked glutinous rice
2 kg (4.4 Ib) fatty pork, sliced into 3 cm (1") cubes
10 salted duck's egg yolk, shelled, cut into halves
40 small dried shittake (black) mushrooms
20 dried chestnuts
10 stalks of scallions, cut up into 1 cm (1/2") lengths
500 g (18 oz) dried radish diced very finely
100 g (3.5 oz) very small dried shrimp
200 g (7 oz) raw peanuts (shelled, with skins)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup rice wine
Vegetable oil
5 cloves of garlic, roughly crushed
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 pieces star anise

Method

Preparing ingredients

Soak rice in water for three hours, drain.
Stew pork and chestnuts for 1 hour in soy sauce, rice wine, ground pepper, 1 teaspoon of sugar. and star anise. Set aside pork and chestnuts in
bowl.

Boil peanuts until tender (30 minutes to 1 hour).

Soak mushrooms until soft. Clean and cut off stalks. Stir-fry with a little liquid from stew. Set aside in bowl.

Shell and halve duck eggs. Set aside in bowl.

Chop up dried radish finely and stir-fry with some 1/2 teaspoon sugar and garlic.

Stir-fry spring onions until fragrant.

Stir-fry shrimp very quickly.

In a large wok or bowl, add rice, then add spring onions, radish, shrimp, peanuts. Mix together well.

Wrapping zongzi

Rinse bamboo leaves in hot water to tenderise, before washing thoroughly in cold water.

Wet strings to make them more pliable.

Take 2 leaves and overlap them. About 2/3rds of way along the length of the leaves, place one hand underneath, make a cup shape with the
leaves.

Add a small amount of rice mixture, then add 1 piece of pork to the centre of the rice. Add more rice on top, compressing slightly.

Now repeat this process, in turn adding 1 each: chestnut, mushroom, half a duck egg, followed by a layer of rice until you have a full rice ball in
your hand.

Wrap leaves tightly around the ball of rice.

Dumplings should be pyramid shaped with sharp edges and pointed ends. It takes some practice to make nice looking ones.

Zongzi are tied up just like shoes laces with a double knot which makes them easy to open.

*Steam for 1 hour, unwrap and serve.

Notes
Eat zongzi plain or with a sauce of your choice. Wrapped tightly in plastic, zongzi freeze well. To reheat, thaw, and without removing the bamboo
leaves, steam (best option), or microwave. Before micro-waving, poke a very small hole in the wrapping and pour in 1/4 of a teaspoon of water to
help prevent the zongzi drying out. To test for doneness, plunge a sharp fork into the centre of the zongzi. If the pointy end of the fork is hot, so is
your snack.