Fujian Rice Dumpling 福建肉粽子

🧂 Ingredients

• 1 kg Short grain glutinous rice

  (long grain may also be used but amount will be different since water absorption is less than the short grain) Approx 75 g of uncooked rice for each dumpling
• 150 g Black-eyed peas
• 400 g Pork Belly

  , cut into approx. 30g chunks
• 4 Chinese sausages

  , cut into 3 pieces each
• 12 Salted duck yolks
• 12 Cooked whole chestnuts

  (I get the ready-to-eat packages)
• 12 Dried shiitake mushrooms
• 6 Dried scallops

  (using 12 would make it extra flavourful)
• 4 Large shallots

  , sliced
• 4 cloves Garlic

  , minced
• 50 Bamboo leaves

  (I use 3 leaves per dumpling plus extra for breakage) and equivalent amount of string (since I am not a skilled wrapper, I use approx. 5 ft of string for each dumpling)
• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce

  for rice
• 1 ½ tbsp Light soy sauce

  for rice
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

  for rice
• 1 tsp 5 spice powder
• ½ tsp White pepper powder
• 1 c Oil
• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp Sugar
• ½ tsp 5 spice powder
• ¼ tsp White pepper powder
• 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 2 tsp Cornstarch
• 2 tsp Oil

Instructions

• 1 On the night before, soak dried shiitake mushrooms, dried scallops (just enough
  to cover the scallops by 1 cm), bamboo leaves (if they are dried kind) and
  black-eyed peas.
• 2 On the night before, cut pork belly into chunks of 30-35 g each. Marinate with 1
  tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tsp sugar,
  ½ tsp 5 spice powder and ¼ tsp white pepper powder. Mix well, cover and store in
  the refrigerator
• 3 On the morning of, take the pork belly out of the fridge and let it sit on the
  counter until it reaches room temperature (approx. 1 hour if the weather isn’t
  too cold)
• 4 Do not discard the soaking water for the shiitake mushrooms and dried scallops
• 5 Boil the black-eyed peas on low-medium heat for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside
• 6 Measure 1 kg of short grain glutinous rice
• 7 Remove the shiitake mushrooms from the soaking water and pour most of the
  soaking water into the glutinous rice. Discard the bottom bit where there is
  sediment. If the water doesn’t cover all the rice, add more water. Let sit for
  30 minutes.
• 8 After 30 minutes, if the rice has absorbed most of the water, add more water
  until the water exceeds the rice about 2 cm. Let it sit for another 30 minutes.
  By adding more water after 30 minutes, the rice would’ve mainly absorbed the
  shiitake soaking water to make it more flavourful.
• 9 Drain the water from the rice and let sit in a colander to dry
• 10 Cut stems off shiitake mushrooms. Marinate them with 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1
  tsp sugar and 2 tsp cornstarch. Once mixed together, add 1 tsp oil and mix
  again. Set aside
• 11 Cut Chinese sausages to approx. 4 cm pieces which should be 2 cuts per sausage
  (3 pieces). Set aside
• 12 Prepare 12 salted egg yolks and set aside
• 13 Pull apart soaked dried scallops and set aside. Save scallop water
• 14 Prepare ready-to-eat chestnuts and set aside
• 15 Slice 4 large shallots
• 16 Heat 1 c oil on medium-high heat and fry shallots until golden. Remove shallots
  from oil and set aside
• 17 Mince 4 cloves of garlic
• 18 Heat wok on high heat, add 2 tbsp of oil (use the oil from frying shallots), add
  pork belly without pouring the marinade in the wok. Arrange in single layer and
  let it cook for 30 seconds or until toasted Save any leftover marinade to pour
  into the rice
• 19 Flip pork belly over and cook for another 30 seconds. Add minced garlic
• 20 Stir-fry pork belly and garlic together for another 30 to 60 seconds or until
  you can smell the garlic aroma.
• 21 Move contents in the wok to one side and add shiitake mushrooms. Fry each side
  for 30 seconds and then mix with pork belly and cook for another 30 seconds
• 22 Remove contents from wok and set aside
• 23 Add another 2 tbsp of the shallot oil to the wok. Add scallops and fry for 30
  seconds
• 24 Add black-eyed peas to the wok and fry together with scallops
• 25 Add 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 ½ tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tsp
  5 spice powder and ½ tsp white pepper powder and mix well If you like the rice
  darker you can add another ½ to 1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
• 26 Add glutinous rice, fried shallots, the leftover perk belly marinade and scallop
  soaking water to the wok. Mix well
• 27 Remove rice from wok and set aside
• 28 In a large pot, add enough water to boil the bamboo leaves. Add the leaves to
  the water and then bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil, you can remove the
  leaves from the water.
• 29 Submerse the leaves in fresh water this will prevent them from drying out and
  breaking
• 30 Have string ready. I take 3 pieces of 10’ string and I fold them in half to find
  the centre point. then I tie a knot approx. 5 cm from the fold to make a loop. I
  usually like to tie 6 dumplings together in a bunch so that it will be easy to
  submerse them in the water and take them out. You can also tie them all
  separately. Of course, you may use less string. I use more (since I’m not good
  at it) so that I can bind the whole dumpling tightly to prevent leakage. It
  would make it easier if you could use the loop on the string to hook onto a
  cabinet knob or something that is quite sturdy to act as resistance when you tie
  your dumpling
• 31 Have all your filling in front of you. You should have the glutinous rice,
  salted egg yolks, pork belly, shiitake mushrooms, chestnuts and Chinese sausages
• 32 Optional: each dumpling will have approx. 160 g of the rice mixture. So you can
  take a bowl and measure 160 g to be put into the dumpling. This will ensure you
  have enough rice for all the dumplings
• 33 Take 2 leaves, wipe dry with a towel to remove any residual dirt, smooth side on
  top, one on top of another, cut off the hard stem part and make a cone at around
  the 1/3 point If your leaves are quite wide, you can use just one leaf. Take a
  look at my video here
  [https://auntieemily.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Auntie-Emilys-Kitchen-Wrapping-Step-6-Video.mp4]
  to see how I wrap them when the leaves are wide and short
• 34 Add another leaf in between the 2 with the stem starting where the bottom point
  of the cone is This step is optional but I find that for a not so experienced
  wrapper, it helps to have this 3rd piece as reinforcement
• 35 Add 2 large spoonfuls of rice to the cone and press in. Add 1 of each filling
  items
• 36 Fill the rest of the space with rice
• 37 Fold the vertical leaves over to form the base for the cone opening. Use this
  base to press down on the rice to pack it in.
• 38 Flip over so that the base is on the bottom
• 39 Pinch using the index finger and thumb of the hand that is holding the cone to
  form a triangle shape
• 40 The sides of the base part should fold over the now triangle opening. The hand
  holding the base will now grasp onto the whole dumpling, simultaneously
  enveloping the triangle opening with the vertical leaf
• 41 This will cause the vertical leaf to fold vertically and close off the dumpling.
  Now hold the dumpling with the other hand
• 42 With the free hand, fold downwards the vertical leaf, finishing off the edge
• 43 Keep folding this vertical leaf following the shape of the dumpling
• 44 Take one end of the string and wind it tightly around the dumpling from one end
  to the other and tie a knot. You can always tie another piece of string to it if
  you feel it’s still loose
• 45 Continue until all the dumplings have been assembled
• 46 Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
• 47 Put the dumplings in the boiling water. The water should be enough to completely
  submerse the dumplings. Let it boil for 15 minutes then turn the heat down to
  low I added more water after I took the picture
• 48 Cook for 3 hours
• 49 Remove from water and serve
• 50 Dumplings can be stored in the freezer. Steam to reheat for best results

Nutrition Info