Bak Chang festival was just recently celebrated. I'm not sure what the event is called. Maybe Harvest festival or Dragon Boat festival. Anyway, it involves rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves... bak chang in Hokkien or zongzi in Mandarin.
My family celebrated it with my hardworking mom making more than 80 bak changs! I loved them so much. The much anticipated once a year bak changs! We freeze most of it so we can eat it during the year. This year we made the bak changs as usual, same recipe as last year. We have fillings of pork, glutinous rice, white beans, black mushroom, chestnut, salted egg yolk and dried prawn. The rice is soaked in water overnight, then fried in fragrant oil, seasoning and dark soy sauce before packing it with the other ingredients. The bamboo leaf really gives it an aromatic flavour.
It is a difficult task to assemble it.... but my mom is already an expert. There is a way to fold it into a triangular shape. I tried it once. But I can't do it very well. I only helped to tie additional string to the bak chang after wrapping it with the bamboo leaves. The worst thing that can happen is that it breaks open while cooking. It is boiled in batches in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes per batch.
My mom really cares about us. Even with arthritis, she can pull this off. So much work goes into this. Thanks mom! I will always treasure your bak changs! They are really awesome!
Labels: celebration, home cooking, meals, snacks
