I remember as a child growing up in Taiwan enjoying the preparation for the annual duan wu jie or dragon boat festival, usually in late May sometime. My mom and aunties would spend a lot of time shopping and preparing to make the traditional food eaten during this holiday, call zong zi. Once they had all the raw materials of glutinous rice, pork, mushrooms, and peanuts mixed in a big washtub, they would sit around on little stools to fill lotus leaves with the rice mixture. All the cousins would wait around eagerly for the first batch of zong zi to be made, and then steamed. They were delicious! After we filled up our bellies with the savory ones, we then waited again for the sweet ones, usually made with red beans. My mom and aunties always made plenty for family and friends.
I hope my kids will have wonderful memories around Chinese food. At the very least I have our Cooking with Kids dvds (Celebrating Chinese New Years and Exploring Chinese Food, Culture, and Language) I can show them.
I found a great article Zong Zi - the Traditional Chinese Food, by Rhonda Parkinson on About.com with a recipe on how to make zong zi. I hope you will try it and let us know how it goes. Enjoy!
Teresa
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