Zongzi, 粽子

"With just a little honey" - Aunt Kim

Ingredients

• 4 lb Long grain sweet rice

• Bamboo leaves

• ½ tsp Potassium carbonate & sodium bi-carbonate solution (雪碱水) - Koon Chun Brand

  OR ⅓ tsp of the powder (碱粉代替)

• String divided to 2.5 feet long pieces

• Optional for flavor: peanuts, red bean, green peas, scallop/shrimp, or marinated pork

• Dipping: Honey or sugar

Cooking Tools

• Pressure cooker

• Scissors

Steps 

Soak bamboo leaves in ~50 deg Celsius water for 10 minutes

(mix half boiling water / half cold water)

Wash the rice and mix alkaline water in well

Take 2 bamboo leaves and fold into a pocket.

When folding bamboo leaves, always make sure that corners are folded over

so that there is no opening for rice to fall out

Fill the pocket with rice and pack the rice in tight.

Make sure to leave an inch of clearance on top

Fold the top over and wrap the bundle tight.

Make sure all corners are folded over well.

Wrap a string around the bundle twice, pull tight,

then tie a half-shoe tie so they can be opened easily.

Optionally cut off extra leaf

Make sure all bundles are cooked before storing in the refrigerator.

To cook, put in pressure cooker with COLD water. Hot water will unevenly cook the rice.

Cook on high for 30 minutes.

It is okay to cook in a normal pot, but it can take over an hour.

To check when done, poke the rice with a chopstick.

If it comes out soft and sticky, it's done 

Zongzi, 粽子