The Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival (端午节)is coming.  It is one of my favorite festivals because I love eating rice dumplings(粽子).  I love China because of its rich diversity in varieties of culture, dialects, and yummy delicious food.

The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the May 5th of the Chinese lunar calendar. It is one of the most important Chinese festivals.  The festival was It is to memory commemorate Qu Yuan.QuYuan who was a faithful man loyal minister during the Warring States. n one of Chinese dynasty.He worked for government.But because of the misdeeds of jealous rivals and pitied country's fate,he commit suicide by jumping into river. He drowned himself in the river as a remonstration to his Lord who fell deaf ears to his pleas to prevent the country from falling into ruin.

The people were touched by his faithful sprit and they drove rowed boats try to find QuYuan's his body.  They made throw rice dumplings to prevent fishes from eating the body. feed fishes in case Qu's body was bitten.That is the original of dragon boat festival.

Here are some tips for in making rice dumpings:

1. 50 sheets of bamboo or reed leaves
2. Glutinous rice (1 kilogram)
3. Chinese dates (250 grams)
steps:
1.Soak the rice and the dates for 12 hours or more till until they are soaked thoroughly.
2. Wash the leaves.
3. A chopping board is necessary for laying out the leaves.
4. Fold the leaves flat at the leafstalk to make a sheet.
5. Hold the sheet, fold it round in the middle and make a funnel till until both ends are laid over each other in one direction.
6. Use about 1/10 kg. of rice and 6 dates for each dumpling. The dates must be covered by the rice to prevent dehydration during so that they won't lose too much syrup in cooking.
7. Fold the leaves up to seal the open side of the funnel and tie the bundle with a band made of twisted leaves. Make sure that the bundle is snug to tied neither too tight nor too loose. This helps make sure that the ingredients are well cooked.
8. Put the dumplings in a pot, cover with water.
9. Cooking time: 40 minutes in a pressure cooker; 2 hours in an ordinary pot.

haha!do it yourself Try it and you will get yummy have great tasting rice dumpings!

Happy Dragon Boat festival!^^

We use a tiny piece of pork with fat, peanuts, corn and whatever ingredients that tickle your fancy :)