Bak Chang !

It's the Dumpling Festival (a.k.a Dragon Boat festival - 端午节) again, actual day falls on this Thursday 28 May 2009. I have been seeing a lot of traders and shops selling dumplings of a lot of varieties. Being babysitted by my aunt during childhood, i think nothing beats the homemade dumplings that she prepares every year....

I was at my aunt's place last Saturday and she was already busy preparing BakChang for this festival. This lovely lady has commented that the family members insist to only consume the homemade dumplings and they do not like the BakChang sold outside...hehe...being used to the homemade taste i guess....

Am not going to explain on the history of this festival. If you are interested, please Google search then..haha....

I was captivated by the process taken in coming out with the wonderful dumplings...let's see how it's being prepared....

I think this is called bamboo/reed leaves

Washed and soaked for few days before use

Glutinous rice was fried with dark soya sauce until fagrant

Some braised mushrooms



FeiChuYok!

Pork...fatty pork!



Some fried dried shrimps

My beloved Aunt in action!

Growing up watching her showing the skill of preparing BakChang truly amazed me

First, put some glutinous rice into the folded leaves. Then put in the other ingredients...

Cover the whole thing with some glutious rice again.

The most difficult part is to wrap the dumpling!

I never can master the skill of wrapping dumpling cos all end up ''bertaburan''...haha...

Better sit at the side watching and wait to eat :p

Hang the pre-cooked dumpling in a bundle. Why bundle it? For better grabbing purpose when you take it out from the hot boiling water....

The next steps involve putting the bundled raw dumplings into big pot of boiling water, let it cooked and you are ready to savour this traditional food. Didn't manage to take photos of the end result...but i can tell you it's yummy as i just had it as my breakfast this morning =)

~~ Happy Dumpling Festival to everyone ~~

~~ 端午节快乐 ~~