The Cantonese rice dumpling or zong (pronounced “ch-oe-hng”) does not have the brown-hued glutinous rice characteristic of the Hokkien bakchang, who fry their uncooked rice grains in dark soysauce and 5-spice powder before wrapping and steaming. The Cantonese do not fry their glutinous rice, but instead, will season it with salt and garlic oil before the wrapping & steaming process.
The Cantonese rice dumpling filling is characterised by its use of mung beans to accompany the marinated pork belly. The Cantonese wrap their zong into long, pillow-shaped parcels, unlike the pyramidical-shaped ones favoured by the Hokkiens. Salted duck’s eggyolk is also added to the filling at times.
The Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu (Chinese: 端午) which falls on the 5th Day of the 5th Month on the traditional Chinese lunar calendar - next Monday, June 14 on the Gregorian calendar.
As always, there’s a proliferation of pop-up stalls and online businesses offering “bakchang” at this time of the year.
I did a taste-test of two Hokkien bakchang at breakfast today - both are homemade ones: one from Van Praagh Road and the other from Island Glades.
Bakchang unwrapped. Both are Hokkien bakchang. The one from Van Praagh Road (left) had a darker hue from more dark soy-sauce used to cook the glutinous rice, before wrapping.
Bakchang dissected. Both had filling consisting of cooked pork, dried Chinese mushroom, whole chestnuts, dried shrimps, and salted duck’s egg-yolk. The one from Van Praagh used pork shoulder meat, whereas the Island Glades one used pork belly. I preferred the latter as it’s moister and fattier.
