Friday, June 24, 2016

Nyonya Dumplings 【娘惹粽】



According to Wikipedia:

Peranakan Chinese or Straits-born Chinese are the descendants of Chinese immigrants who came to the Malay archipelago including British Malaya (now Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, where they are also referred to as Baba-Nyonya) and Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia; where they're also referred as Kiau-Seng)[4] between the 15th and 17th centuries.[5] Members of this community in Malaysia address themselves as "Baba Nyonya". 

Nyonya is the term for the women and Baba for the men. It applies especially to the Han populations of the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java and other locations, who have adopted Nusantara customs — partially or in full — to be somewhat assimilated into the local communities. Many were the elites of Singapore, more loyal to the British than to China. Most have lived for generations along the straits of Malacca. They were usually traders, the middleman of the British and the Chinese, or the Chinese and Malays, or vice versa because they were mostly English educated. Because of this, they almost always had the ability to speak two or more languages.

Most Southeast Asian are known for their varieties of Kuih/bite-sized snack or dessert foods.

This Dumpling is one of them, it highly resembles its close cousin Bak Zhang in looks. The taste, on the other hand, is a completely different story.  It is a package of savory, spicy and sweetness all wrapped in one (literally), very addictive it is.

This recipe was my great grandma's. Great granny was the queen in the kitchen and was great with needle works. I still remember the awe I felt when I saw her making Popiah skin the first time by spreading a bunch of bouncy/sticky dough over hot skillet, bare handed. She was quick and swift.

She made most of our festive cakes/pastries at home until much later in her life.
Come to think about it. Observing her act in the kitchen was the beginning of my interest in cooking, perhaps.

Note: Original recipe was created in June 2010, updated with new photos and slight changes in the recipe.


根据wikipedia的介绍:

[峇峇娘惹(或稱土生華人/侨生)是指十五世纪初期定居在满剌伽(马六甲)、满者伯夷国和室利佛逝国(印尼)和淡马锡(新加坡)一带的中國明朝后裔。峇峇娘惹也包括少数在唐宋时期定居此地的唐人,但目前没有来源证明唐宋已有唐人定居此地,所以一般上峇峇娘惹都是指大明后裔。這些唐宋明后裔的文化在一定程度上受到当地馬來人或其他非華人族群的影響。男性称为峇峇,女性称为娘惹。]

娘惹糕点在东南亚一直都富有盛名,今年端午节我们吃喝饭团召集了一起过节吃粽子,团里的姐妹们都拿出自己家乡的粽子。我也拿出我们祖传的娘惹粽食谱,来跟大家分享一下啦!

这个食谱是我曾祖母留下的,家里只有我妈学下来了,我奶奶是不太爱做高点的,妈妈嫁过去的时候,曾祖母还健在,我的曾祖母是有名的巧手,很会做糕点和女红。我还记得小时候坐在她身边看她手握面团,随便在铁板上绕一圈,就烙出一片薄饼皮的情景,也记得家里小孩子弥月还是婚庆,她老人家亲自做发糕和龟糕的样子。

我想,我就是那个时候就开始了对烹饪的兴趣的吧!




Ingredients:(Make approx 45 dumplings)

For filling:

2 lbs/ 900 g Pork leg cuts
50 g/ 20 Dried Mushrooms (soaked)
350 g Candied Winter Melon
100 g shallots
80 g garlic
3 tbsp corn/tapioca starch

For glutinous rice:
4 lbs /1800 g long grain glutinous rice
10 g/1 big bunch of Fresh/dried Bunga Telang/Butterfly Pea Flower
1 cup of cooking oil
1 tbsp of salt

Seasoning:
1/2 bottle of Soy Bean Paste (Around 2/3 measuring cup, preferably made in Malaysia.)
75 g Coriander Seed
25 g Black Pepper Corn
1 tsp salt
5-6 大片 香兰叶 Pandan Leaves/Screwpine leaves 洗净剪成2寸左右的小段

Others:
6 Cooking twine
1 tbsp salt to boil dumplings


材料:(45 只 粽子)

馅料:

2 磅/900 克 猪后腿肉 (Pork leg cuts)
50 克/20 朵香菇 (泡发)
350 克 糖冬瓜
100 克 红葱头
80 克 蒜瓣
3 大勺 芡粉

糯米:
4磅/1800 克 长糯米
10 克/1大把 晒干的蓝花 (大约35朵)
1 杯 食油
1 大勺 食盐

调味:
1/2 瓶/罐豆酱 (大约2/3杯,最好是马来西亚产的)
75 克 芫荽籽 Coriander Seed
25 克 黑胡椒 Black Pepper Corn
1 小勺 食盐
5-6 大片 香兰叶 Pandan Leaves/Screwpine leaves 洗净剪成2寸左右的小段

其他:
6 把 棉绳
1 大勺食盐 煮粽子用






1. Dry roast coriander seeds and black pepper corn until fragrant, cooled and ground into fine powder using a spice grinder/coffee grinder.

  Note:Mom washed and sun-dried the coriander seeds and pepper corn days ahead. I do not think it is necessary, so I skipped this step.

2. Bring half pot of water to boil and cook the pork until firm, remove, drained and skinned. Cube the pork into the size of peas, save 2 cups of the boiling water for later use.

3. Cleaned, soaked and chop mushrooms to the size of peas. Use a food processor to chop shallot, garlic, candied winter melon separately. Blend/soy bean paste into fine thick paste.

  Note:Try not to use minced meat to make this zhang, it taste so much better with chopped pork.

1. 把芫荽籽和黑胡椒煸香,冷却后磨成粉备用。

  注:我母亲的做法是芫荽籽和黑胡椒都要洗过晒干才煸炒的。我没觉得芫荽籽和黑胡椒很脏,就没洗。

2. 把肉洗干净入水煮至7分熟,取出去皮,切细丁。煮肉的水留下一大碗备用。

3. 香菇泡发切细丁,冬瓜糖切细丁。豆瓣酱搅拌机搅拌成糊状/或剁成茸备用。葱蒜去皮剁碎备用。

  注:这个过程我最不喜欢了,站着切了大半天,腰都累直了。不过肉还是不要用搅拌机搅拌的好,用手切   丁做出来的粽子的口感比绞肉好太多太多。





4. Heat up 1/2 cup of cooking oil, stir fry chopped garlic and shallot until fragrant. Add blended soy bean paste and cook until oil separates, add chopped mushrooms and pork, continue cooking and stirring until oil separated again. Add chopped candied winter melon and 2 cups of the broth we saved, bring the mixture to boil and turn the stove to medium low, simmer for 15-20 minutes.

5. Add grounded spices, mix well, continue to simmer for 5 more minutes, adjust taste with salt if needed. Mix 3 tbsp of cornstarch with 1/2 cup of water, add it to the mixture and bring the heat to high, cook for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture thickened. Take it out and store in container with lid/cover, let cool and place in the refrigerator to chill overnight.

4. 锅里下1/2杯的油,倒入剁碎的葱蒜,炒香后加入豆瓣酱,煸炒香后,倒入香菇丁和五花肉丁,煸炒至出油,加入糖冬瓜,翻匀。倒入一大碗(大约两杯)煮肉水,加盖焖煮15-20分钟。

5. 加入芫荽和胡椒粉,拌匀。试试味道,不够咸加点盐。再焖煮五分钟,三大勺芡粉加水兑好勾芡后就可以熄火冷却。装到容器里,放入冰箱的冷藏室,冷藏一个晚上。






6. Boil the dried butterfly pea flowers in a saucepan with 1 cup of water for about 8-10 minutes until the color of water turned dark blue. Discard the flowers.

  Note:Adding 2-3 drops of lime/lemon juice into the flower water will brighten the color even more.

7. Remove the stem of the bamboo leaves using a scissor. Soaked the leaves in hot water for one hour, brush and wash the leaves twice before using.

8. Wash and drain the glutinous rice, there is no need to soak it. Divide the rice into two portions, one larger (2/3) and one smaller (1/3). Add the butterfly pea flower water to the smaller portion, mix well and let it dye the rice for 15 minutes. Drain excess liquid before adding 1 tsp of salt. Add 2 tsp of salt to the larger/white rice portion.

9. Heat up 1 cup of cooking oil in a small pan until small bubbles form from the bottom, pour 1/3 of it to the blue rice and 2/3 to the white. Mix well and the rice is ready.

6. 在一口小锅里,倒入一杯的水,放入洗净的蓝花,煮大约8-10分钟,至颜色充分煮出,捞出兰花丢弃不用。

  注:在兰花汁里滴入两三滴的柠檬/青柠汁可以让颜色变得更深,染出来的米粒更好看哦!

7. 裹粽子前把粽叶剪去硬梗部分,泡热水1个小时后用刷子刷干净,再冲洗两遍,备用。

8. 把长糯米淘洗干净即可,不必泡。把米分成两份。把糯米分成两份,一份大,一份小。小的那分大约是总量的1/3 。在小的那份倒入蓝花汁,浸泡15分钟后倒掉多余的水份,拌入1 小勺食盐。大份里拌入2小勺食盐。

9. 一口小锅里热上1杯干净的食油,将1/3 倒入小份糯米里,2/3倒入大份糯米里,拌匀。米这里的准备功夫就好了。


This is how the butterfly pea flower/Bunga Telang looks like.
蓝花马来语叫做Bunga Telang,英文名字叫做Clitoria,是Blue pea的花,这是网上找来的照片.




Mine was harvested from mom's backyard and sun dried by mom and her maid. Best natural food color.

我的是娘家女佣种了收成晒干给我带到美国用的,是最好的天然色素哦!






10. When all the ingredients are ready, it is time to wrap the dumplings. Pick two leaves that are similar in size and length, place one on top of each other, one pointing left and one pointing right to even out irregularities of the leaves.

11. Fold the leaves at about 1/3 length and bring the sides together to create a cone. Place 1 tbsp of blue rice at the bottom of the cone with 1 tsp of white rice over it. Place 2 tbsp of filling in and cover with 2 tbsp of white rice, place some blue rice at both the corners if you like your zhang to have all three points blue in color.

12. Now with one hand firmly holding on to the cone, fold the leaves over rice with another. Once folded, turn your left hand (still firmly holding on to the cone) from palm facing up to palm facing down.

13. With the same left hand, lightly squeeze to mould the shape a little with your thumb and forefinger to create ‘wings’ on both the sides, fold the ‘wings’ upwards. Turn the remaining leaves (which are now sorta folded into half) around the shape of zhang.

14. Now pull a string of cooking twine and make two loops around the dumplings where most of the folds and the end of the leaves are at. Tie a "live knot" at the end to secure the shape, a single pull later should be able to unravel the knot.

15. Repeat the same steps for all the remaining ingredients.

   Note: try not to make the loops too tight to leave some rooms for the rice   to swell during cooking process. Looping too tight can cause rice bursting out from the leaves or creating "waist" in your zhang which indicate very firm texture.

10. 把所有的材料准备好就可以开始裹粽子。选两片差不多一样大小的粽叶,较细的那端向内相对,叠起。然后在粽叶1/3处,折起成筒状。后边要看起来是如图所示那样。

11. 先在底部填入1大勺蓝米,再一小勺白米,然后把2大勺的馅料填入,再铺上2大勺白米,左右两角各放上一小撮蓝米,盖上一片香兰叶,用汤匙压紧米粒。

12. 把粽叶折起,左手把粽子的左右两端握实,右手把粽叶盖上,折好,就可以用棉绳绑起来了。重复相同的步骤把粽子都裹好。

   注:棉绳不要缠得太紧,不然粽子在煮的过程可能会因为糯米发涨而爆破,即使不破,做出来的粽子也会    有"腰",不够方正,就没那么好看。





13. Fill a stock pot with 2/3 of water and 1 tbsp of salt, bring to a rolling boil. Place the zhangs into the water and cook at medium heat for 2.5 hours. Let the zhangs sit in the water for 30 minutes more after switching off the stove. Drain and let cool.

  Note:Adding salt to cooking water is essential to prevent changes of taste in the Zhangs.

I also made a vegetarian version using Vegetarian chicken (gluten) with the same recipe (minus garlic, shallot and meat) for prayers at the temple, it tasted very good too!

13. 在一口大大的深锅里,倒入超过大半锅的水,加入1大勺的盐,煮滚。水滚之后,把裹好的粽子下锅,煮2。5个小时.熄火后泡在水里30分钟再取出滴干水份,冷却。  
   
  注:煮粽子的水里一定要下盐,不然煮出来的粽子味道会变淡喔!

我另外用素鸡,香菇,糖冬瓜,去了葱蒜(五辛)做了素馅的娘惹粽送到佛堂供养师父。素的味道也不错喔!


The taste of my family heritage!Beautiful and palatable! 
家乡有名的娘惹粽好了,味道丰富,卖相美观呢!






6 comments:

  1. 這個看了實在讓人流口水的(還看一次流一次)!打算今年一定要做。

    ReplyDelete
  2. hat brand of soy bean paste did you use? thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sometimes when opened the Zhang, the glutinuous rice stick to the bamboo leaves. How to remedy this problem?

    ReplyDelete