How long do you boil zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) until they are cooked? An introduction to different types of zongzi

Wrapped in zongzi leaves and steamed from glutinous rice, it is one of the traditional festival foods of the Chinese nation. The custom of eating zongzi has endured for thousands of years; every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the Dragon Boat Festival, every household in China soaks glutinous rice, washes zongzi leaves and wraps zongzi. So how long do you boil zongzi until they are cooked? What types are there? Let's take a look together with the editors of Nongxun Net.

1. How long do you boil zongzi until they are cooked?

The ingredient inside zongzi is glutinous rice, and glutinous rice is not easy to cook. If you boil zongzi in a pressure cooker, about fifteen to twenty minutes is enough, but if you use an ordinary pot, it is best to boil them for about half an hour to three hours.

If there are elderly people and children at home, the cooking time can be longer still, for example boiling for about three hours, until they are soft and mushy, before serving. Only then is it easier for them to digest.

Zongzi that have already been boiled once can also be boiled a second time to reheat them, but it is best to steam them the second time, so that the flavor of the zongzi is not lost into the water again and the taste can be preserved as much as possible.

2. What types of zongzi are there?

1. Beijing zongzi

The representative variety of northern zongzi, Beijing zongzi are relatively large, in an oblique four-cornered or triangular shape. At present, most of those sold on the market are glutinous rice zongzi. In rural areas, people still habitually eat large yellow rice zongzi. Sticky, chewy and delicately fragrant, with a distinctive flavor, Beijing zongzi mostly use red dates and sweet bean paste as filling, and a few also use candied fruit as filling.

2. Guangdong zongzi

The representative variety of southern zongzi, Guangdong zongzi are the opposite of Beijing zongzi: smaller in size and distinctive in shape, square at the front and bulging at the back into a pointed corner, shaped like an awl. Winter leaves wrap glutinous rice, mung beans, salted egg yolk, shiitake mushrooms, peanuts, pork belly and lotus seeds; this is the traditional method of making wrapped steamed zongzi, and the rich ingredients fill the mouth with satisfaction.

3. Sichuan zongzi

People in Sichuan love spicy food, so zongzi there are also divided into sweet and spicy. Sichuan spicy zongzi, because of their careful preparation and complex craft, naturally have a unique taste, and so have become one of the famous snacks handed down through the ages in Sichuan. The method is to first soak glutinous rice and red beans for 5 to 6 hours, pour off the water, add pepper powder, Sichuan salt, monosodium glutamate and a little cured meat, and wrap them with zongzi leaves into four-cornered zongzi of about 60 grams each. Eaten after boiling, they are fragrant and spicy, pleasant to the taste and uniquely flavored.

4. Suzhou zongzi

Suzhou zongzi are long and slender with four corners, and come in varieties such as fresh meat, date paste, sweet bean paste and lard with bean paste, featuring careful ingredients and fine workmanship. For example, lard with bean paste zongzi uses top-grade small red beans, which after boiling are peeled and strained into paste, then mixed with double the amount of granulated sugar and an appropriate amount of oil to make the filling; when wrapping, a piece of fatty meat is also tucked into the filling, and after boiling they are crystal-clear and sweet, rich and fragrant.

5. Shandong zongzi

Among the many varieties of zongzi, the one with the greatest seniority and the oldest credentials is undoubtedly the Shandong yellow rice zongzi. Made with yellow sticky rice, the zongzi are sticky and chewy, with red dates tucked inside; the product has a unique flavor, and when eaten, diners can add white sugar according to their habits to increase the sweetness.

6. Miluo zongzi

Miluo in Hunan is said to be the birthplace of zongzi, and Miluo zongzi have always been renowned worldwide for their many varieties and exquisite workmanship. During the international dragon boat festival, dozens of traditional and newly developed zongzi are presented, packaged in beautifully shaped vacuum plastic packaging and canned packaging, sterile and hygienic, and deeply loved by consumers at home and abroad.

7. Jiaxing fresh meat zongzi

Zhejiang Jiaxing zongzi have a long history and are famous throughout China. Jiaxing zongzi are rectangular, and come in varieties such as fresh meat, sweet bean paste, eight-treasure and chicken zongzi. Among Jiaxing zongzi, "Wufangzhai" is considered the best, long known as the "king of Jiangnan zongzi". Its zongzi are unique in everything from the selection of ingredients and production to cooking. The rice must be top-grade white glutinous rice, and the meat is selected from the pig's hind leg; after the zongzi are boiled, the fat's oil seeps into the rice, and they are delicious at first bite, fatty but not greasy.

The above is an introduction to zongzi. There are many kinds of zongzi; in terms of fillings, the north has Beijing date zongzi wrapped with small dates, while the south has fillings such as mung beans, pork belly, sweet bean paste, eight-treasure, ham, shiitake mushrooms and egg yolk, among which Guangdong salted meat zongzi and Zhejiang Jiaxing zongzi are the representatives.

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