Northern Taiwan Zongzi 台灣北部粽子

It's that time of the year for the Dragon Boat Festival also known as Duan Wu Festival 端午節!  This festival celebrates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan 屈原 (340-278 BC) who advised against an alliance to the displeasure of the Chu emperor who then exiled him.  When the alliance led to the eventual downfall of the Chu kingdom as he had foreseen, Qu Yuan threw himself into a river in grief and despair.

Apparently he was well loved for the local folk rushed out in boats (ie dragon boats) to try to save him.  When that failed they dropped balls of sticky rice (ie zongzi) in the river so that the fish would feed on the rice and not on Qu Yuan's body.  Kinda of a disturbing ending but whatever...

Red Bean Paste Zong Zi Rice Dumpling 紅豆沙粽子

It's almost that time of the year, the time for dramatic Duanwu Dragon Boat Festival races and yummilicious Zong Zi!  To be honest, I always get a bit melancholy as well around this time, because the thought of zong zi, or 粽子, always gets me to reminiscing about my dearest grandmother, or 奶奶, who pretty much brought me up and taught me most of what of know about real traditional Chinese cooking.  

My dear grandma handmade the best and yummiest zong zi for us every year!  So I am always missing her cooking and her grumpiness and her giggles whenever the Dragon Boats are dragged out from storage and the folks begin their arduous practice sessions in preparation for the big races.  

To get over my blues I usually make my grandma's delectable savoury pork Zong Zi, pottering about happily in my teensy, tiny kitchen, listening with half an ear for sounds that I will swear are my grandma amongst her pots and pans.  This year, I decided to also make my most favorite food ever that my grandma made for me, the awesome and incredible Red Bean Paste Zong Zi, or 豆沙粽子.  My. Favorite. Food. Ever!!!! (Psst!  We even made a video of the Zong Zi wrapping process!)