Zongzi, a.k.a. "glutinous rice dumplings", a.k.a. "Chinese tamales"! We already showed y'all how to make these in an earlier video, so for this year's Dragonboat Festival we wanted to give you a bit of a 'supermarket zongzi' buying and prepping guide.

0:00 Introduction to Zongzi
0:48 Why do people eat Zongzi for Dragon Boat?
2:06 Should you make Zongzi, or buy them?
2:42 Types of Zongzi at the Supermarket
5:00 How to Boil Zongzi
5:50 How to Eat Zongzi
6:24 How to Panfry Zongzi, Two Methods
9:01 Sauce to Dip?
9:39 Which frying method for which Zongzi?

TABLE OF ZONGZI BOILING TIMES (FOR REFERENCE)

Generally speaking, Zongzi packages will come with boiling times on them. When in doubt, go with the package. This table is just in case the package doesn't have instructions, or if you can't read them for whatever reason.

Weight | Shrinkwrapped/fresh | Frozen

100g | 10 minutes | 15 minutes
150g | 12 minutes | 20 minutes
200g | 15 minutes | 25 minutes
250g | 20 minutes | 25 minutes
300g | 25 minutes | 30 minutes
500g | 30 minutes | 40 minutes

note: Do not let frozen Zongzi thaw before cooking. They will become a gloopy mess.

HOW TO PANFRY

If working from frozen Zongzi, boil the Zongzi first (around half the time you'd boil otherwise). If using fresh or shrinkwrapped zongzi, no need to precook: just charge forward straight.

Smushfry method:

Fry the zongzi over a medium flame with ~1 tbsp oil. Optionally slice the Zongzi in half. Smush the zongzi until a lid can cover it, ~23 minutes. Once a lid can cover, cook with the lid on, periodically continuing to smush and shape the zongzi into a pancake, ~5 minutes. Optionally crack an egg over the zongzi, and once the egg's formed, flip. Cook for ~5 minutes until everything is crispy and golden brown.

Slice & Fry method:

Slice the Zongzi into 12 inch pieces with the string that it came wrapped with, then fry the zongzi pieces over a medium flame with ~1 tbsp oil. For the first five minutes of cooking, keep the lid covered to help soften the rice. After that point, flip the pieces occasionally. After about ~20 minutes in total of frying, the Zongzi should be nice an golden brown.

______________
Footage of the family celebrating Dragon Boat is from the super wholesome channel 农村小遥 (I believe they're from up in the Northeast?). Check out the whole video here:
   • 端午节儿女都回父母家吃饭两亲家说着笑着真热闹20道菜堆满桌 .  

Also check out the whole video of Dragon Boat racing from Vassili Chui, here:
   • Dragon Boat Drifting 端午節龍舟漂移  

And check out our Patreon if you'd like to support the project!
  / chinesecookingdemystified  

Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel):    • Live Stream: Favourite BSide Tracks