Meat dumpling (肉粽)

Ingredients: -
1. Leaves to wrap the bak zhang. (use the leftover from kee zhang)
2. Pork with a little bit of fat. (I prefer five flower meat-五花肉, but you can also use 三层肉)
3. Glutinous rice (1.5kg left over from kee zhang)
4. Chestnuts, shrimp, garlic (lots of garlic so that the rice will taste nicer)
5. Spice (五香粉) for all the frying of pork, chestnuts, shrimp and rice
6. String (not edible, it is for tying the bak zhang)

Preparation: -
1. Wash the leaves. Need to wash thoroughly because the leaves are very dirty. Then soak the leaves with boiling water. Remember to turn the leaves at least once.
2. Soak the rice for at least 6 hours. Then drain the rice. Make sure the rice is dry.
3. Season the pork and leave them overnight in the fridge
4. If you are using dry chestnuts, you will need to soak the chestnuts in boiling water and clean the chestnuts. Then leave the chestnuts overnight.
5. Cut the string about 1.4m length or stretch arms as a rough guide. Tie a loop. There will be 4 dangling strings. Split each string into 4 parts. Each loop will be able to tie 8 bak zhang.

The real work: -
1. Cut and dice the garlic until it is very fine. You can use a dicer to do it. Need about 2 gloves.
2. Fry the chestnuts and leave them aside
3. Fry the shrimp and leave them aside
4. Fry the pork and leave them aside, make sure there are a lot of oil and gravy because these will be use to loosen the rice during wrapping.
5. Fry the garlic and rice and leave them aside, remember to put in some salt. Be generous with the cooking oil, otherwise the rice will stick to the wok.
6. Wrap the rice with the leaves. Put in the ingredients (pork, chestnuts, shrimp)
7. Halfway through the wrapping, start boiling a pot of water.
8. Once the wrapping is done, put the bak zhang into the pot of boiling water. Boil for 15 mins, transfer the bak zhang and the hot water into the thermal pot.
9. Let the bak zhang steam in the thermal pot for 60 mins. Transfer the bak zhang and water to the normal pot and boil for 10 mins. Then transfer the boiling bak zhang back to the thermal pot.
10. Let the bak zhang steam for another half hour.
11. Take out the bak zhang and let it drip dry. Once it is cool, it is ready for serving.

Note: -
If you are not using a thermal pot, you can boil on fire for 45-60mins. Turn the bak zhang around 25-30mins.

Alkaline dumpling (碱水粽)

Ingredients: -
1. Leaves to wrap the kee zhang. (I normally buy 1 packet from Sheng Siong)
2. Alkaline rock (a little bit will do, otherwise the kee zhang will be very bitter)
3. Glutinous rice (1.5 Kg can make about 28 kee zhang. You can buy 2.5kg pack and use the rest for bak zhang)
4. Red bean paste (if you want some flavour, I prefer it plain with icing sugar)
5. String (not edible, it is for tying the kee zhang)

Preparation: -
1. Wash the leaves. Need to wash thoroughly because the leaves are very dirty. Then soak the leaves with boiling water. Remember to turn the leaves at least once.
2. Soak the rice for at least 12 hours. Then drain the rice. Make sure the rice is dry.
3. Cut the string about 1.4m length or stretch arms as a rough guide. Tie a loop. There will be 4 dangling strings. Split each string into 4 parts. Each loop will be able to tie 8 kee zhang.

The real work: -
1. Crush the alkaline rock. Make sure they are very fine and powdery. Add some warm water to the alkaline and stir.
2. Pour the alkaline into the rice and mix thoroughly. The colour of the rice should be slightly yellowish. Don't add too much alkaline until it turn very yellow, it will be very bitter.
3. Wrap the rice with the leaves.
4. Halfway through the wrapping, start boiling a pot of water.
5. Once the wrapping is done, put the kee zhang into the pot of boiling water. Boil for 30 mins, transfer the kee zhang and the hot water into the thermal pot.
6. Let the kee zhang steam in the thermal pot for 75 mins - 90 mins. Shift the position of the kee zhang every 45 mins.
7. Transfer the kee zhang and water to the normal pot and boil for 10 mins. Then transfer the boiling kee zhang back to the thermal pot.
8. Let the kee zhang steam for another 2 hour.
9. Take out the kee zhang and let it drip dry. Once it is cool, it is ready for serving.