中文菜谱：咸鸭黄板栗肉粽

May 30th is the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival in 2017. The festival is set according to the lunar calendar, so it comes on different days every year. Mostly it is either May or June.

Rice dumplings are the most traditional food to have on this day. I make rice dumplings every year too. It is fun to make them; even more fun to eat them!

Ingredients：

3 cups of sweet rice
dried bamboo leaves
1to 2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
salt to taste
water
2 to 3 bags of roasted chestnuts (3.5oz/bag)
12 slated duck egg yolks (available in the frozen food aisle in most Asian grocery store)
1/2 pound chickpeas

For the pork marinate：

1 to 2 pounds pork belly
1 to 2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 /2 to 1 teaspoons sugar
1 to 2 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon five spice powder
salt to taste

Directions:

Cut the pork into 1 by 2 inches cubes. Add dark soy sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, rice cooking wine, ground white pepper, five spice powder and salt. Mix well and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours.

Thaw salted duck yolks and cut each one into halves. They add texture and flavors to the dumplings.

Add sweet rice along with seasonings to a large bowl. Add water just to cover the rice. Let them sit for a couple hours.

Boil the chickpeas until they are soft but not mushy

Fold every two bamboo leaves into a cone shape; add a tablespoon of sweet rice and chickpeas.

Add pork, roasted chestnut, duck egg yolk and chestnut.

Add another couple tablespoons of sweet rice and chickpeas on top

Wrap it up

All done

Add water. Cook on high heat until it comes to boil. Cover with lid and reduce the heat to simmer.

Cook the dumplings in simmering boiling water for two hours before serving.

Drain well and you can either serve them hot or cold.

Unwrap the dumplings right before you are ready to eat. Sweet rice is perfectly cooked. The dumplings are savory with all the seasonings and marinated pork inside. The duck egg yolks and roasted chestnuts add texture and tons of rich flavors too.