Directions

THE NIGHT BEFORE:

1. Put a tsp of vegetable oil into the water. Boil the dried bamboo leaves for 5 minutes. Soak it in the water overnight. Each zongzi needs 2 pieces of leaves, but you might want to prepare more leaves in case some of them break or are not the right size.

2. Cut the chicken into the size you like. Marinate it with 1 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 tsp of cooking wine, 1 tsp of dark soy sauce, 1 tsp of five spice, 1/4 tsp of salt. Let it sit in the fridge overnight.
3. Wash the glutinous rice really well. Soak it overnight.
4. Soak the dried mushroom, dried shrimp, dried scallop and the peanuts with water overnight.

NEXT DAY:

1. Drain everything.

2. Cut the mushroom into small pieces. Rip the scallop into small pieces, too.
3. Use 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and stir fry the mushroom, shrimp, scallop and peanuts on medium heat for 3 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp of black pepper, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of soy sauce to adjust the taste. Turn off the heat and set it aside.
4. Drain the glutinous rice. Add 2 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of salt, 2 tsp of dark soy sauce, 1 tsp of sesame oil. Mix it well and set it aside.
5. Take the bamboo leaves out of the water.
6. The ingredients can be switched with anything you like. You can put beef, pork, sausage, bacon. Or other types of nut, like chestnut. Basically, you can make your own filling.

MAKE THE ZONGZI:

1. Tie one side of the twine somewhere. This is super helpful especially if you are doing this alone. The twine needs to be long enough to tie 5-6 circles. I think 1.2 m is perfect.

2. Take 2 bamboo leaves. Wipe the water off. Fluffy side (you can see the stem is very obvious face down. The front side needs to face up- it feels smooth.

3. Put them together- one on top of the other one.
4. Fold it from 3/Make it into an ice cream cone shape. Make sure there is no hole on the bottom, so the rice won’t drop.
5. Put 1 tbsp of glutinous rice in it. Press it down, tightly pack it in.
6. Add in some fried fillings we prepared, some chicken.And 1 salted egg yolks.
7. Add enough glutinous rice to cover it. Press it again to make sure it is flat and tight.
8. Right-hand holds it. Use your thumb and forefinger to press two sides in. Left-hand folds the upper leave down.
9. The last part is that you have to wrap it up along the surface and follow the shape of the zongzi.
10. Use the twine to tie a few circles from the center.
11. The amount I gave is enough to make 12 - 15 zongzi. So we need to finish the rest.
12. The water should completely cover the zongzi. Boil the zongzi for 2-3 hours, depending on the size. During this time, add more water if you need it.