We call sticky rice dumplings Zongzi in Chinese. They’re like tamales wrapped in bamboo leaves. Zongzi was one of my favorite treats when I grew up in China.

I could only have it once a year in June during the Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival). Most of the kids called it the Zongzi festival just because we only cared about eating the yummy delicious sticky rice dumplings when we were little kids. It only came to my understanding when I was a little older that this festival was created to save and celebrate Qu Yuan who was a very famous poet and patriot in the 278 BC. According to legend, the locals rushed out in dragonboats to try to retrieve his body and threw packets of rice into the river to distract the fish from eating the poet’s body.

I had helped my mom make Zongzi a few times when I was a young teen. So last year I had this huge urge that I wanted to make some Zongzi again for my family after 30+ years. Two weeks ago I made three kinds of Zongzi. There are savory flavored chicken, mushroom and veggie Zongzi, sweet jujube fruits Zongzi and red sweet bean paste Zongzi. They all came out beautifully and tasted delicious. I especially love the bamboo leaves aroma filled in the whole house and infused the entire sticky rice dumpling. They smelled amazing.

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Three kinds of Sticky Rice Bamboo Leaves Dumplings 鸡肉蘑菇，豆沙和红枣粽子

I made three kinds of sticky rice dumplings. They are Chicken and mushroom savory dumplings, red jujube fruits sweet dumplings and red bean paste sweet dumpling.

Prep Time1

Cook Time1

Total Time2

Course: Appetizer, Dessert, Dinner, Lunch, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: asian, Asian Fusion, Chinese

Keyword: chicken, mushroom, red bean paste, red jujube, Sticky Rice, Sticky Rice Bamboo Dumplings, Sticky Rice dumplings

Servings:

Calories: 136kcal

Cost: 30

Equipment

blender
stockpot
baking tray
a roll of cooking twine

Ingredients

Three Different Sticky Rice Bamboo Leaves Dumplings Recipes

1. Chicken and Mushroom Stuffing

2.2 pound sweet rice 1 kg, soak over night
30 dry bamboo leaves soak the bamboo leaves for 2 hours in warm water and add 1 tbsp white vinegar to the water
2.2 pound chicken thigh 2 kg, or chicken breast meat, trim the fat and cut into 4 inches length chunks

Marinade for chicken (2 hours prior making the dumplings)

1 cup soy sauce 128 g
2 clove garlic crushed
1 green onion chop into small pieces
1 tbsp orange peel frozen or fresh
1 tbsp ginger sliced
1 teasp salt
1 teaspoon chili powder optional
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Mushrooms

24 oz brown mushrooms 680g, diced
0.5 yellow onion medium, diced to small pieces
1 cup baby carrots diced to small pieces
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt or to taste

2. Redbean paste stuffing

2.2 pound sweet rice 1kg, soak over night
30 dry bamboo leaves soak the bamboo leaves for 2 hours in the warm water and add 1 tbsp white vinegar to the water
0.7 pound small red beans 340g, soaked over night in room temp.
1.5 cup brown sugar 128g
1 cup boild red bean liquid 85g
1/3 cup vegetable oil 28g
1/4 teaspoon salt

3. Jujube fruits stuffing

2.2 pound sweet rice 1kg, soak over night
30 dry bamboo leaves soak the bamboo leaves for 2 hours in the warm water and add 1 tbsp white vinegar to the water
450 gram Dry seedless jujube fruits Chinese dates, soak in water for at least 2 hours

Instructions

Three different sticky rice bamboo dumplings instructions below

1. Chicken and Mushroom

Rinse the soaked bamboo leaves and leave them on a large cutting board or baking sheet
Rinse the soaked sweet rice and keep it immersed in water in a bowl
Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients for at least 2 hours in a bowl
Saute the onion on the medium heat pan once the oil is hot. Then add in the mushrooms to the pan and saute them for 10 minutes. Add the carrots to the pan and continue to saute everything until the liquid from the mushroom is almost cooked off. Add salt to finish the cooking.
Cut 30 pieces of cooking twine to 28 inches long each
Watch my youtube video on how to fold the bamboo leaves dumpling with the chicken and mushroom
Place the dumplings into a big stock pot, fill in with water to submerge the dumplings. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer and cook for 1 hour.
Take out one dumpling as a tester. Unwrap the bamboo leaves to see if the dumpling appears a firm shape and the rice is very sticky and moist. It's ready if that's the case. Pick up the dumplings from the stock pot and leave them on the big tray. The dumplings can be frozen well if you'd like to keep them for later meals.

2. Red Bean Paste

Rinse the red beans and cook them in a saucepan with water just cover the red beans.
Give it a quick stir and change the heat to simmer once the water is boiled. Cook for 40 minutes.
Drain the red beans and save the liquid for the blender step
Pour the drained red beans, brown sugar, cooked red bean liquid, vegetable oil, salt into the blender to make the paste
You can alway add more red bean liquid to get to the right texture for the paste. Here is how to test if the paste is ready. Scoop a table spoon of the paste, it should be easy to be scooped up with little effort. The paste should be able to stay on the spoon without falling off when you tilt the spoon. And taste the paste to see if it's not too dry.
Add more sugar and salt according to your own taste
Rinse the soaked sweet rice and keep it immersed in water in a bowl
Rinse the soaked bamboo leaves and leave them on a large cutting board or baking sheet
Cut 30 pieces of cooking twine to 28 inches long each
Watch my youtube video on how to fold the bamboo leaves dumpling with the red bean paste
Bring the dumplings into a big stock pot, fill in with water to merge the dumplings. Make a boil and change the heat to simmer and cook for 1 hour.
Take out one dumpling as a tester. Unwrap the bamboo leaves to see if the dumpling appears a firm shape and the rice is very sticky and moist. It's ready if that's the case. Pick up the dumplings from the stock pot and leave them on the big tray. The dumplings can be frozen well if you'd like to keep them for later meals.

3. Jujube Fruits

Rinse the soaked sweet rice and keep it immersed in water in a bowl
Rinse the soaked bamboo leaves and leave them on a large cutting board or baking sheet
Drain the soaked jujubes fruits and keep them in a bowl
Cut 30 pieces of cooking twine to 28 inches long each
Watch my youtube video on how to fold the bamboo leaves dumpling with the jujube fruits
Bring the dumplings into a big stock pot, fill in with water to merge the dumplings. Make a boil and change the heat to simmer and cook for 1 hour.
Take out one dumpling as a tester. Unwrap the bamboo leaves to see if the dumpling appears a firm shape and the rice is very sticky and moist. It's ready if that's the case. Pick up the dumplings from the stock pot and leave them on the big tray. The dumplings can be frozen well if you'd like to keep them for later meals.

Nutrition

3 Kinds of Sticky Rice Bamboo Leaf Dumplings