Sticky Rice Dumplings — sweet zongzi wrapped in bamboo leaves

i. Origin & history

Zongzi are eaten above all at the Dragon Boat Festival (Duānwǔ), on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, usually in June. The best-known story connects them with Qu Yuan, a poet and minister of the state of Chu in the third century BC. According to tradition, after being exiled he drowned himself in the Miluo River in despair at his country's fate. Local people raced out in boats to find him — the origin of dragon-boat racing — and threw rice into the water so that the fish would eat it rather than his body. Over time, the rice was wrapped in leaves, and zongzi were born. The story is the festival's central legend; historians note that rice wrapped in leaves was probably eaten in early summer before it became linked to Qu Yuan.

Whatever their origin, zongzi have been made in China for well over a thousand years and are now eaten across East and Southeast Asia. They are made in huge batches by families, often grandparents and children wrapping together, and given to relatives and friends in the days before the festival.

Regional styles differ sharply, and a heated, friendly argument between 'sweet' and 'savoury' zongzi is part of the festival. In northern China zongzi are usually sweet: plain glutinous rice with jujube dates or red bean paste, dipped in sugar. In the south — Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan, and in Jiaxing near Shanghai — they are mostly savoury, with pork belly, salted egg yolk, mushrooms, chestnuts or mung beans. A third type, alkaline zongzi (jiǎnshuǐ zòng, Cantonese gaan seoi zung, Malaysian kee chang), is made with rice treated with lye water, which turns it golden, translucent and springy; it is eaten cold with sugar, syrup or kaya.

Mung bean cakes (lü dou gao) are the other traditional Dragon Boat sweet, and the same glutinous rice is the base of nian gao and tangyuan.

ii. Why the rice is soaked, wrapped tight and boiled for hours

Glutinous rice is the heart of zongzi. Its starch is almost entirely amylopectin, which cooks into a sticky, cohesive, chewy mass — the grains fuse into a single dense dumpling that holds its pyramid shape when unwrapped. Ordinary rice would stay loose and fall apart.

The rice is soaked for several hours or overnight before wrapping so that the grains absorb water evenly. Raw, dry rice in a sealed parcel would cook unevenly, staying hard in the centre while the outside turns to mush. Soaked rice softens through and cooks to a uniform chew.

The wrapping has to be tight but not packed solid. Rice expands as it cooks, so the parcel is filled firmly to give a dense dumpling, but tied securely so water does not get in and wash out the starch, which would leave a soggy, watery dumpling. Bamboo leaves (or reed leaves in the north) are soaked and softened first, then folded into a cone, filled and closed; their fragrance — grassy, slightly tea-like — infuses the rice during the long boil.

Long cooking, two and a half to three hours, completely gelatinises the starch and fuses the grains. The dumplings must stay fully submerged in boiling water throughout; any part sticking out of the water stays hard. They are cooked in a deep pot, weighted down with a plate.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 12 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 600 g glutinous rice
• 30 dried bamboo leaves (plus a few spare)
• 12 lengths of kitchen string, about 80 cm each
• 300 g sweet red bean paste
• 24 dried jujube dates (red dates), pitted
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• ½ tsp salt
• 60 g caster sugar or brown sugar syrup, to serve

Use glutinous rice (sweet or sticky rice), short- or long-grain; nothing else gives the right texture. Dried bamboo leaves (粽葉) are sold in Chinese supermarkets; choose wide, unbroken ones. Red bean paste can be shop-bought or homemade (see red bean buns). Jujube dates add a fruity sweetness; dried apricots or chestnuts are alternatives. A little oil mixed into the rice stops it sticking to the leaves. Use cotton string or the traditional strips of reed.

iv. Method

1. The night before, rinse the glutinous rice until the water runs clear, then soak in cold water for 6–8 hours. Soak the bamboo leaves in a separate large bowl of water, weighted down, overnight.
2. Next day, boil the bamboo leaves for 5 minutes to soften and clean them, then wipe each on both sides. Drain the rice well and mix with the oil and salt. Roll the red bean paste into 12 balls.
3. Take two leaves, overlap them by half lengthways, smooth sides up, and fold into a cone about a third of the way along, with no gap at the point.
4. Put 2 tablespoons of rice into the cone and press down. Add a ball of bean paste and two jujubes, then cover with another 2–3 tablespoons of rice, pressing gently so it is full but not packed solid.
5. Fold the long ends of the leaves down over the opening to close it, then fold the sides in to form a tetrahedron. Wrap the string around several times and tie tightly. Repeat to make 12 dumplings.
6. Place the dumplings in a large pot, cover with boiling water by at least 5 cm and weigh them down with a heatproof plate.
7. Simmer for 2½–3 hours, topping up with boiling water so they stay fully submerged.
8. Lift out and drain. Cut the string, unwrap and serve warm, sprinkled with sugar or drizzled with brown sugar syrup.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Soak both rice and leaves. Dry rice cooks unevenly, and dry leaves split when folded.
• Close the point of the cone. Any gap at the tip lets rice and water through; overlap the leaves well.
• Fill firmly, not tightly packed. The rice expands; over-packed parcels can burst, loose ones turn mushy.
• Tie securely. Loose string lets water in and washes out the starch.
• Keep them under water. Exposed dumplings stay hard; top up with boiling water, not cold.
• Practise the fold. The first few always look rough; even experienced wrappers use a spare leaf to patch gaps.

vi. Variations

Jujube zongzi (zǎo zòng), the classic northern sweet, uses only rice and red dates. Alkaline zongzi (kee chang) use rice treated with lye water and are eaten cold with sugar, syrup or kaya. Eight-treasure zongzi mix in several dried fruits and beans. Savoury zongzi, popular in the south, are filled with marinated pork belly, salted egg yolk, mushrooms and mung beans. In the Philippines, suman are sweet sticky rice wrapped in banana or palm leaves, and in Indonesia kue putu is steamed in bamboo tubes.

For other sweets with glutinous rice, see tangyuan, nian gao and Thai sticky rice with durian.

vii. Serving & storage

Serve sweet zongzi warm or at room temperature, unwrapped at the table, with a small dish of sugar or brown sugar syrup for dipping. They are eaten through the Dragon Boat Festival and given as gifts, and they make a filling breakfast or snack with tea.

Cooled, still-wrapped zongzi keep in the fridge for up to 3 days and freeze well for up to 3 months. Reheat by steaming or simmering in their leaves for 15–20 minutes (30–40 minutes from frozen) until hot all the way through.

ix. More from Chinese

• Mung Bean Cake — Dragon Boat pastries
• Tangyuan — glutinous rice balls
• Nian Gao — Lunar New Year rice cake
• Red Bean Bun — steamed sweet bean bun
• Suman — Filipino leaf-wrapped rice
• Sticky Rice with Durian — Thai coconut rice