Taiwanese Zhongzi

[annoy_ken]

Hey Everyone,

Wondering if anybody can help me.

When I lived in Taipei a few years back I ate zhongzi or joong (Chinese Tamale)on a weekly basis from a zhongzi chain. Unlike the cantonese style joongs, which usually come out white, these were definitely brownish, but savory, stuffed with a lup cheong (chinese sausage) fatty pork, salty duck egg and a chestnut. The zhongzi came with an amber sauce, something I've never had with zhong before. It was sweet, savory and a bit spicy. Does anyone know what this sause is or how to make it? They also had the spiciest hot sauce ever. I love spicy food, usually drowning my foods with chilies/chilie oil or sirachia sauce. But the few drop that slid off a dipped spoon was enough to make me sweat. It was almost a chilie extract/paste. BTW they also had one of the best fishball w/ Lo Bak (Daikon) soups. Can anybody help me? Since I've moved back to the States, I've craved these zhongzis. I'd love to know what the sauces are and why the zhongzis were yellowish instead of the white joongs I learned to make as a kid.

[Bond Girl]

My taiwanese parents never grew out of Joong even though they've been living here for more than 30 years. Are you looking for a recipe for the Joong or just the sauce ( I think you can buy that in a bottle in Flushing but I can ask my aunt on how to make that since mom is a bad cook). Both are pretty easy if ypu have access to chinese food stores and a good supply of bamboo leaves.

[Dejah]

I wonder if it is "lye water", gan sui, that gives the joongzi the amber colour. We use this when we make sweet joongzi with the red bean paste. Perhaps it is use in the Taiwanese savory version.

[Seitch]

I wonder if it is "lye water", gan sui,  that gives the joongzi the amber colour. We use this when we make sweet joongzi with the red bean paste. Perhaps it is use in the Taiwanese savory version.

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Yeah, lye water was my first thought too...but then I remembered this site. The color could be from soy sauce too.

http://www.shiokadelicious.com/shiokadelic...he_love_of.html

[hzrt8w]

When I lived in Taipei a few years back I ate zhongzi or joong (Chinese Tamale)on a weekly basis from a zhongzi chain. Unlike the cantonese style joongs, which usually come out white, these were definitely brownish, but savory, stuffed with a lup cheong (chinese sausage) fatty pork, salty duck egg and a chestnut. .....

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Cantonese like to add soy sauce to joong while eating it. Perhaps Taiwanese like to mix raw glutinous rice with soy sauce before wrapping? I think the brown color, since from your descriptions that the joong is savory, is most likely from the soy sauce.

[Shiewie]

Not sure about the amber sauce but think the brownish colour of Taiwanese joong comes from dark soy sauce ... like the Hokkien (Fujian) style zhang we get in Malaysia / Singapore.

[annoy_ken]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I never thought of soy sauce...it's so obvious. As you can probably deduce, these joongs have reached such mythological status for me that the simple answers aren't apparent.

And Bond Girl, I would be eternally greatful if you could both get me a recipe for the sauce, (what it's called) and an off-the-shelf consumer brand name I could buy. As I am nolonger living in NYC, I can't ride out to Flushing to browse the markets. I have to make do with Ranch 99, the Hawaiian pan-asia-mart.

I haven't made my own joongs since I was a kid, learning from my parents, but I will start again if I can make this sauce...Do you know anything about the hot sauce?

Thanks again all.

[annoy_ken]

Dejah,

I don't think it's Gan Sui, or Lye Water, My mom also used that to make sweet joongs when I was a kid. She would also insert some red colored stick in the middle to give it color. While other kids I grew up with will always associate Aunt Jemaima with pancakes, I will always think of sweet joongs. Yeah, mom made her own sugar syrap, but hey...we were Americans...we were born brand concious consumers.

btw, from your transliteration of Gan Sui, can I assume that you are of Toisanese decent and not Cantonese (Hong Konger)?

[Dejah]

Dejah,

I don't think it's Gan Sui, or Lye Water, My mom also used that to make sweet joongs when I was a kid. She would also insert some red colored stick in the middle to give it color. While other kids I grew up with will always associate Aunt Jemaima with pancakes, I will always think of sweet joongs. Yeah, mom made her own sugar syrap, but hey...we were Americans...we were born brand concious consumers.

btw, from your transliteration of Gan Sui, can I assume that you are of Toisanese decent and not Cantonese (Hong Konger)?

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You are correct, Toisanese here. I am in a quandry sometimes as I also speak Cantonese. We've flushed out quite a few from our region of Toisan. Are you also "one"?

I think Seitch's link may be the explanation for the brown savory joongzi.

[annoy_ken]

I wonder if it is "lye water", gan sui,  that gives the joongzi the amber colour. We use this when we make sweet joongzi with the red bean paste. Perhaps it is use in the Taiwanese savory version.

←

Yeah, lye water was my first thought too...but then I remembered this site. The color could be from soy sauce too.

http://www.shiokadelicious.com/shiokadelic...he_love_of.html

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That site is a great find, thanks for the intro...btw that IS how the Taiwanese Zhongzi look like...

[Gastro888]

I wonder if it is "lye water", gan sui,  that gives the joongzi the amber colour. We use this when we make sweet joongzi with the red bean paste. Perhaps it is use in the Taiwanese savory version.

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They mix the soy prior to wrapping the joong. It's so different than HK/Cantonese style joong. Very different. I'd like to recreate the northern style joong I had in China - soy sauce, sticky rice and a big ol' piece of fatty pork in the middle. Niiiiice.

Isn't gan sui only used for sweet joong?

[annoy_ken]

My taiwanese parents never grew out of Joong even though they've been living here for more than 30 years.  Are you looking for a recipe for the Joong or just the sauce ( I think you can buy that in a bottle in Flushing but I can ask my aunt on how to make that since mom is a bad cook).  Both are pretty easy if ypu have access to chinese food stores and a good supply of bamboo leaves.

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Hey I was wondering if you could send me some more info on that sauce...thx

[yimay]

we always ate zhong zi with Mei Mei La Jiang (mei mei hot sauce)... i remember the commercials now from my trip to taiwan as a teenager. i don't think it was amber, but more red. it's a very sweet chili sauce, pretty spicy for me as a kid, but yummy. there are different brands from Mei Mei but they all taste pretty much the same. usually come in a bottle similar to a narrow olive jar.