Joong & Joongzi: The Topic

[Dejah]

infernoo: 1. When making the salted eggs, should they be kept in the fridge while they are curing/salting or just in a dark/dry space or... ?

2. Also, I assume they should be raw when you put them into the brine and as they cure, the inside hardens?

3. Last question :-) , are these salted eggs you are giving a recipe for the same as the "thousand year old" eggs you buy from the store? (i.e. the strong smelling ones with translucent egg white and weird coloured yolk)

1. The eggs can just be kept in a dark cool place.

2. Yes, the eggs are raw when you put them in brine. The yolk hardens but the white stays clear but becomes more runny-like.

3. Salted eggs are definitely NOT the same as the "thousand year old eggs"! They are a different thing all together. Salted eggs must be cooked before eating whereas the TYOeggs can be eaten right out of the shell or steamed with salted eggs and fresh eggs, thrown in with congee, etc.

[infernooo]

Thanks for that! I will definitely give these a try :-)

[Dejah]

prasantrin:

About filling, do you sort of squeeze the rice together to make it more compact? Even my more tightly rolled ones aren't as compact as the ones we get in dim sum. The rice is kind of loose, but I think I'd like it to be a little tighter. That would mean squishing the rice more, though.

And I just have to add...my mother and I had a good laugh because she did not make anything with me! She kept warm in my Tempur futon bed (which isn't even her bed while she's here!) watching TV while I slaved over all the dim sum stuff! Sometimes when I wanted her to taste something, I'd have to bring it over to her, so she wouldn't have to get out of my bed! She's really spoiled! 

To make the rice and filling more compact, you may have to cook the rice with just a tiny bit more water. The softer rice is more difficult to work with when mixing it with the filling, but it makes for a more compact/squished together bundle which I prefer. When I unwrap my joong, the surface is almost as smooth as the bamboo leaf ones.

It's good your Mom was allowed to relax and be the supervisor and official taster. We moms need to be pampered. So far, my daughter is the official taster and cleaner-upper. I like that too!

[Tepee]

Dai Gah Jeh...I hear you asking about homemade joongs...

How's popo?

My mom is not up to making joongs this year, so I made extra effort to satisfy our joong needs. I made a total of 100 joongs; one kg each (33 joongs) of nyonya spiced pork belly, beef rendang and green tea/red beans alkaline joongs over 2 days. Although it was a bit tiring, I enjoyed the process, and, of course, if I may say so myself, the sticky reward. My MIL made ham yook joongs.

Here's the rendang joong. The green tea one is peeping from behind. I wish I took nice pix of my nyonya joongs...I love the blue from the bunga telang (blue pea flower).

Anyone else?

Cheers

TP

[Ben Hong]

Teepee, those joong would almost make a trip to M'sia worthwhile!

[sheetz]

Tepee, those beef rendang ones look so good I want to make some. It seems like less trouble than the traditional Cantonese variety, even though it would be a pain to prepare all the spices. Do you know if any of the rendang mixes or pastes are any good?

[Tepee]

Hey, sheetz, I agree rendang joong would be less trouble provided you cook from a mix. Here's the thread on using rendang mix; tastes not bad at all. Would be happy to send you a couple of packets if you can't get ahold of them. This time, I made rendang tok which I cooked over the stove for one hour and subsequently popped into the oven for an overnight bake at 70 deg C. I also lightly fried the rice with some fresh turmeric, and, added soaked blackeyed peas. I just finished the last one yesterday...I love them so much, I need to make some more to stash in the freezer.

A joong chockful with traditional ingredients gives me as much contentment. If I hadn't got them from my various sources, I'd have made 'em.

Let me know how you get on.

Best

TP

p.s. Thanks, Ben-Sook. Next time, I'll post pix of the whole lot. Get your ticket ready.

Edited June 17, 2009 by Tepee (log)

[sheetz]

Thanks Tepee, I was able to locate a US distributor for Brahim's mixes. Do you know which of their other sauce products are also good?

[Tepee]

Hmm....the minimum amount to order is 10 packets? Sure you want to get so many? My offer is still good, just PM me. So far, I've tried sambal tumis, masak merah, kuah satay, honey chicken...and, I love them all.

TP

[sheetz]

Thanks for the offer, Tepee, but I'm also going to get some for my sister-in-law who's from Malaysia, so 10 will be not too much at all.

[Chris Amirault]

I have really enjoyed reading through this topic and learning about everyone's approach to joong & joongzi! Now for a couple of questions.

I am planning to make a large batch of leen yeep joong this weekend in preparation for a family member who loves them and is heading off to graduate school. I'm estimating that I'll want to make 4" x 4" packages.

Can anyone give me a sense of the amount of dried glutinous rice needed per package? In addition, for those of you with neuro fuzzy Zojirushi rice cookers, do you use the underdone (or whatever it's called; I'm at work) setting for the rice you'll be later steaming in the lotus leaves?

[Chris Amirault]

Made the leen yeep joong today and documented it. Here's the set up with a basic chicken filling (including mushrooms, onions, garlic, ginger, water chestnuts), the rice, and the lunch container my wife will be using for school. The filling was a bit wet when I finished it, so I reduced the sauce by half before adding it back to the filling. (Good move, as the packets has just the right level of moisture in them.)

In response to the question above, I made 9 Zojirushi "cups" of rice, in two batches; that's about 3 1/2 pounds of rice (6 ounces per cup). That rice made about 20 packets. And I cooked it all using the regular "sweet" setting on the Zojirushi, which turned out rice that was perfect for steaming later.

The leaves I got weren't in the best shape. After trimming off the stem end, I had about three packet wraps per leaf -- unless the leaf had serious damage, as many did:

I used the lunch cup as a shaping base:

Layer of rice:

Layer of filling:

Top layer of rice, then fold and tie (badly; this was #1):

I steamed them for 30 minutes, again in two batches:

Results:

I'm very happy with the way that they turned out. The filling and lotus suffuse the rice, and the texture of the rice is excellent. Thanks to everyone here for their posts, which really helped a lot.

[mudbug]

Hi all, I've found my way back to this thread and decided that I've found I prefer the aura/essense of lotus leaves over banana or bamboo leaves.

 

I'm thinking I may take a big pot of water and boil the fragile lotus leaves in it, and then reserve the lotus leaf infused water to use to simmer joong wrapped in bamboo or banana leaves which are more durable.