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Pictorial: Joong/Jongzi-Sticky Rice/Bamboo Leaves


hzrt8w

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The store here didn't have the split mung beans, so I bought whole ones, and they're not yellow, but green.  Will this make too big of a difference or should I omit them?

The green color is from the shells of mung beans. The shells are a little bit hard and not desirable to be used to make joong. My advice is to skip them if you can't get the shelled mung beans.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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Thanks for the great help. I was able to find the right mung beans and chestnuts. The only thing I didn't find was dried conpoy. I had never heard of it, and the ladies at the market didn't know what it was either, so I left it out. They were surprised I was making these, "Why you want to do this? It take soooo long." I buy the little packages premade at the store, but they were nothing like these. The ones they sell don't have all of the little goodies and are mostly rice. These were so much better.

The experience was great. It was a pretty extensive process and I ended up with about 15 little packages. They were great, and it was with great satisfaction that I ended up with one for Saturday night's dinner and one for a midnight snack. I froze the rest.

I wish I knew about conpoy and if they would have made a great difference. They look rather like dried scallops, or some kind of dried seafood, so I'm thinking they would have been great.

The dried shrimp are intense in taste, but I'm just not used to them. I wanted to use fresh shrimp sauteed with onions -- but that's just the South Louisiana coming out in me. I stuck to the authentic version, and I'm glad I did.

Again, thanks for all of the help. The joongzi were a lot of fun to make. My packages weren't as neat as the ones here, and some I had to use an extra leaf to wrap the outside, but I didn't have any seepage so they held up in the cooking process.

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I wish I knew about conpoy and if they would have made a great difference.  They look rather like dried scallops, or some kind of dried seafood, so I'm thinking they would have been great.

The dried shrimp are intense in taste, but I'm just not used to them.  I wanted to use fresh shrimp sauteed with onions -- but that's just the South Louisiana coming out in me.  I stuck to the authentic version, and I'm glad I did. 

Again, thanks for all of the help.  The joongzi were a lot of fun to make.  My packages weren't as neat as the ones here, and some I had to use an extra leaf to wrap the outside, but I didn't have any seepage so they held up in the cooking process.

What? No Pictures? :blink:

Conpoy is another name for dried scallops. It gets confusing sometimes with all these different names: mangetout for snow peas, aubergine for eggplant...

Conpoy adds lovely flavour to joong or jook (congee). Because they are more expensive, people like me often substitute with dried shrimp. I do use conpoy when my supply has lots of broken pieces.

Fresh marinated shrimp would not be the same in joong. You'd miss the intense flavour for the amount of rice involved. The texture wouldn't be the same either. It'd be better to enjoy your fresh Louisianna shrimp along side of the joong. :biggrin:

How many leaves did you use for each packet? Mine are quite large and I use 3 leaves for each one. I am down to the last dozen I made last summer. My 9 year old grandson can out-eat any adult. :wacko:

http://www.hillmanweb.com/soos/joong2.html

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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Typically I used 3-4 leaves, depending on how well I was doing on each one. On some, I took an additional leaf and wrapped around the outside before tying them up. They weren't all uniformly shaped, but that just adds to their character. :raz:

Thanks for the advice on the fresh shrimp. And I'll definitely try to find the conpoy next time.

Yeah--no pictures. I wanted to take them but the charger is missing on my camera. Next time I will definitely take some pictures to remember the occasion.

Thanks again. It was great fun.

Edited by PopsicleToze (log)
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  • 5 months later...

My teenager and I made these yesterday. Forgive us, but we could not find some of the ingredients (we do not have any decent Asian markets in our area :angry: ) and also we do not eat pork, so we made some adjustments to your recipe. Also, we never had these before so we weren't sure what to expect. Right or wrong - we were very, very happy with the results and they were delicious!!! We had the laptop on the kitchen counter and we followed your pictorial in assembling and making our packages. Thank you for posting the pictorial. The instructions are clear and easy to follow - even for someone like me, who has never eaten joong/jongzti before. (I don't even know how to pronounce it)

The ingredients that we used: Chinese sweet rice seasoned as recommended, green mung beans (yellow could not be found!), dried shrimp (could not find conpoy), dried mushroom, vegetarian chorizo-style sausage, and peanuts. We sauteed the veggie sausage and mushrooms together. Ingredients (after soaking) ready for assembly:

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We made about 25 packages (two pots full). Our wrapping is inartful but they held together! :laugh:

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After we boiled them for 2 hours, we removed the wrappers and found extreme yumminess inside! The bamboo leaves imparted the most delicious flavor and scent to the rice and filling. I could definitely get addicted to these.

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gallery_51874_6146_232022.jpg

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Those are beautiful!!  And they are very easy to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late snack. :wub:

Thanks for your kind comment, and I agree completely, these can be eaten at any time of day.

I forgot to mention how much we both liked the aroma exuded while the packages were boiling - a very grassy, almost tea-like scent that filled the kitchen. I will definitely make these again!

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My teenager and I made these yesterday.

We made about 25 packages (two pots full).  Our wrapping is inartful but they held together!  :laugh:

gallery_51874_6146_232022.jpg

Your first attempt looks delicious! I love how the ingredients look juicy and melding into the rice. The chorizo would add a nice spicy flavour.

If you don't eat pork, you might try a Malaysian version with beef rendang that Tepee suggested many posts ago. The recipe can be found thru' google, but I used the one from Cradle of Flavour.

If you've never eaten joong before, then the rendang wouldn't confuse you the way it did with my family who are used the traditional version I usually make. It didn't stop them from devouring all the packets tho'! :laugh:

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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Your first attempt looks delicious! I love how the ingredients look juicy and melding into the rice. The chorizo would add a nice spicy flavour.

If you don't eat pork, you might try a Malaysian version with beef rendang that  Tepee  suggested many posts ago. The recipe can be found thru' google, but I used the one from Cradle of Flavour.

If you've never eaten joong before, then the rendang wouldn't confuse you the way it did with my family who are used the traditional version I usually make. It didn't stop them from devouring all the packets tho'! :laugh:

Thank you so much for the compliment! Can I ask how "joong" is pronounced? I am embarrassed to say that I don't know (although mine may not technically be "joong" since they have a phony filling :wink: )

I actually don't eat any meat, except for chicken, but others in my family do eat meat, so the next time that I make these, I think I will make several different fillings. It seems like a versatile technique and I just cannot get over how much flavor the bamboo leaves imparted to the contents!

ETA: My local market did not have any salted eggs, but they did have some eggs that were labeled "preserved" and they were solid black (both the yolks and the egg white). I did not purchase these as they did not look like the ones shown above in the pictorial. Would the preserved eggs have been a good addition? To be honest, they were not visually appealing but I do not know how they would taste. The shop owner just shook his head at me when I picked up the package!

Edited by kbjesq (log)
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They look great K!!!

What brand of veggie sausage did you use?

Hey Randi! Wish I could share some with you . . . the phony sausage was just whatever brand that Publix sells. As you know, choices are limited around here! :wink:

Do you think the seniors would like joong?? :laugh::laugh::laugh:

Seriously, even though this was my first taste, I definitely consider this some serious comfort food. It was really, really good. I wasn't sure that I would like the texture of the rice because I don't normally like soft rice at all, but the flavors melded (sp?) together so well that it was just a unique experience. And very yummy.

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Thank you so much for the compliment! Can I ask how "joong" is pronounced? I am embarrassed to say that I don't know (although mine may not technically be "joong" since they have a phony filling :wink: )

I actually don't eat any meat, except for chicken, but others in my family do eat meat, so the next time that I make these, I think I will make several different fillings. It seems like a versatile technique and I just cannot get over how much flavor the bamboo leaves imparted to the contents!

ETA: My local market did not have any salted eggs, but they did have some eggs that were labeled "preserved" and they were solid black (both the yolks and the egg white).

Joong is pronounced like the name "Joan" except with a "down accent" if that makes any sense!

You can make rendang with chicken instead of beef if that helps.

The shop owner did the right thing shaking his head. The preserved eggs are for eating out of the shell with pickled ginger or diced to put into congee (Chinese rice porridge - comfort food). They definitely would not be a good addtion for joong.

I am so far away from my supply of joong at the moment, and I want some! :sad:

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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  • 2 weeks later...
I would like to try this recipe, and freeze the Joong. Can someone tell me if you have to steam all of the joong and then freeze or can you freeze them after they are wrap??

You absolutely need to cook the rice (and the rest of the ingredients) first before freezing the joong for storage.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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  • 3 years later...

I read online that the Dragon Boat Festival is June 23. Will anyone else be making joong/jongzi? It is my goal to find the necessary authentic ingredients this year, which means I have to start early. Unfortunately there are no well-stocked Asian markets nearby!

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To practice wrapping, I made one pot of vegetarian joong today. I was able to include yellow split mung beans, black mushroom, dried shrimp, peanuts, and soy sausage with supplies on hand. I will have to make a road trip to a good Asian market to find chestnuts, conpoy and Chinese sausage.

joong.jpg

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I won't be able to make mine until July 1st - a long weekend for me - as my teaching keeps me too busy!

I haven't made any since my mother passed away 2 years ago, and my kids and extended families are requesting the ones that "you and Po-Po used to make". I pretty much need the whole weekend to make the +100 or so to fill many tummies.

Maybe my daughter will come home that weekend and we can carry on the tradition of Mother and Daughter Joong session! She learned how with Po-Po. :wub:

Here's the link to our 3-generation joong session:

http://www.hillmanweb.com/soos/joongzi.html

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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  • 2 weeks later...

My mother gave me two joong the other week. She didn't make them, they were given to her by one of the old Hakka aunties, so she didn't know what was inside. I don't really don't like the nut filled ones, give me the fatty belly pork, lap cheung ones everyday. So i was massively disappointed when both turned out to be nut! Such was my disgust with the nut affair I decided to make my own. There are loads of ways to wrap a joong but I've been taught to make the pillow shaped ones. Depending on the size of the leaves you can use two or three. You know I don't think I've ever eaten a triangular joong!

I thought I had some siu yuk in the freezer but when I came to look there was none. So i had to make do with just lap cheung, lap yuk and some conpoy. Anyone else wrap them this way?

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Prawn, you ever found conpoy in the UK?

Only ever seen dried shrimp.

Never, I always have a stash in the freezer from previous trips to Hong Kong. I sometimes get given them as gifts from relatives too. I don't think you can buy them in this country.

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Anyone else wrap them this way?
Yes, my mother wraps them in rectangular pillow shapes. I don't like peanut ones either. I like the pork belly ones with green mung bean and salted duck egg yolks (been ages since I've had one so the duck egg might be a false memory). I think chestnuts would be a good addition.

Best Wishes,

Chee Fai.

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