How long does it take to cook zongzi

In some traditional cultural festivals in China, basically every traditional festival requires eating certain traditional foods, and during the Dragon Boat Festival, it is necessary to eat rice dumplings. Zongzi is mainly made of glutinous rice and wrapped in bamboo leaves. The zongzi bought on the street often needs to be cooked after bringing it home, but many people don’t know how long it takes to cook zongzi. Let’s find out today.

Many people think that making zongzi is a technical job, but cooking it is much simpler. In fact, cooking zongzi is not simple. It requires certain skills to cook it deliciously. The methods and techniques for cooking rice dumplings are introduced below for your reference. I hope everyone can learn how to cook rice dumplings.

Step one: Put the pot in cold water.

Put the wrapped dumplings into the pot with cold water and arrange them neatly in the pot. The water should cover the dumplings about two inches high. After the water starts to boil again, cook them over high heat for about 1 hour. There are a few points to emphasize here:

First, the rice dumplings must be put into the pot with cold water, because it is better to cook them with cold water. As the water temperature gradually rises, the fragrance of the rice dumplings leaves will slowly penetrate into the glutinous rice, and the cooked rice dumplings will be more fragrant. In addition, cooking zongzi in cold water can make the cooked zongzi mature and uniform without a hard core.

Second, the water level must be higher than the rice dumplings, and must be submerged about two inches above the rice dumplings. This is because the rice dumplings will expand during the cooking process. If not enough water is added, the rice dumplings on top will be pushed out of the water, making it difficult to cook through, and the cooked rice dumplings will not be soft and glutinous enough.

How to cook Zongzi_How long does it take to cook Zongzi

Third, after putting the rice dumplings into the pot, it is best to press them down with a heavy object so that the cooked rice dumplings will not fall apart.

Fourth, do not add raw water while cooking rice dumplings.

Fifth, please note that lye water rice dumplings cannot be cooked together with other rice dumplings.

Sixth is the time to cook rice dumplings, which is really hard to say. Because the time needed to cook zongzi is related to many factors, such as the length of time the glutinous rice is soaked, the size of the fire, the size of the zongzi, whether to use a pressure cooker or an ordinary pot, etc. These factors will affect the length of time it takes to cook the zongzi.

Taking rice dumplings weighing about one or two liang as an example, if the glutinous rice has been soaked for a sufficient amount of time, it can be cooked for about an hour after the water in the pot boils. If you use a pressure cooker to cook rice dumplings, turn to low heat after the steam comes up and cook for about half an hour.

In addition, if you want the rice dumplings to cook faster, you can also add some edible alkali or baking soda to the water, but this practice is not good for health and is not recommended.

Friends who have pressure cookers at home should try to use the pressure cooker to cook rice dumplings, because the pressure cooker cooks rice dumplings quickly, tastes good and has less nutritional loss. Just pay attention to safety when cooking.

Step 2: Soak the rice dumplings.

When you feel the rice dumplings are almost cooked, you can take one out and open it to have a look. If it is not cooked, continue cooking it. Never wait until the food is out of the pot before putting it back into the pot, because if it is not cooked thoroughly at once, it will take longer to cook again after it cools down. You can also take it out after it has been cooked to a certain point and press it with your fingers. If it feels soft and sticky, it is cooked. Otherwise, you need to continue cooking.

After the rice dumplings are cooked, don’t rush to take them out of the pot. Leave them in the pot and soak them for more than an hour before taking them out. This will make them taste better.