How long should the rice for making zongzi be soaked?

Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival in May, we start to eat all kinds of snacks. Each region has different snacks. The most common one is zongzi. Although making zongzi is troublesome, it is very delicious. If you can learn how to make zongzi during holidays, it is also a very good enjoyment. This is the first time I have no experience in making zongzi. How long should the rice be soaked?

The Dragon Boat Festival is on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar every year. It is also known as the Duanyang Festival, the Mid-day Festival, the May Festival, the Fifth Day Festival, the Mugwort Festival, the Duanwu Festival, the Double Fifth Festival, the Mid-day Festival, and the Summer Festival. It was originally a summer festival to drive away plague. The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival of the Han people in my country. The indispensable activities on this day have gradually evolved into eating rice dumplings, dragon boat racing, hanging calamus, wormwood, mugwort, fumigating atractylodes and angelica, and drinking realgar wine. But what kind of rice should be used to make rice dumplings?

How to make Zongzi

1. Choose rice dumplings leaves. The leaves for making rice dumplings can be selected from commonly used chopstick leaves, bamboo leaves, and reed leaves. The bigger (wider) the zong leaves are, the better. First, soak the leaves in water to soften them. This is usually done one day in advance, and then dry them.

2. Choose rice. It should be new rice and pure glutinous rice.

3. Prepare your favorite fillings, such as: dates, bean paste, etc. Wash the glutinous rice first, and wash the dates as well. Golden thread dates are best. Those with seeds are better than those without seeds. Those without seeds are too soft for making rice dumplings.

4. Prepare the colorful threads and wash them clean.

5. After the materials are prepared, you can take two pieces of rice leaves (both reverse sides) and overlap them in opposite directions, put in a small bowl (125 grams), use your index finger to lightly draw a line in the middle of the rice, put in the stuffing, use your right hand to fold the outer end of the rice leaf inward and backward, wrap one end and then use the same method to complete the other end. To tie the rice dumplings, tie them in the middle first and then tie them from one end to the other to prevent deformation. The rope should not be too tight or too loose, just pull it lightly so that it does not move.

6. After tying them, put them into the pot one by one, and then add cold water to cover the dumplings about 1 cm high. After the water has boiled for 15 minutes, swap the upper and lower rice dumplings in the pot and simmer for 1 hour.

7. After cooking, wait for the rice dumplings to cool down and then put them in special water for a while (this way they will not stick to the leaves).

Zongzi

How long should the rice be soaked for making zongzi?

Different rice has different soaking times

Sticky rice

The best soaking time for glutinous rice for making rice dumplings is: 30 minutes for draining and 40 minutes for soaking. The ratio of rice to water is one to two, and the soaking water temperature is about 30 degrees. The glutinous rice soaked in this way makes rice dumplings that are white and shiny, have the unique aroma of rice dumplings, have moderate viscosity, and are refined but not mushy.

The stickiness of glutinous rice is stored in the cells. If you wash it with water and then use it to make rice dumplings, even high-quality glutinous rice will not be very sticky. Because glutinous rice for zongzi has poor water absorption when cooked directly, soaking the glutinous rice before wrapping the zongzi will make the rice easier to absorb water when cooked, shortening the cooking time of the zongzi and improving the taste of the zongzi. Soak glutinous rice overnight.

glutinous rice

The longer it soaks, the stickier it becomes, and the tastier the rice dumplings made with it will be. In other words, as long as the method of soaking rice is correct, the longer the rice is soaked for making zongzi, the better, at least about 3 hours.

The stickiness in glutinous rice is stored in the cells. If you wash it with water and then use it to make rice dumplings, even top-quality glutinous rice will not be very sticky. The correct way is to soak the glutinous rice in clean water, change the water 2 to 3 times a day, and then make rice dumplings after soaking for a few days. As the cells absorb water and burst the cell walls, sticky components are released, making the rice dumplings unusually sticky and soft.

As long as you change the water every day, the glutinous rice will not deteriorate, but the amount of water must be sufficient, otherwise the rice will absorb enough water and be exposed to the air, and the rice grains will become powder.

Peanuts (fried for a special flavor), cowpea rice or mung beans

Soak for more than 6 hours, warm water is faster, the key is to absorb enough water.