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Wednesday, 17 June 2015

Just One Food - Bak Chang

Nothing beats the aroma of soft glutinous rice with delicious savoury fillings, perfectly wrapped in bamboo leaves, waiting to be opened!  Yes, folks, it's dumpling season....again!  Have you been feasting away on these gorgeous glutinous rice meat dumplings yet...or maybe even over-feasting? :D

Oh yeah, this is my kind of festival....I've always enjoyed the "Chung" (Dumpling) Festival much more than the Mooncake and "Tong Yuen" (sweet glutinous rice balls) Festivals coz I love to eat chung but not mooncake and tong yuen.
 
My usual loot has always been from two places only...and that's the Pandan Indah and Pandan Perdana markets as I find these a cut above the rest.
 
Here's the one from the Pandan Indah market.....still good as always!
 
And this is the one from the Pandan Perdana market...just as delicious as ever!
 
But, I do sometimes get them from Esquire Kitchen too!  They have two types...the Shanghai Zong @ RM9++ and the Guang Dong Zong @ RM8++. 
 
Since I've eaten the Guang Dong Zong before, I went for the Shanghai one this time.  If you like your dumplings with a less savoury taste, then this will probably suit you more.  I love that the glutinous rice of this one is boiled till really soft...probably among one of the softest ones I've eaten.
 
This pillow dumpling comes filled with two pieces of salted egg yolk, a rather big chunk of pork belly and about three pieces of Chinese mushrooms.  You won't find any sort of beans in this dumpling, so those who like their dumplings without any beans will find this more to their liking.  I personally prefer one with beans but I don't mind if they're without either.  I guess I just love them done any way! ;)

You can see the large chunk of pork belly meat...the lean part was very tender and flavourful but the fatty part.....I discarded!  For some, that may be the best...but I don't eat wobbly stuff! XD  The salted egg yolk, this time round, was not as good...it's best when it has a vibrant orange colour with a shiny, slightly oily surface.
 
And with more people being health conscious these days, some sellers have also come up with brown or Japanese rice versions.  So, if you need a healthier option, you know you have one...just don't expect it to taste the same though!

Dumpling season is a happy season!  Now, go gorge yourselves silly with more of these bundles of joy!! ;D
 

12 comments:

  1. I prefer these savoury chung with fatty pork in it, over those kan shui chung. I used to like those kan shui chung with red bean filling, but lately I seem to have lost patience with it too!

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    1. Yes, I definitely prefer the savoury ones to the kan sui chung....the taste of kan sui is too strong for me! :(

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  2. No good ones here. RM2.50 each, tastes nice...but cannot see any meat at all. RM4.00 for the ones with salted egg and same thing, can taste the hint of salted egg but cannot see any inside...and RM4.00, I'd rather go for something else.

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    1. You're lucky you can get them at RM4 with salted egg yolk and pork. Here, those now cost about RM6 for one....they used to cost RM4! :'(

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  3. i love the fatty parts leh...slurpppss.... hahaha....

    will try mak Bak hang again this year, My "engine" not started yet

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    1. Ooo....can't wait to see your homemade bak chang....but "engine" belum start lagi!! Faster lor....festival just 2 days away. But, if you make now, I'm sure the ingredients (especially salted eggs) will be quite expensive already! ;)

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  4. I love chung too! I prefer the savory ones and I do eat the fats hah..hah... And I also love the salted egg yolk. Gosh, after reading your post I want to eat chung. I was not thinking of them even when I saw the bamboo leaves and other chung ingredients being sold at Aeon!

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    1. Oh...quick, quick then....go get yourself some bundles of goodness! ;D

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  5. ooo, i haven't had any chung at all this year so far! i like yours ... my ideal must have lots of pork, including the wobbly bits, and salted egg yolk and also chestnuts! :D

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    1. Looks like there are many fans of fatty, wobbly pork! :D Unfortunately, I've not found many that have "foong lut" (aka chestnuts) in them.

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  6. I like to eat all types of chung - those blue nyonya ones, kan sui with red beans, plain kan sui to be eaten with kaya, savoury ones too and I have eaten chung made with brown rice - the healthy version - taste good to me too. The one thing I fear is biting into the wobbly fat - booby trap! so I will carefully break the chung into half to dig out that piece of booby trap.

    Speaking of beans, there are two types of chung with beans - those with mung beans and those with black eyed peas/beans and I can't decide which type I like better because I like to eat both beans. Which bean do you prefer to be in the chung that you eat?.

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    1. I prefer the yellow ones...the mung beans but, like you, I eat both types.

      Finally, I've found someone who don't like the wobbly fats (like me). I'd eat it the same way you do, I'd break the chung into half to find the booby trap first too! :D But, I do like the lean meat....yumzzz!

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