Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Messy Gracie Bak Chang....

Bak Chang (in hokkien) where Bak means meat and Chang means dumpling..ha ha..I think..anyway Bak Chang is known as rice dumpling. It is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month and this year is on 23rd June 2012. Normally in some countries these rice dumplings are eaten during the dragon boat festival. According to wikipedia, there is a history behind bak chang is about a poet who drowned himself in a river (his death was nothing to do with women some more..is because of some neighbour country of his took over his country. I salute him) and people threw rice over the river to prevent the fish from eating his body. Now I do not know how they relate the dumpling with the rice thrown over the river lar...Anyway Rice dumpling is where they use either bamboo leaves or pandan leaves to wrap glutinous rice with either meat, red bean or yams or whatever they think taste nice with glutinous rice..ha ha...Normally if you are lazy to make them you can actually buy them from the market which cost around RM2.50 or RM3.00. But ar...I was walking at Mid Valley one day and I saw GOLD Bak Chang..They sold it for RM60..walllau leh...I think you will need to savor each bite...and Do not drop any crumbs at all..the have abalone or some expensive filling inside...

One day I said "I want to make bak chang"..but of cos my friends and including my mum do not believe that I can do it. My mum said "you better buy lar"...not only my mum. When I went to the market to buy the ingredients for my bak chang, they also encourage me to buy..Whats wrong with my face? Hmmm..so I vow to myself I am going to proof them wrong...This year I manage to make my own BAK CHANG...yahooooooo

Bak Chang is not easy to do. Cooking the rice, the ingredients are relatively easy but wrapping the Bak Chang require skills because if you do not know how to wrap it, everything will come out from the wrap when you cook it at the end....

Today I am going to post out my Messy Gracie Bak Chang Way :-

INGREDIENTS

    For Marinating the Meat
  • Pork Meat -1 kg enough lor - chop into small pieces. Now obviously I did a booboo in chopping them not too small so my pork meats are big and fat...oh well..next time
  • Pepper
  • Dark Soya Sauce
  • Sesame Oil
    For Cooking the Meat
  • Sugar
  • Some more Dark Soya Sauce
    Other ingredients
  • Glutinous Rice - 1 kg or more
  • Dry Chestnuts - Buy more if you want to have more in the bak chang.
  • Black Dry Mushrooms - Soak them to make them soft first
  • Pandan Leaves - can buy from market
  • Rope to tie the Bak Chang - can buy from market. Tie 20 to 30 ropes in a bunch like the one in the picture
  • red onion - chopped finely
  • garlic - chopped finely
  • sugar - 2 to 3 tablespoons
STEPS
The night before you wrap the bak chang

Step 1 - Marinating Pork

  • Marinate the pork meat with dark soya sauce, pepper and few drops of sesame oil. You can actually put other herbs into the meat depending on your taste. Some people put 5 spices, some put ketumba, some put curry powder...I leave it to your imagination.
  • Cover the bowl with food wrapper and put the meat into the fridge

Step 2 - Preparing the rice and dry chestnuts
  • Soak the rice and dry chestnuts in water so they will be soft the next day....aaahhh..

Few hours before you wrap the bak chang

Step 3 - Preparing the red onion, garlic and mushrooms

  • Chop red onion and garlic finely
  • Soak Mushrooms till they are soft, cut the stalk and then cut them into strips..not too small now..


Step 4 - Preparing Pandan leaves and Ropes
  • Fill a pail with water and soak the ropes for one to 2 hours
  • Cut the pandan leaves (we only need the first big half of the leaves)
  • Remove the thorny part of the pandan leaves

  • Wash the pandan leaves with a clean cloth
  • Boil water in a big wok and when it is boiling, put the pandan leaves (3 each time or 2 if you cannot handle 3) into the wok and use a wooden spoon and slowly flatten it. This process will help make the leaves softer so it is easier to wrap.
  • Use the same hot water and dip the entire rope into the water and let it boil for a while to get rid of the husky smell of the rope...OPTIONAL though


Step 5 - Cooking The Pork
  • Heat up a wok and pour some oil into the wok. Throw the chopped garlic and red onion into the wok. More red onion than garlic if possible and stir fry it for a while. Please make sure they don't get burnt.
  • After that, pour some soya sauce and sugar into the wok and mix them all up
  • Throw the pork into the wok and cooked it for a while.
  • Pour the drained chestnut into the work and mix them well
  • Throw the mushrooms into the wok and fry them
  • Pour some hot water into the wok and close the wok and let it cook for like 20 minutes or more.
  • Take the meat out and let it cool


Step 6 - Cooking The Rice
  • Heat up the wok (Make sure you clean it okie) and pour some oil into the wok.Throw the chopped garlic and red onion into the wok. More red onion than garlic if possible and stir fry it for a while. Please make sure they don't get burnt
  • Throw the drained rice into the wok and then fry it. Mix it well with the onions and garlics. Take it out and let it cool


WRAPPING TIMEEEEE...

Step 7 - Wrap the Bak Chang

  • Prepare the BAK CHANG WRAPPING STATION. Put used newspaper on the floor so oil will drip onto the paper rather than the floor yeah
  • Fold the Pandan leaves into a cone shape
  • Scoop some rice into the leave
  • Scoop some meat, one chestnut and one mushrooms depending on your mood and your taste. ha ha
  • Then Scoop some more rice to cover the meat
  • Fold the leaves down
  • Fold the side and then fold and wrap it around. Very difficult to explain in words but please do look at the pictures. If still cannot, well if you stay in kuching, we can make a face to face tutorial..ha ha ha ha



    I know is not easy. If you fail, just dump the content into a bowl and rewrap again. ha ha ha..that is what I did..try and try again cos practice makes perfect..well almost perfect..or was it 50% perfect...aiyah as long it looks like Bak Chang..ha ha
  • Then use the rope and tie it around once, tie a knot and then tie another time and then tie a bow..ha ha. Make sure is a bit tight but not too tight so we let it expand when we cook it later..

  • Sometimes, when we get a bit tired of wrapping, we tend to wrap it become a Korean triangle rice dumpling..ha ha not sure what is the name...ha ha but can still eat lar..

    With the help of my best friend's mother who is also my SIFU..thank you Auntie, we manage to wrap all these. NOTE:I am not allowed to take her picture because she said she will KILL me if I post it in the Internet..waaaisehhh...


Step 8 - Cook the Bak Chang
  • Boil water in a big pot. Make sure the water is enough so when you put the bak chang inside, they will submerge it.
  • When it is boiling, put the entire back chang into the pot
  • Cook it for 3 hours. Make sure to open the lit to check whether the water is enough. Not enough please put in some more hot water into the pot.
  • After 3 hours, take all of them out and let them cool on some pieces of paper...Do not eat immediately..The rice will slowly harden a bit rather than being mushy....


DONE
My Small Bak Chang - Rice Dumpling

I tied a nice cute little ribbon as a gift for my babysitter..ha ha

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