vegetarian zongzi

<p>Vegan Zongzi made with glutinous rice, mung beans and vegetarian meat are so delicious and packed with mega flavour thanks to the bamboo leaves. </p>

Vegan Zongzi (Sticky Rice Dumplings)

27-30 bamboo leaves (2-3 leaves per dumping)

string, 40 inches long (100 cm)

glutinous rice (360 grams)

shiitake mushrooms (16 grams)

peanuts (30 grams)

dried peeled mung beans (68 grams)

chickpeas (50 grams)

kabocha squash, chopped in 3/4 inch pieces (85 grams)

vegan mock meat, sliced into 3/4-1 inch pieces (80 grams)*

soy sauce

salt

Rinse the glutinous rice and dried shiitake mushrooms and soak in separate bowls overnight. 

Soak the string, mung beans and peanuts in separate bowls.

Measure out the cooked chickpeas, chop the kabocha and slice mock meat. 

Rinse and wash the bamboo leaves. Trim the bottom stems so that the ends are flat (refer to photo) and keep them in water so they don't dry out. 

Drain the rice and mix with soy sauce and salt. 

Drain the shiitake mushrooms and slice them into small bite sized pieces. 

Follow the video and/or photos to make the cone out of the bamboo leaves. Add 2 tbsp of the rice, 1 tbsp of the mung beans, 1-2 pieces of mock meat, 1 cube of kabocha, 2 pieces of shiitake mushrooms, 1 tbsp of chickpeas and 1/2 tbsp of peanuts. Top it off with another 2 tbsp of rice (it was about 55-60g of rice per rice dumpling). How much you can add in will depend on the size of your bamboo leaf but this was the perfect amount for the ones I was using. Then finish wrapping the dumpling and securely wrap and tie it with string. If at any time the bamboo leaves rip, you must start over. This is why I recommend soaking a couple extra because I find 4-5 leaves rip. 

Once everything is wrapped up, prepare a medium to large pot (large enough to fit all the zongzi). Fill the pot with cold water and place a plate that covers majority of the pot on top. Add more water if needed-- everything should be submerged in water. Turn the heat up to medium high. Once the water is at a boil reduce the heat to medium/medium low and let it simmer for 2.5 hours. 

Ensure the water is not boiling but simmer with light bubbles rising. Check every 30 minutes to ensure the zongzi are still submerged in water. If you need to add water, be sure to use HOT water. 

Once 2.5 hours passes, turn off the heat. Remove the plate and zongzi carefully out of the pot using tongs.

Cut the strings, unwrap them and serve with sauce and green onions or let them cool completely before storing them in the refrigerator or freezer. 

First time making these and this recipe was so easy to follow. Definitely worth the effort. I doubled the batch and saved some in the freezer for later🐸

Learn how to make traditional Chinese sticky rice dumplings filled with savory vegetarian filling. The zongzi can be cooked in an Instant pot pressure cooker or boiled on the stove.

Vegetarian Zongzi/ Sticky Rice Dumplings (Instant Pot or Stove-top)

500 gr glutinous rice

Tbsp cooking oil

Tbsp dark soy sauce

Tbsp mushroom sauce

tsp sesame oil

gr sweet pickled radish (chye poh)

gr dried black fungus (or use dried shiitake mushroom)

five-spice powder

tsp sugar

tsp white pepper

Salt

black-eyed peas (or canned beans of your choice)

bamboo leaves

Kitchen twine or hemp strings

If you are not using pressure cooker to cook, soak the glutinous rice for at least 4 hours

Soak the black fungus or shiitake mushrooms in warm water. Cut into smaller pieces

Preheat a large skillet. Add cooking oil and stir fry the chye poh until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the mushroom and the seasoning and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes. Off the heat and let it cool down completely and if you prepare few days before, cover and store it in the fridge

Prepare the filling (can be done a few days before):

Preheat a large skillet. Add cooking oil. Add rice and seasonings and stir fry for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Turn off the heat and transfer to a large bowl and let it cool down

Season the rice:

Generally, you will need about 2 leaves, stacked on top of each other. If you have ragged leaves, you can use another leaf to cover by overlapping them so there won&#39;t be any leakage. Make sure the smooth side of the leaves is facing you

You can refer to the video on how to wrap zongzi. Fold into a cone shape. Fill it up with about 2 Tbsp of rice and use the back of the spoon to pack it in and slightly create a well in the middle for the filling

Add the filling and beans. Top again with more sticky rice, filling up almost 3/4 of the cone. Make sure you really pack it down so the dumpling will be nice and tight later

Fold one side down. Fold the opposite side down. Most people don&#39;t fold the two sides and go straight to folding the top part down (as shown in the next step). But I feel like this helps me to wrap &quot;neater&quot; and shows the triangle shape better

Fold the top part down. Fold in both sides. You&#39;ll have this extra piece on top now. Simply fold it down to either one of the side

Tie with a string. Repeat with the rest of the filling and rice

Wrapping:

Fill up the inner pot halfway with water. Press saute and bring water to a boil. Add 1/2 tsp of salt. Place the zongzi in the inner pot of instant pot. I can cook 12-14 dumplings in my 6-quart instant pot. Top up with more water to make sure it covers the zongzi if necessary

Cover the lid. Turn the steam release valve to seal. Press &quot;pressure cooker&quot; and make sure it&#39;s on &quot;high pressure&quot;. Set the timer to 1 hour. Release pressure immediately after that

Carefully open the lid and use a tong to gently remove the zongzi from the pot to a cooling rack. Let the water drips down. The zongzi will still be soft to touch. I recommend waiting 24 hours before eating them

Cooking with a pressure cooker:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1/2 tsp of salt. Place the zongzi in a large pot. Bring it back to a boil and then cover and lower the heat to let them gently boil for the next 2 to 2 1/2 hours. If the zongzi is large in size you may need 3 hours or so. At the end of cooking time, you can take one out to see if it&#39;s cooked through. If the rice doesn&#39;t stick to the leaves and doesn&#39;t fall apart and the rice holds together nicely, it&#39;s done. If the rice falls apart, you need to boil them longer

Carefully use a tong to gently remove the zongzi from the pot to a cooling rack to let it cool down for 24 hours before eating them. They will still be soft to touch, but will firm up once they are cooled down completely

Boiling on the stove:

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/m9c7XdOR.mp4

Top 2 vegetarian zongzi recipes from across the web

The most viewed vegetarian zongzi recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Vegan Zongzi (Sticky Rice Dumplings...

Vegetarian Zongzi/ Sticky Rice Dump...

Top 2 vegetarian zongzi recipes from across the web

The most viewed vegetarian zongzi recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Vegan Zongzi (Sticky Rice Dumplings...

Vegetarian Zongzi/ Sticky Rice Dump...

The most viewed vegetarian zongzi recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine