Dumplings galore (Issue 11, 2009)
Dumpling sample from the festival
The Singapore Students Society at La Trobe (SingSoc) organised for the first time a Dumpling Festival, where all guests were invited to make and eat dumplings together.
At 3pm on the 6 June, the Roger Joyce Kitchen at Chisholm College was filled with people gathered to prepare and cook dumplings. The president of the society, Xuet Ying and the cultural representative, Yan Qing, coordinated the event and shared their cooking knowledge.
The main dish was zong zi or ba zhang (Chinese tamales), a traditional Chinese dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves, cooked through steaming or boiling.
By 7pm, the cooking stage of the workshop was finalised and all the participants were ready to reap their rewards by treating themselves to the tasty dumplings. The aim to bring together Singaporean students and help them form a bond was certainly achieved and the Society and its members are looking forward to future similar gatherings.
The rice dumplings are traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar (approximately early to mid-June). The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet, who drowned himself in the Miluo river. According to the legend, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eating the poet’s body.
