Zongzi joy: Dumpling makers Ooi Goet Tin, 55, Bok Lan Yong, 78, Karen Ooi, 58, Hong Hong Leong, 38, and Wei Wan Ling, 39, preparing dumplings in Taman Green Lane, Jelutong, Penang. – LIM BENG TATT/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: Stoves are at full blast at a house in Taman Green Lane, where work goes full swing to boil large pots filled with traditional rice dumplings, or zongzi in Mandarin.
Racing against time to fulfil demands ahead of Duan Wu Jie or the Dragon Boat Festival, 55-year-old zhang maker Ooi Goet Tin said that while the final cooking was easy, wrapping zongzi was time-consuming.
“After preparing the ingredients the night before and wrapping them in bamboo leaves in the morning, it takes about six hours to boil each pot. After that, the dumplings are removed to cool before being sold,” she said.
Ooi takes pride in keeping things “kochabi”, which in Hokkien means “traditional taste and flavour”.
“The recipe belonged to my father-in-law and we have maintained it for over 50 years. I used to make it only for our family after getting married about 20 years ago.
“But as demand grew and so few people knew how to make them, it became our trade and my husband helped me sell them.
“During festivals such as Duan Wu Jie, Qing Ming and the Hungry Ghost Festival, I make over 1,000 dumplings each day,” she said.
Apart from the traditional dumplings of glutinous rice, pork, chestnut, mushroom and salted egg yolk, Ooi also makes other variants such as those containing beans or red bean paste, as well as dumplings with brown rice instead of glutinous rice.
Ooi said her husband, Loh Weng Hong, 57, also sells them from a food truck in Jalan Tavoy off Jalan Burma.
In Malaysia, one of the key highlights of Duan Wu Jie, celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, is savouring the dumplings with family and friends.
The festival is celebrated to commemorate the poet Qu Yuan, who drowned himself about 1,000 years ago to protest corrupt practices in China. After his death, people threw zongzi in a gesture to stop fish from feeding on his remains.
