A friend sent a string of zongzi wrapped by himself, small and cute, steamed and peeled, with a light fragrance of alkali, thinking it was a lye water zongzi, dipped in sugar, but biting open but it was a cloud leg. The small cloud leg dice is hidden in the glutinous rice, and the taste is delicious, like a dim sum that can be accompanied by tea.
When I think of the meat dumplings in my hometown of Lanxi, I mostly choose pork belly with moderate fat and thinness, marinate it with soy sauce and cooking wine, and then serve it with chestnuts or broad beans. The ancient town of Youbu in Lanxi is said to have won a gold medal at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, which is used to marinate pork belly for 180 days in a century-old sauce factory.
When I returned to Lanxi for the Dragon Boat Festival, I saw my aunt and aunt wrapping rice dumplings. Take two basket leaves, staggered stacks, rotate and fold in half, into a funnel shape, put in a little round glutinous rice (softer and glutinous than long glutinous rice), stack pork belly and chestnuts, and then cover with a layer of glutinous rice, cover with zongzi leaves, cover the whole into a small pillow, and wrap it tightly with cotton thread - this step is very important, if it is not tightened, the zongzi will be loosened when cooked.
Wrapped zongzi, add water and do not over, turn to low heat after boiling, be patient, boil and cook, the fat of the meat precipitates, and glutinous rice, the leaves are fused, the room is full of fragrance, that is the taste of the Dragon Boat Festival. Don't rush to take out the cooked zongzi, put them in a pot and simmer for a while to make them more flavorful.
My father will bring some meat dumplings back to his hometown every year (Jinhua shortbread must be bringed), because of the epidemic this year, he will not return to his hometown during the Dragon Boat Festival. I bought a time-honored meat dumpling in Jiaxing online, saying that it used Gaoshan leaves and black pork in Wuyi, Zhejiang, and the price was higher than that of ordinary meat dumplings.
Zhang Jinquan, the founder of Jiaxing's most well-known "Wufangzhai" zongzi, is a native of Lanxi, he first made a living by playing cotton in Jiaxing, and gave full play to his expertise in making zongzi in his spare time, and set up a stall to sell zongzi on the street. Zhang Jinquan's zongzi follows the recipe handed down by his own family, and puts ham and fresh pork into the zongzi, breaking the old practice that Jiaxing zongzi only have alkaline water, white water, red dates, and beans, which has attracted praise from diners and gained a reputation. Since then, there has been a saying that "Jinhua ham Lanxi is out, and Jiaxing zongzi Lanxi style".
In other places, zongzi are mostly eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, while Lanxi is available in all seasons. Many breakfast stalls have meat dumplings, which are steaming hot, together with special mixed noodles and flatbread with fried dough sticks, which have become my unforgettable taste bud memory.
I thought that Zhejiang people have a soft spot for zongzi, for example, Mr. Jin Yong, who is from Haining, moved to Hong Kong at the age of 24, and the taste of his hometown must have seeped into his blood.
In "Smiling Proud Jianghu", Ling Hu Chong was punished for thinking about the cliff wall, and Yue Lingshan gave him zongzi. Linghu Chong smelled a burst of fragrance and took a bite of the zongzi. Even though it is a vegetarian filling with mushrooms, lotus seeds, beans, etc., it is delicious. Yue Lingshan asked him if it tasted good, and Linghu Chong said, "It's so fresh that I almost swallowed my tongue." ”
In "The Condor Heroes", after Cheng Ying and Yang Guo met in Pingshui, they fell in love and took care of the injured Yang Guo. Once, Cheng Ying asked Yang Guo what she wanted to eat, and Yang Guo said that she wanted to eat zongzi, so she cooked it herself and wrapped a few. "The sweet is the lard and bean paste, the salty is the ham and the meat, and the service is delicious. Yang Guo ate while applauding. She didn't dare to say what she loved and loved, and wrapped her affection in the zongzi. Yang Guo ate zongzi, and she was silently writing one by one. Yang Guo later picked up the words and paper she threw away, and Zhang Zhang wrote "Seeing a gentleman, Yunhu doesn't like it" - this moving expression handed down from the pre-Qin Dynasty is a unique connotation and nostalgia in the East.
After Cheng Ying knew that Yang Guo had another love, she chose to quit and send her love with a, never marry, and accompany her cousin Lu Wushuang for the rest of her life. She comforted her cousin: "Third sister, you see that these white clouds have gathered and scattered, scattered and gathered, and life is separated, and it is also the same, why should you bother?" "Deep and open-minded, love a person deeply, but can be affectionate and stop polite, Yang Guodang will not forget the zongzi she made.
Zongzi, under the pen of Mr. Jin Yong, has become a thing of love. Think about it again, the zongzi itself is contained! Layers of hoop leaves are wrapped in glutinous rice, and the filling is hidden in the glutinous rice, and the process of biting open a zongzi is like a guessing puzzle.
Of course, not only Zhejiang, but also all over the country have the custom of eating zongzi.
Mr. Lin Yutang, a native of Fujian, also wrote about zongzi in the novel "Jinghua Yanyun": "My grandmother brought some Shandong-style zongzi from home. The filling inside is ham, pork, brown sugar, and bean paste. "The rice dumplings made by these four fillings are hard for southerners, and they can't think of what it tastes like.
Nanjing writer Su Tong wrote: "We people in the Baiyang Lake area all make 'small foot dumplings', which are probably the most beautiful and delicious zongzi in the world. My grandmother put the snow-white glutinous rice in four dumpling leaves, nested it in the shape of a small foot, stuffed it tightly, and tied it with red, red, green and green flower threads. "There is no filling written in it, it is probably white rice dumplings. Although I like Mr. Su Tong's novels, I can't agree that this is the best and most delicious zongzi, because I have Lanxi's pillow meat dumplings in my heart.
I remember sitting with relatives, friends or neighbors, biting the end of the cotton thread with her teeth to tie the zongzi tightly – it was mostly alkaline water dumplings, and the rice grains had to be tightly packed together and steamed to be firm and delicious. My mother used a large pressure cooker to steam and add a little salt to the water, and when it was done, the fragrance of leaves wafted from the building.
Over the years, my mother was too weak to carry a heavy object or tie a zongzi tightly. There are still relatives who know how to tie them, and they are sent before the Dragon Boat Festival every year - in fact, they are sold everywhere, but the zongzi they tie themselves are always more homely. Because of the bad stomach, I don't dare to eat glutinous rice food, these days of the Dragon Boat Festival, but every morning I still have to eat one - just like the Dragon Boat Festival before the must buy two bunches of wormwood calamus, only this green, this is the ritual sense of the Dragon Boat Festival. Mr. Xueqin also wrote in "Dream of Red Mansions": "This day is the Duanyang Festival, Pu Ai hairpin gate, tiger talisman arm. ”
A bunch of wormwood and a bunch of zongzi are a little poetry in daily fireworks.
Each solar term is accompanied by a different food, and the four seasons have some new ideas. When the dampness of the rainy season gets wet everywhere, Zongzi reminds people that the warm and dry summer is really coming, and it may be the day after eating Zongzi tea eggs.
These traditional dishes, which have been passed down from generation to generation, emphasize and amplify a sense of joy in life.
Father's Lanxi, the Dragon Boat Festival to eat "five yellows and three whites" ("five yellows" for realgar wine, yellow croaker, yellow eel, cucumber, egg yolk, "three white" for garlic, white water, white fish). When my grandfather was alive, in the early morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, he would use realgar dots on my forehead, so that there would be no prickly heat and boils in summer. In addition to the rice dumplings and salted eggs, there is also a dish of fried red amaranth and ochre-colored garlic boiled with tea eggs - do not peel off one petal, throw the whole one in and boil it, and then peel it when eating. After my grandfather left, I never ate garlic from this practice again.
This article was originally published in Guangming Daily on June 3, 2022, page 07