NYONYA SAVOURY SWEET RICE DUMPLINGS [PUAH KIAM TI CHANG]

Heard of this rice dumpling? Have you tried eating or making it?  I think most rice dumpling lover know about this Nyonya style 'chang'.

Before browsing through the recipe, I always thought that this kind of chang is more difficult to make than the Kiam Bak Chang. The rice has to be steamed first and moreover the some rice has to be coloured. Anyway, I took the time to slowly run through the ingredients and the steps. Looks easy so long as I can prepare the fillings earlier and the wrapping probably the next day.
So these are the ‘fruits’ of my 'labour'…..They not only looks nice but tasted good.  I'm very happy with the result.  My sis gave a thumbs up after trying one. 

The rice is soft, chewy and taste good with the aromatic savoury sweet filling. Making them small looks dainty but you can always increase the rice portion to make bigger dumplings and also to finish off the fillings.   My hubby says it is not necessary cos’ it is eaten as a snack rather than for a meal.  Perhaps, next time, I will double the rice portion so that there won’t be leftover filling and more rice to cover the filling.   I had leftovers - used up in the next post].

Recipe Source for my selected Cookbook for February 2016 – Nyonya Flavours [modified]

Ingredients
[makes 20]
40 dried bamboo leaves – soaked until soft and wiped dry
Hemp strings
2-3 blades of pandan leaves – washed and cut into 3 cm lengths
Ingredients for Filling
300 gm pork belly – skin removed and chopped coarsely
150 gm candied winter melon [tungkwa] – chopped
100 gm ground roasted peanuts
1 tbsp peppercorns
50 gm [8 cloves] garlic
20 gm [3] cekur ginger roots
4 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp salt to taste
2 tbsp sugar to taste
2 tbsp cooking oil

1. Blend peppercorns, garlic and cekur roots in a processor until fine and mix in the coriander powder.
2. Heat oil in a non-stick pan, sauté ground spice ingredients until aromatic. Add in pork and stir fry until well mixed.
3. Add in sugar and salt and a dash of water. Stir to combine and cook until meat is cook and tender. 
4. Add in the candied winter melon and continue to fry for a few seconds. Off heat and leave fillings to cool before adding in the ground peanuts. Set aside until required or refrigerate.
5. Note – this portion of filling is enough for 750 gm of rice. If using more rice, just increase the other rice ingredients proportionately.
   
   
   
   

Ingredients for Rice
500 gm glutinous rice
2 tbsp indigo blue colouring [extracted from the butterfly pea flower/bunga telang]*
* blend 30 blue pea flowers with some water in a blender, strain to obtain the blue coloured water enough to soak the rice
250 ml thick coconut milk mixed with 1 tsp salt

1. Wash glutinous rice until the water runs clear. Remove 160 gm of the rice to a separate bowl and soak it with the blue pea water enough to cover the rice. Mix well.
2. Soak both rice overnight in the water and drain before use.
3. Bring water to boil and steam the plain and blue glutinous rice separately for 1 hour or until rice is cooked and soft. I steamed them for 1 ½ hours.
4. Stir in 1/3 of the coconut milk to the blue rice and 2/3 of coconut milk to the plain rice. Continue to steam for a further 10 minutes. Fluff up before use.
   
   
   

To Wrap the Rice Dumplings

1. Overlap 2 bamboo leaves together and fold into a cone. 
2. Fill cone with 1 heaped tablespoon of plain glutinous rice and 1 tsp of the blue glutinous rice. 
3. Top rice with 1 tablespoon of the savoury sweet filling and cover with another tablespoon of plain glutinous rice. Top with a piece of pandan leave.
4. Fold the loose end of the bamboo leaves over the rice and wrap dumpling into a pyramid shape. Secure with a hemp string.
5. Repeat the process until you have a dozen dumplings in a bunch or until all the ingredients are used up.
6. Steam dumplings over boiling water for 30 minutes. Remove to cool.

I'm submitting this post to Cookbook Countdown 2 hosted by Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking [Makan2] Foray

I'm submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up event hosted by Sweet Home-Chefs with her February 2016 theme - Chrysanthemum and edible flowers organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Mui Mui of my little favourite DIY,