Nyonya Chang (in Hokkein)

My first attempt at making Nyonya Chang. Also known as Nyonya style Glutinous Rice Bamboo Leaf Dumpling in English or Nyonya Chung in Cantonese or Nyonya Zhong Zhi in Mandarin.

I followed the recipe on Lily's website, but used less sugar: http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2006/05/nyonya-chang.html.

My baby's small hand reaching out to get the chung. Loved this photo!

There are many variations to this type of Nyonya dumpling:

This one added ground nuts and ginger in addition to what Lily had, http://www.asian-recipes.com/celebrations/chinese_festivals_foods/nyonya-rice-dumpling.php

Check out this website. The author was kind enough to share with me the secret ingredient to yet another variation, dried shrimp:
http://eatfirstthinklater.blogspot.com/2006/05/making-chinese-rice-dumpling-bak-chang.html

This recipe adds black eyed beans to the rice:
http://www.kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=306

Thanks to Nuttiegrl from mybuddies.net:
Here's a recipe from Nyonya Flavours recipe book for Nyonya Chang (Puah Kiam Ti Chang)
(makes 15-18)
ingredients
500g glutinous rice
2 tbsp indigo blue colouring (extracted from butterfly pea flower)
2 tbsp cooking oil
Spice paste (ground)
1 tbsp peppercorns
4 tsp coriander powder
50g (8 cloves) garlic
20g cekur ginger root
300g belly pork, cut into small cubes
2 tsp salt, or to taste
2 tbsp sugar, or to taste
150g candied winter melon, chopped
100g roasted peanuts, pounded
250ml (1 cup) thick santan mixed with
1 tsp salt
30 dried bamboo leaves, soaked until soft and wiped dry
1-2 bundle hemp strings, soaked
2 pandan leaves, cut into 3cm lengths

method:
Wash glutinous rice until water runs clear. Remove 150g of the rice to a seperate bowl and add 2 tbsp blue colouring. Mix well. Soak both the rice overnight in water and drain before use.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok to saute the spice paste until fragrant. Add the pork and stir until cooked. Season to taste with salt & sugar. Add the candied melon, fry for a few seconds before removing from heat. Leave the filling to cool and mix in the pounded peanut.
Bring water to boil in a wok and steam the glut. rice for 1 hour or until cooked. Stir in the coconut milk and steam for another 10 min.
To wrap: Overlap the bamboo leaves together and fold into a cone. Fill cone with 1 heaped tbsp rice, 1 tbsp blue-coloured rice, 1 tbsp filling and another of the glut. rice. Top with a piece of pandan leaf. Fold the loose ends of the bamboo leaves over the rice and wrap dumpling into a pyramid shape before securing with the hemp string. Repeat until you have a dozen or so dumplings all tied to a bunch. Continue wrapping the dumplings on another bundle of hemp string until the rice is used up.
Steam the dumplings over rapidly boiling water for 20-30 min.

This website has photos showing how to make and wrap Turmeric Sambal Dumplings. http://jodelibakery.netfirms.com/

Amy Beh's recipe using Black Glutinous Rice, mushroom, mung bean, dried shrimp, lotus seed candied winter melon and black bean sauce, in addition to the regular nyonya spice ingredients (shallots, coriander powder, cekur root and garlic) that were mentioned in the other websites: http://kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=1384

The ingredients in this next recipe looks good. I think I will try making this filling.
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/1/23/lifeliving/16546300

Rempah Udang (Glutinous Rice Rolls with Dried Prawn Filling)
300g glutinous rice, washed, soaked overnight and drained
200ml thick coconut milk mixed with 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp sugar
1 banana leaf, cut into 20 pieces (of 13x10cm rectangles), scalded to soften and wiped dry
40 pieces of 3cm-long bamboo picks, cut both the pointed edges
Filling
100g white grated coconut
50g dried prawns, soaked, drained and pounded
30g candied winter melon, chopped finely
1 tbsp oil
Ingredients (A) – (Ground finely)
1 tbsp roasted coriander powder
1 small piece cekur root (sar keong)
1 clove garlic
4 shallots
1 red chilli, seeded
Seasoning (B)
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
2 tbsp water
Method:
Steam glutinous rice for 20 minutes then add salt, sugar and thick coconut milk to the rice. Return rice and coconut mixture to the steaming tray and steam for another 10 minutes until well cooked.
Panfry the grated white coconut until evenly browned then grind until fine (kerisek).
Heat oil in a wok and fry ingredients (A) until fragrant. Add the dried prawns, seasoning (B), kerisik and candied melon. Dish out and set aside to cool.
Place 2 tablespoonful of glutinous rice in the centre of a banana leaf. Spread one tablespoonful of filling in the centre and top up with another tablespoonful of rice. Wrap each roll firmly in the banana leaf, press the ends together and secure the ends with bamboo picks.
Grill the rolls over charcoal fire or in an electric grill for 15 minutes, turning the rolls occasionally. An alternative is to pan-grill the rolls in a frying pan, to brown the banana leaves all over, until aromatic.