Mighty Meaty Beany Dumpling

Remember the green bean dumpling I mentioned in my reply to one of the comments made on my earlier post about the nonya zhong zhi (glutinous rice dumpling)? Well, here are some pictures of one such green bean zhong zhi that I had for supper just a few hours ago.

It was billed as being a green bean (aka mung green bean) dumpling. But the beans shared the limelight with chunks of pork cooked in dark soy sauce.

Skinned green beans were used, so that as these were cooked down during the fairly lengthy boiling process for the dumplings, their yellow flesh became soft, almost fluffy, blending in well with the soft, smooth glutinous rice. They melded almost imperceptibly with the rice, and yet at the same time provided an interesting contrast of texture – the soft, near-mushiness of the beans against the soft yet springy bite of the glutinous rice.

This dumpling also included a yolk of a salted egg, which added a nice little zing. The rice and beans on the right half of the above picture had taken on an orangey hue from the egg yolk.

The meat was very flavorful, providing a tasty counterbalance to the bland beans. I loved its rich coloring from the dark soy sauce. However, because it was very lean, it didn’t quite have the “melt-in-your-mouth” tenderness and lusciousness of fattier cuts of meat. But that actually suited me just fine, being as I am a person who gets the willies when confronted with fatty meat on my plate. There were a few small bits of fat interspersed through the chunks of meat, and these provided a subtle tinge of rich smoothness to the rice and beans.

The serving of meat in this dumpling was very generous. It was filled with chunks of meat. One would be forgiven for almost thinking this was a bak zhang (meat dumpling in Hokkien), rather than a bean zhang.

I personally am not much of a bean zhang, or for that matter bak zhang, person. My preferences lie with my mum’s home-made ground peanuts, mushrooms, chestnuts and meat dumpling, and the nonya sambal hae bee (dried shrimp) dumpling.

But this dumpling was a nice complete meal on its own… rice, meat and pulses… all conveniently wrapped in bamboo leaves… very compact, highly portable and easy to eat!

Oops, that’s me… gotta go…

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
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