Dragon Boat Festival

This is the first time the House of Toks are all geared up for the Dragon Boat Festival, even eldest sister and brother in law came over to assist with the dumpling preparation! It is quite a heartwarming sight because it is rare for all of us to be so united and to be at home together. I wrapped 3 dumplings! But they really look odd shaped. Haha. Nevermind la, as long as the taste is there, looks arent anything! Mom woke up at 630 am just to prepare these dumplings. Preparing these dumplings is no easy feat: wash the leaves, soak and fry the ingredients, wrap and finally boil and them for hours. Behind the scenes:

 The bamboo leaves for wrapping the dumplings.

 The filing which consists of chinese mushrooms, chestnuts and meat. In this case it's pork. Mom made chicken ones too! I am proud of her cuz she is the only one who makes a variety of dumplings: red bean ones, chicken ones, conventional pork ones, nonya ones (white coloured, my fav!) and the tiny yellow ones that you eat with sugar or honey. This explains how tedious it is to make your own dumplings. However, you  have to agree that it somehow feels nicer to eat home made dumplings.  

 The glutinous rice. This is stir fried with soy sauce.

Yellow rice for the yellow coloured dumplings aka jianshui zongzi

The hardworking family at work. Brother in law is exceptionally excited cuz it is his first time making dumplings. He is the one who asked eldest sis to learn this art of dumpling making because he hopes we can pass this special recipe of mom down the family line next time. Enough said, this is one nice guy! Good catch, sister. Frankly speaking, this is the first time I see how energetic he is! He reached our house at 6 am just for this! 5 stars for effort. 

Whose hands are these? Not mine! I am the camera man leh. This is one artistic shot. Haha.

This huge pot for cooking the dumplings. We only use it once a year for this special occasion.

Hehe. My masterpiece. Cute right. 

This is one tiny dumpling with little filling. I was too stingy! Haha.

The best beverage to go with rice dumplings would be green tea, in my opinion as it somehow absorbs the oiliness of the dumplings and prevents your tummy from being bloated. Happy eating everyone, but eat in moderation because these dumplings are really fattening!