On the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calender, a great poet and a bearer of high office of the Chu house, Qu Yuan, jumped into the river Miluo in protest when Qin conquered the capital of Chu.
On learning this, fishermen dashed to the river and tried to save his body from being consumed by fishes. They beat drums and gongs to scare away the water demons and paddled out on boats in an attempt to retrieve his body. They also threw rice dumplings into the river to feed the fishes so that his body would remain unharmed.
Like Singapore's cityscape, the ba chang has also evolved. My favourite fusion ba chang is the nonya version - fatty bits of pork, winter melon, dried mushrooms, shallots and garlic wrapped in glutinous rice and steamed for hours.
Wrapping a ba chang takes skill. Jamie and I tried looking for a free ba chang wrapping workshops to no avail so we had to be contend with watching youtube videos.
The next best thing of course is to chowdown on some nonya dumplings from a local stall. I'm waiting for the Ba Chang festival to be officially over before getting my fill - prices will be lower then!
Happy Ba Chang eating everyone!
On learning this, fishermen dashed to the river and tried to save his body from being consumed by fishes. They beat drums and gongs to scare away the water demons and paddled out on boats in an attempt to retrieve his body. They also threw rice dumplings into the river to feed the fishes so that his body would remain unharmed.
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| participants at the annual Dragon Boat Race in Singapore Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ping_timeout/3052118571/ |
This is said to have been the origin of the dragon boat race and Zongzi or Ba Chang (a triangular-shaped glutinous rice dumpling wrapped with bamboo leaves and stuffed with varied ingredients).
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| Bak Chang (Glutinous Rice Dumplings) photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchu75/2769872287/ |
Like Singapore's cityscape, the ba chang has also evolved. My favourite fusion ba chang is the nonya version - fatty bits of pork, winter melon, dried mushrooms, shallots and garlic wrapped in glutinous rice and steamed for hours.
Wrapping a ba chang takes skill. Jamie and I tried looking for a free ba chang wrapping workshops to no avail so we had to be contend with watching youtube videos.
The next best thing of course is to chowdown on some nonya dumplings from a local stall. I'm waiting for the Ba Chang festival to be officially over before getting my fill - prices will be lower then!
Happy Ba Chang eating everyone!
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