Triangles…

The Duanwu Festival or the Dragon Boat Festival, commonly called the (Bak) Chang Festival, falls on Friday, the 7th of June this year which is today. The Chinese eat zongzi or chang on this special day because they are considered a symbol of luck, as the pronunciation of zong is very similar to the pronunciation of zhong (中). This character has a positive connotation, used in words such as 中奖 (winning a prize).

Every year, without fail, my dear friend, Richard, would give me his exclusive home-made nyonya chang…

…I guess if you are a regular follower of my blog, you would know that there is no way we can buy these here.

We can go out and buy the not-so-nice (the ones here, that is) Hokkien chang or the pillow-shaped Cantonese chang but one just can’t expect too much from those commercially made ones plus they do not come cheap. Often, I would buy some home and end up rather disappointed and I get really put off to see them tying the dumplings with nylon string and boiling it in the water for so long until the rice is cooked.

Richard, on the other hand, does not scrimp on the ingredients like that so you can see a lot of meat in his changs…

…and if you are observant enough, you will notice that he does not use pre-minced meat from the butcher or the shop – he will painstakingly cut the meat into tiny little cubes for the filling, the way it should be. More often than not, when eating the ones outside, you may be hard pressed to find some meat inside. These days, you may find a teeny-weeny piece, mostly fat or traces of minced meat, barely visible to the naked eye.

Rest assured that if it is Richard’s chang, you can bet that it is as perfect as it looks – see how symmetrical it is on the outside…

…and also on the inside…

Thank you so much, Richard, for remembering me again this year. Truly, yours are second to none…and a Happy Duanwu Festival to you and all your loved ones. Hopefully, we will all 中奖 after feasting on your lovely changs and here’s wishing everyone the same as well.