Natural Alkaline Water Zongzi — Rice Straw Ash Braised Pork Zongzi

Before making zongzi, first marinate the meat. Prepare the ingredients as above, wash the meat, and cut it into thin slices.

Pour in 3 tablespoons of Weidamei First-Press Original Brew Soy Sauce.

Big Spoon Scallion Companion Chili Sauce.

Mix well and marinate for more than 2 hours. If you have time, marinate it the night before and store it in the refrigerator.

Place 1 jin of rice straw ash in a rice-washing sieve lined with gauze, first pour boiling water over it to moisten the rice straw ash, then scoop in clean water to filter it, using the gauze to filter it a total of four times. The lye water filtered this way is clear and fragrant.

The filtered natural alkaline water looks like this, without a trace of rice straw ash, yellow and clear.

The ingredients for making zongzi are these (I also made zongzi with candied dates!). Wash the bamboo leaves a day in advance, put them in a large basin, cover with a damp towel, and wash the glutinous rice before wrapping.

Take two zong leaves, one large and one small, stack them together, fold them into a dustpan shape, place it in the palm of your left hand, and grab a small handful of rinsed glutinous rice to put at the bottom of the dustpan.

Use chopsticks to pick up a few slices of meat and lay them flat on the glutinous rice.

Grab another large handful of glutinous rice to cover the meat, then gently hold the zong leaves and tap them a few times in your palm.

Then use your hand to push the glutinous rice inside a bit more, so that there are fewer gaps inside. Turn the bamboo leaf over, fold it, then tap it with the back of your hand to seal the opening.

Tie it with zongzi string.

All the zongzi are wrapped like this, and each zongzi requires about 80 grams of glutinous rice.

After everything is wrapped, tie ten zongzi together, with five on each side, making it perfect! (The ingredients above are only enough for 15 zongzi, and I also made jujube zongzi this time, so there are three bundles).

Put the zongzi into a pressure cooker, pour in natural alkaline water, making sure it covers the zongzi, and soak for one and a half hours.

After soaking, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low heat and cook for about 50 minutes.

After the steam has dissipated, lift the pot lid, and the lye water is noticeably reduced.

Pour in the alkaline water again, making sure it covers the zongzi, bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for 10–15 minutes.

It's cooked, and a fragrant aroma of zongzi fills the air.

Warm, tearing open the bamboo leaves, the glutinous rice soaked with braised meat enters the mouth with a fragrant and sticky taste.

Cut in half, wow, so tempting!

Take a bite, let out a squeak, super satisfying!

Finished product image.