包粽子

Do you like sweet zongzi, or salty zongzi? This question can make southerners and northerners argue all day long. Me? I'm on team sweet zongzi.

In a few more days, it'll be the Dragon Boat Festival. On the Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese people eat zongzi. Every year around this time, my mom wraps a lot of zongzi. This year, I want to try making them myself at home.

To make zongzi, you first prepare the ingredients. I went to the market and bought bamboo leaves, glutinous rice, and red dates. The glutinous rice has to be soaked first. I put the rice in water and soaked it overnight.

The bamboo leaves also need to be washed clean. New bamboo leaves are a bit stiff, so I soak them in hot water, and they turn soft. The soaked leaves have a fresh, light fragrance.

Once the ingredients are ready, I can start wrapping. Honestly, making zongzi looks really easy, but doing it is not easy at all.

First I take two bamboo leaves, and fold them into a little triangle. Then I add some glutinous rice, then one red date, and cover it with a little more rice on top. The hardest part is the last step — wrapping up the leaves, and tying it tight with string.

My very first zongzi didn't look good at all. Rice even leaked out the side. Oh, it's really not easy!

I had no choice, so I looked up a video online. I watched and learned at the same time. Slowly, I wrapped them better and better.

Guess how many I wrapped in total? More than thirty! Most are sweet, and a few are salty. Those salty ones are for my dad, he loves salty zongzi.

The finished zongzi go into a pot to cook. Zongzi need to cook a long time — almost two hours.

While they cook, the whole kitchen fills with a wonderful smell. That smell is fragrant and sweet — just smelling it makes you happy.

Finally, they're done! I take one out and slowly open up the leaves. The hot zongzi is steaming with white steam.

I take a bite. Ah, so delicious! The sticky rice is soft, the red date is sweet. I also like to dip it in a little sugar — that makes it even sweeter.

I gave a few to my friends too. They all said my zongzi tasted great. Hearing that made me really happy.

Making zongzi yourself is a little tiring, but it's really fun. And somehow, what you make yourself tastes even better.

Alright, after all this talking, are you getting a little hungry too? This Dragon Boat Festival, do you want sweet zongzi, or salty zongzi? Tell me down below. See you next time!