Greetings and Salutation: Home cook recipe - De-Mystifying the Bak Chang

This year, coincidentally enough was a year with two 5th month of the lunar calendar where I decided to learn how to cook and wrap a Bak Chang or dumpling. As the first time of doing it, we didn’t really know what to get ourselves into. We forgot this and forgot that, didn’t take that picture or the picture turned out blurred. So, I told my mother-in-law that I would like to do it again. This happened yesterday, June 27th, 2009. This time Suh Im participated in the documentation, preparation, cooking and wrapping of the dumpling. With and extra pair of hands, it definitely made things easier. Below is the account of what happened and what was used. Please be reminded that if you do use the information below, you will bear all risk and will not blame me if it doesn’t turn out as it should.

Ingredients

Pork Belly 1.3kg

Dried Mushroom 300 grams or 20 pieces

Chestnut (Lak Chee) 35-40 pieces

Hae Bee (small dried prawns) 500 grams

Dried Bamboo Leaves 75

Chang Strings as sufficient

Preserved Duck Egg 18 (to be halved)

Shallots 20 pieces (finely sliced)

Garlic 5 Cloves (finely chopped)

Cooking Oil 1 cup

Seasoning of Meat

Dark Soya Sauce 2 tablespoons

Light Soya Sauce 4 tablespoons

Salt 1 tablespoon

Oyster Sauce 2 tablespoons

5 Spice powder 1 tablespoon

To clean and soften the bamboo leaves

You can get the leaves and strings from your local wet market when the Bak Chang season comes around. Cost about RM7.50 for 25-30 leaves. You will need 2 leaves to make one dumpling. Put all bamboo leaves into a big pot and fill it with water to cover the leaves. You can add a heavy bow to ensure that the leaves are submerged. Bring the water to boil and turn the stove off. Leave it overnight. This process will help clean the leaves and makes it soft so that you can wrap the “chang”. Next day, change the water. While filling up the pot with water, use a cloth and wipe the leaves. Leave to dry on a rattan or plastic food cover.

Pork Belly (Sam Chan Bak) Preparation

Get your friendly butcher to cut the pork belly into slices with a little bit less than an inch thick. Wash them and then cut them into small pieces with the 3 gorgeous layers, Skin, Fat and Lean Meat. Season them about 2-3 hours before cooking. See above for seasoning ingredients.

Chestnut (Lak Chee) and Mushroom Preparation

Wash with cold water and soak them overnight to soften the Lak Chee and Mushroom. To clean the Lak Chee from it shell that is caught in between the crevices, use a toothpick to pick it out. Change the water and let it continue to soak till next step. In the case of mushroom, you will need to remove the stem (if any). Cut the bigger mushroom pieces into 2 or else it will be difficult to wrap the dumpling.

Preserved Duck Egg Preparation

Clean the egg and harvest the yoke. Do not boil the egg, just discard the egg white. Cut the yoke in half, use only one half per dumpling.

Glutinous Rice Preparation

Wash the glutinous rice with cold water. After washing it continue to soak in water until it is ready to cook. Then drain the water before putting it into the wok.

Cooking Instructions

You will need to cook the meat first. Pour half cup into a wok and heat it a bit. Put all the garlic into the wok and cook it till golden brown. Next put in the mushrooms and fry it for about 5-8 minutes before putting the meat into the pan. Fry until the meat is almost cook (about 10 minutes), add in half cup of water and then add in the chestnut. Continue to stir fry the contents. Please remember to add in the ingredients when cooking the meat for additional flavor. Then add in the other half cup of water and cover the work to simmer for another 10 minutes.

Ingredients when cooking meat

5 Spice powder 2 tablespoon

Sugar 1 tablespoon

White ground pepper 1 tablespoon

Salt 1 tablespoon

Light Soya Sauce 1 tablespoon

Ajinomoto 1 teaspoon

Take only the cooked ingredients into a big bowl, separate the gravy and put it into another bowl. Keep some gravy in the wok and fry the hae bee (dried shrimp) with the gravy for about 2-3 minutes. Remove the shrimp and wash the wok.

Next, onto the glutinous rice. Add the other half cup of oil into the work and add in the shallots, frying them till golden brown before adding in the rice.

Add the ingredients below while cooking the rice, adding water from time to time. The color of the rice depends on the amount of Dark Soya Sauce you use. You can refer to the finished product for reference.

Ingredients when cooking Glutinous Rice

Glutinous Rice (Pulut) 1800 grams (to make 30-35 dumplings)

Dark Soya Sauce 3 tablespoons

Light Soya Sauce 3 tablespoons

Salt 1 tablespoon

White Ground Pepper 1 tablespoon

5 Spice Powder 2 tablespoon

1 cup of water

Alternatively you could use Red/Brown Rice (Healthy Chang or to remove all guilt feelings)

The time used to stir fry the rice is about 10-15 minutes, and the finished product should look as follows.

The next step….Wrapping the Bak Chang! It would help to separate the ingredients required for each dumpling into small bowls to make it easier and faster when wrapping. 1 half egg yoke, 1 piece of meat, 1 half mushroom, shrimp and fried shallots.

So here it goes. This is the part which I tried and could not come to terms with wrapping one by myself. You need to align 2 leaves together with the spine (the side of the protruding middle) of the leaves facing each other.

This following sequence is the best I can capture. First fold the 2 leaves into a cone and add in some rice. Then add in the ingredients of meat, mushroom, yoke, and shrimp. Top it up with more rice. Squeeze the dumpling with your thumb and fore finger into a triangle shape while using your other hand to fold the excess leave down to cover the opening. The next step is pretty tricky and this is the step that I failed to learn. After you fold down the access leave, you need to pinch the leave and fold it to the side of the dumpling. Told you it’s tricky.

Then tie the dumpling with the string. You should hang the strings so that’s easier to tie them up. There you have it. Next comes to boiling the dumplings. Boil the water in a big pot and bring it to boil. Add in the dumplings and let it boil for at least two and half hours.