Kee Chang 鹼水粽

I believe I am the only one in the family that likes Kee Chang 鹼水粽.  I think kee chang is a hokkien dialect.

When I was young, I love to eat the plain ones rather than the one with red bean or mungbean fillings.  My favourite way is to sprinkle a generous amount of sugar over it and eat it.

Now you can have it with kaya, gula melaka (which is quite similar to lopes) and many other accompaniment.

I was watching a documentary the other day and this lady actually include sweet potatoes in her kee chang.  I was curious how it taste like as I love sweet potatoes so this morning, I went to the wet market to grab some sweet potatoes and try my hand at it.

I have also include a video so that in future, my kids can use this as reference if they want to make their own dumplings.

If you are new to wrapping a dumpling, the best way to learn is to start with kee chang.

What you need:
Yield 16 pcs

What you need:

32 bamboo leaves
16 grass strings

500g glutinous rice
½ tbsp oil
15g lye
1 tbsp hot water

Sweet potatoes (chunk) - I used honey sweet potatoes

Method:

Wash and soak glutinous rice overnight.

Soak bamboo leaves and grass strings overnight.  Clean leaves and boil in hot water for 5 mins.

Drain rice.

Pound lye into powder.

Dissolved lye powder with 1 tbsp hot water.  Stir until powder dissolved.

Mix lye water into the rice.  Mix well.

Using two pieces of bamboo leaves with smooth side facing you.  Fold into a cone.

Place 1 tsp of rice into the cone.

Add a piece of sweet potato

Cover the cone with 2 tablespoon of rice.

Fold and wrap into a pyramid shape.

Tie securely with grass string.

Bring a big pot of water to a boil.

Lower the bundle of bak chang and cook on medium heat for 2 hours.

Test doneness by trying out one sample.  If uncooked, boil for another 1/2 hour.

Cool thoroughly before eating.

Serve with sprinkle of sugar.