Recipe: Perfect Nyonya Rice Dumpling

Nyonya Rice Dumpling. Nyonya rice dumpling (Nyonya Chang 娘惹粽子) is a version created by the Peranakan community, whose cooking blends both traditional Chinese and localised Malay elements. Traditionally, nyonya-style rice dumplings have a touch of blue in them. This natural blue tint is extracted from the blue pea flowers (butterfly pea flowers or bunga telang).

Nyonya changs are different from the rest due to the candied winter melon and coriander powder used to make the filling. Wash the glutinous rice under running water and drain. Add half of the rice into the blue colored water. You can cook Nyonya Rice Dumpling using 28 ingredients and 20 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Nyonya Rice Dumpling

1. Prepare of Prepared The Night Before:.
2. It's 10 g of Organic Blue Pea Flowers,.
3. Prepare 500 g of Glutinous White Rice,.
4. It's 800 g of Chicken Stock Room Temperature,.
5. It's Pinch of Sea Salt,.
6. You need Pinch of White Pepper,.
7. It's 40 g of Chinese Dried Mushrooms,.
8. You need 30 g of Dried Scallops,.
9. You need 10 g of Dried Shrimps,.
10. You need 500 g of Chicken Thigh Skinless Boneless Finely Diced,.
11. You need 1/2 TBSP of Kecap Manis,.
12. You need 2 TBSP of Light Soy Sauce,.
13. Prepare 2 TBSP of Shao Xing Wine / Hua Tiao Wine,.
14. You need Pinch of Dried Mushroom Powder..
15. You need 12 of Dried Bamboo Leaves,.
16. Prepare of Dumplings:.
17. It's of Sesame Oil, For Stir-Frying.
18. It's 1/2 Inch of Ginger Finely Minced,.
19. Prepare of Scallions Finely Chopped, A Handful + More For Garnishing.
20. It's Pinch of Sea Salt,.
21. You need Pinch of White Pepper,.
22. It's 10 of Shallots Finely Minced,.
23. It's 6 Cloves of Garlic Finely Minced,.
24. You need 3 TBSP of Coriander Powder,.
25. It's of Bull Head Brand Chinese BBQ Sauce, 3 TBSP.
26. You need 1 TBSP of Galangal Finely Grated,.
27. It's 150 g of Candied Winter Melon Finely Diced,.
28. You need 1 Handful of Pandan Leaves,.

Preparation of rice dumplings begins a day before. Nyonya Chang (娘惹粽) is a Melaka Peranakan cuisine, it has a distinctive sweet and savory taste with a patch of blue glutinous rice, which is colored by blue p. The Nyonya dumpling is traditionally wrapped with pandan leaves, it is hard to find large pandan leaves. Thus, I added pandan leaves when cooking them.

Nyonya Rice Dumpling step by step

1. Prepare the night before. In a large bowl, add blue pea flowers and 800g of warm water. Set aside to cool and allow the flowers to dye the water with a shade of blue. Drain and discard the flowers, keeping the wonderful blue colored water. Wash the glutinous rice under running water and drain..
2. Keep washing and draining for about 5 times. Add half of the rice into the blue colored water. Season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine well and set aside overnight..
3. Transfer the other half of the rice into another large bowl. Add in chicken stock, mushrooms, scallops, shrimps, salt and pepper. Stir to combine well and set aside overnight. In another bowl, add chicken, kecap manis, soy sauce, wine, salt, pepper and mushroom powder. Stir to coat the chicken well. Cover with cling film and marinate in the fridge overnight..
4. Prepare the dumplings. The next day, the mushroom and scallops should have hydrated. Fish them out. Finely dice the mushroom and shred the scallops by simply pulling them apart..
5. Drain the blue colored rice and discard the water. Drain the other bowl of rice, keeping the water. *You will need the water at a later stage.*.
6. In a skillet over medium heat, add sesame oil. Once the oil is heated up, add in mushrooms. Saute until the mushrooms start to caramelize. Drizzle in some of that rice water. Add in ginger and saute until aromatic..
7. Add in scallions, season with salt and pepper, saute until well combined. Remove from heat and set aside. In the same skillet over medium heat, add sesame oil. Once the oil is heated up, add in shallots. Saute until translucent..
8. Add in garlic and saute until aromatic. Add in coriander powder and saute until well combined. Drizzle in some of that rice water to deglaze. Add in galangal, BBQ sauce and shredded scallops..
9. Saute until well combined. Deglaze with some of that rice water. Season with salt and pepper. Lastly, add in the wintermelon. Give it a final saute, remove from heat and set aside..
10. I am doing an open-faced concept as shown in the photos. You can choose to wrap the rice and fillings up into pyramid-shaped dumplings if desired. I will include the steps for both concepts.*.
11. Open-faced concept: I am using an electric double-decker steamer. You can use 2 decks of bamboo steamers and steam in a wok over medium heat with water. You will need to do in batches if your bamboo steamers are small. Wipe the bamboo leaves clean with a kitchen towel..
12. Lay bamboo leaves on the steamer. Lay some pandan leaves over the bamboo leaves. Spoon in the glutinous rice, white and blue separating from one another, over the top. Tied 2 knots of pandan leaves and place them on top of the rice. *This is your bottom deck.*.
13. Cover and steam for 40 mins. Spoon the chicken and mushroom over another deck of steamer. Spreading out evenly. Place this deck over the rice deck. Steam together for another 30 mins or until the rice is fully cooked..
14. I did it this way so that the flavors of the chicken and mushrooms will infuse the rice and vice versa. I cook the rice 1st cos the rice takes longer time to cook.*.
15. Remove from heat and transfer onto serving plate. Garnish with scallions and serve immediately. If you want the same presentation as shown in the photos, place the white rice into a 4-inch pastry ring. Spoon the chicken and mushroom over the rice. Lastly, blue rice. Using the back of a spoon to compact at every layer. Garnish with some scallions..
16. Wrapped concept: Clean and wipe the bamboo leaves with a kitchen towel. Bring a large heavy pot of water to a rolling boil. Take 2 bamboo leaves, one on top of the other, take the halfway point, fold and form it into a cone shape..
17. Add a scoop of the white rice into the cone. Pack it down firmly. Add 2 spoonfuls of the chicken and mushrooms. Add a scoop of blue rice on top. Pack it down firmly..
18. Fold the leaves down and form a pyramid shape. Tie the dumplings tightly with hemp strings. *It takes a few practices until you get it right. Most importantly is to the tie the dumplings tightly.*.
19. Repeat the process for the remaining dumplings. Add the dumplings into the boiling water. Cover and boil for about 2.5 hours..
20. At the 2 hours mark, remove one of the dumplings, unwrap and test if it is cooked. If it is cooked, remove from heat, place in a wire cooling rack to drain off excess water and cool down. If it is not yet cooked, continue cooking for another hour and check again, When it is cool enuff to handle, unwrap and serve..

Both are good guesses but my answer, invariably, is Nyonya chang. This is the Peranakan variety of the famous bak chang (literally "meat dumpling" in Hokkien), a sticky rice dumpling traditionally eaten during the Duanwu Festival (also known as the Dragon Boat Festival). Approaching this day you will see everywhere in Singapore selling dumpling 粽子(Hokkien called it bak chang). One month before the festive, supermarket and wet market or provision stalls will be seeing them selling the ingredients for making dumpling. We do not distribute our rice dumplings to any other brand names that may sound similar to our own.