Dumpling festival

About 2300 years ago in China, Qu Yuan was a poet during the period of the Warring States. He was a court favourite until he was replaced and banished from the state by a rival through court intrigues. Filled with grief, he wanted to commit suicide in the river. He met a fisherman who asked him why, to which he replied: "The whole country is corrupt, except me. The people are inebriated, except me. I cannot accept it so it's better this way."

"But in that case, wouldn't it be better for you to move with the trend and rise in power?" the fisherman then asked.

Qu replied: "I prefer a death of honour and be interred in the bellies of the fishes in this river." Then, he clasped a huge stone with both hands, jumped into the river and drowned.

The fisherman and his friends rowed out in their long boats to save him but in vain. The fishermen would beat on their drums to chase the river dragons away from the poet. Later, the ritual began of throwing rice into the river to save the poet's spirit. It was believed that the fishes would eat the rice instead of his flesh.

This is how the legend of the Dragon Boat Race and the Dumpling Festival started. It's a festival celebrated by Chinese on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month which is today. The symbol is the triangularly-shaped Chang or dumpling, made from glutinous rice.

While I was away in Kuala Lumpur during lastweekend, my wife had been busily preparing this delicacy with my mother-in-law in Simpang Ampat. It takes a deft hand and lots of practice to wrap the Chang properly or else it'll be out-of-shape.


Traditionally, the filling they use for their Chang would be a mixture of grounded peanuts and seasoned meat. Since last year, they have added the more popular Bak Chang to their repertoire. This type of Chang is heavier to the stomach as the filling will contain a piece of belly pork, Chinese chestnuts, mushrooms and salted duck's egg-yolk.

A long time ago, my grandmother used to specialise in her Lye Chang made solely from glutinous rice that had been soaked in lye water.


When prepared, the whole Chang will take on a golden sheen. The measure of a master Chang maker and wrapper will be in the colour of the Chang, its softness and of course, its size because the smaller the Chang can be, the more exquisite it will look. Today, my family buys the Lye variety from friends who still make them. This type of Chang is rather bland on its own and normally, it'll be consumed by dipping it into a special mixture of Malacca sugar and coconut milk.