The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching again. While we eat zongzi every year, they are made of meat and glutinous rice, which can easily feel greasy if consumed in large quantities. How can we counteract this greasiness when eating zongzi? Alternative Method 1: Drink Hot Tea to Cut the Grease
Because zongzi are often oily, eating too many can lead to a greasy feeling and indigestion, as glutinous rice is not easily digested. Chef Chen from the Dongguan Hyatt Hotel explains that hot tea has the effect of cutting through grease. Drinking hot tea while eating zongzi can help alleviate greasiness and aid digestion. Chef Chen suggests simply pairing zongzi with black tea. There's no need for a specific type of black tea, but it must be hot to effectively counteract the greasiness.
Additionally, Chef Chen advises against drinking cold beverages with zongzi, as cold drinks can cause the glutinous rice to solidify, making it even harder to digest and leading to a feeling of bloating. Alternative Method 2: Guanxiang Tea Aids Digestion
In addition to regular black tea, a type of tea native to Dongguan is also suitable for enjoying with zongzi, as it can aid digestion and relieve summer heat. This Guanxiang tea is more like a traditional Chinese medicine and was recommended by Liu Shijian, a veteran traditional Chinese medicine doctor from Dongguan.
Liu Shijian explains that this Guanxiang tea comes from a wild shrub, over a meter tall, found on the Dalingshan Mountain. The leaves are picked, sun-dried, and then processed into tea. It has effects such as relieving summer heat, clearing heat and detoxifying, aiding digestion, lowering blood lipids, and reducing internal heat. Pairing it with zongzi helps with digestion. When brewed, the tea has a light yellow color. When brought close, it has a hawthorn-like scent that is both slightly sour and sweet, with an invigorating aroma. The taste is light, which perfectly balances the flavor of the zongzi. Liping from Garden Congee City mentions that this tea has been consumed for a long time. It grows wild all over Dalingshan Mountain; many people used to cut it for firewood, while others brewed it as a tea to relieve summer heat and aid digestion during the hot season. Alternative Method 3: Eat Zongzi with Condensed Milk
The skin of Dongguan's jianshui zongzi (alkaline water zongzi) is plain and tasteless, so many people like to dip it in honey. However, Ms. Lan from Dongguan told us she prefers to pair her zongzi with condensed milk. After cutting the zongzi into pieces and dipping them in condensed milk, it's less greasy and adds flavor to the otherwise plain zongzi.
Ms. Lan says to use jianshui zongzi for this method. Using salty zongzi can lead to an overly rich and greasy taste from the combination of sweet and salty. She mentions that this way of eating zongzi evokes Western-style dishes, and this East-meets-West combination is her favorite way to enjoy them. Alternative Method 4: Pan-fried Zongzi with Egg Skin
The outside is a thin layer of egg skin, while the inside is diced zongzi. The first bite is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, filled with the rich aroma of zongzi. This zongzi is more like a dessert or a dish.
Mr. Liu from Nancheng introduced this method, suggesting that zongzi can be prepared as a dish for everyone to share, with one piece per person. This way, people can enjoy the delicious zongzi without feeling too greasy. The preparation is simple: dice the zongzi, spread a thin egg skin in a pan, cook it, place the zongzi in the middle, fold the egg skin over it, and pan-fry until done. This creates a crispy exterior and a soft interior. The aroma of these zongzi can be smelled from a distance.