Dumplings 粽子 time: Pork free 粽子 @ West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa

More pork free dumplings 粽子"zongzi" galore awaits one at West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa. Its a clever play of ingredients and the art of cooking that ensures that pork free 粽子 taste just as smooth and flavourful as the pork ones.

Aptly named "Bundled Treasures", Chef Chan Choo Kean and his team roll out 5 awesome bundled treasures. This promotion starts 25th May till 6th June 2011.

Sharing is caring. And one certainly can't go wrong when one orders a 3kg Superior Giant Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Assorted Meat and Chef’s Special Savoury Sauce. Priced at RM188++ each, the 3kg rectangular dumpling looks like a block of rice wrapped in bamboo. It does look sort of the huge meal you'll need to feed an army:P

However what is actually in stored isn't just a block of bamboo and flavoured rice. Therein contains specially chosen ingredients for its flavour and texture including dried scallop, dried oyster, barbecued chicken, lotus seed, chestnut, salted egg yolk, mushroom, dried shrimp and yellow peas. To add to the whole awesome experience is a specially concocted savoury sauce.

I half expected that when it is steamed and sliced to be served, the ingredients will not evenly spread out. In the art of laying out the ingredients, the chefs have painstakingly ensured that every bit of ingredient is laid out evenly throughout each 3kg roll or block of dumpling. To put the chefs to the test, we actually dug out the 2 slices that we were served to check out the ingredients. Bravo, both slices of dumplings from the 3kg roll were evenly spread out. And yes if the 3kg which averagely feeds 10 very hungry people seems really too big for you, you can opt to order the sliced ones at RM28 each.

And may I add...the chinese pickled chili actually goes real well with the dumplings. Give it a try, you may well like it like I did. This condiment on the table looked really good with the very warm and traditional chinese decors of the West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant. Bring your older loved ones such as your grandparents to score brownie points from them this chinese festival. Or better still take advantage of the above mentioned 3kg Superior Giant Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Assorted Meat and Chef’s Special Savoury Sauce and have a family reunion!

How many of us have actually heard of lamb being used in dumplings? Here at West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant, they have introduced Steamed Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Yam and Lamb. Priced at RM23 each, this 粽子 is bursting with the flavours of the seasoned lamb meat coupled with the specially chosen ingredients of yam, dried shrimp, mushroom and chestnut. The taste is just amazing. The lamb was not strong neither was it subtle. It just tasted right. Neither did it leave the dumpling oily.

As it turned out, the lamb is carefully seasoned and cooked with precision to achieve such texture and flavour before it is being used as one the ingredients in this flavourful Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Yam and Lamb.

Hong Kong Style Steamed Glutinous Rice Dumpling priced at RM28 is a must try if you want something closer to the original old fashion dumplings. A bite into this all time favourite will reveal an assortment of hidden treasures including dried scallop, barbecued chicken, salted egg yolk, black mushroom, chestnut, dried shrimp and yellow pea all wrapped by a bed of fluffy glutinous rice which is lightly "tea-like" flavour because the lotus leaf is used to wrap this bundle of treasure.

Vegetarians fret not. Tantalise your tastebuds with the Steamed Vegetarian Glutinous Rice Dumpling priced at RM18 each. In every dumpling lays an array of mushrooms including enoki mushroom, abalone mushroom and black mushroom. And what makes this vegetarian dumpling different from many others out there is the usage of wild rice grains. These awesome power packed wild rice is not just nutritious but it has a slightly nutty taste which I admit compliments the chosen mushrooms well.

The fifth bundled treasure awaits us in the form of Steamed Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Sweet Red Bean priced at RM12 each. Frankly I was a bit disappointed with the idea of red bean. I felt it was normal. However, a bite into this Alkaline Dumplings "kee chang" filled with the red bean paste, I got hooked. The red bean paste was creamy and smooth. Nothing like the usual rather roughed ones that I had eaten most times. And when one adds a little of the honey on the side into the dumpling, it becomes even more flavourful. This I will have to admit, it is because I have always loved honey of any sort.

With all this glutinous rice, its best that one opts to wash it down with some Chinese tea to promote better digestion of the glutinous rice. Speak to your waitress or waiter on the wide assortment of exquisite chinese tea.

The dumplings 粽子 are served daily ala carte for lunch and dinner till 6th June 2011 and are also available

for take-away. Three days advance request is highly recommended for orders beyond 15 pieces per dine-in or take-away order. So hurry down to:

West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant,

Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa

Opening hours:

• 12.00 noon to 2.30 pm for lunch (Mondays to Saturdays)

• 10.00 am to 2.30 pm (Sundays and PublicHolidays)

• 6.30pm to 10.30 pm for dinner (Mondays to Sundays).

For reservations, call West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant at +603 7495 1888.

Dumplings 粽子 time: Pork free 粽子 @ Zuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant One World Hotel

Often many complain that the 粽子(dumplings / zongzi) are wee too oily and acts up on their digestions. So here's some good news! Head down to Zuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant at One World Hotel for some good not oily and Pork Free glutinous rice dumplings. Yes its halal and its yummy.

I hear you out there. I hear you asking "How can it be halal and yummy". I was skeptical myself before I tasted the dumplings. But really, minus the lard and the fat (which I normally spit out because its a wee too slippery for my liking:P), the folks at Zuan Yuan have really made the 粽子 just as good as 粽子 should be - fluffy rice and flavourful fillings.

The first is tasted was the Traditional Five Grain Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Sliced Australian Abalone at RM58 per dumpling. This power packed 1kg dumpling is filled with sliced Australian Abalone(of course:P). Additional ingredients such as dried scallop, sliced duck, diced mushroom, lotus seed, dried shrimps, salted egg yolk and chest nut makes it absolutely delightful. The duck meat adds a whole world of ooomph to the gorgeous abalone. Now don't get too excited and expect huge slices of abalone. They are nicely sliced so you don't get a crazy chewy like chewing gum dumpling although I did hope to see just a wee more abalone.

Five different grains like basmathi, black glutinous rice, oats, wild rice and brown rice are mixed with the glutinous rice to add flavour and texture to the 粽子. The end result is a very well thought of a healthy dumpling 粽子. This dumpling can be shared with at least 2 to 3 persons since its much bigger than the conventional dumplings.

Meanwhile, make a guest who's pretty face is hidden by the 1kg Traditional Five Grain Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Sliced Australian Abalone ?

Next came the Eight Treasure Glutinous Rice Dumpling Hong Kong Style at RM25 per dumpling. And ingredients that goes into this Hong Kong style 粽子 includes sliced roasted duck, pacific clam, salted egg yolk, gingko nut, lotus seed, barley, ground nuts, green bean, mushroom, black-eye bean and chest nut. This is also a very flavourful 粽子 that will have you wanting more. Nothing overpowers each other and its all a perfect blend of flavours.

And what is 粽子 festival if one does not taste the sweet ones? Normally we end up having Alkaline Dumplings "kee chang" stuffed with either red bean or we dip it into Palm Sugar "Gula Melaka"

One really has to praise the chef for coming up with such a brilliant 粽子. Who would have thought of Steamed Sweet Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Red Dates Paste? Yes the red dates 紅棗 "hong zao". Its cooked slowly over slow fire for 8 hours before its been blended into paste form. At one glance it did look yucky and kinda kaya like. However, I was taken aback by the smoothness and the natural sweetness of the red dates. Nothing obscenely sweet. It is exactly the flavour and taste that I get when I make red dates drink at home all so often (because its passed down in my Goon family and my inlaws side that red dates promotes good blood circulation and good skin). This is a must try when you visit Zuan Yuan.

While you're enjoying the 粽子, you must check out the wide variety of Chinese Tea available at Zuan Yuan, Good tea helps take away the discomfort that some folks get when they consume glutinous rice. Plus it helps clear the palate well so that you can really savour each of the dumplings you order.



The dumplings are available during lunch and dinner for dine-in and take-away. For reservations or orders, please call Zuan Yuan at 603 7681 1159. Hurry because the dumplings promotion started on Monday 23rd May and ends on Monday 6th June 2011.

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Here's a peek at some of the ingredients that went into the above mentioned gorgeous dumplings. How many can you recognise in their raw form? The duck does not count since its so obviously a duck. LOL.

Dumplings 粽子 time...

Its dumplings 粽子"zongzi" galore this time of the year - 5th day of the 5th lunar month. This is sometimes called bakchang. Some call it "zong". This is a celebration widely celebrated by Chinese around the world and in Malaysia, most of my Malay and Indian friends join in the celebration that it is time to go bakchang overload:P

The real reason behind the celebration however is to honour the poet Qu Yuan (340-278 B.C.) from the Chu Kingdom who was so grieved that his country was taken over by the Qin General. So great was his grief, he jumped into the river. As the legend goes, packets of rice were then thrown into the river so that the fishes would not eat his body. Another story has it, that the wrapped rice are thrown into the river to appease the dragons that live underwater. Thus the 粽子 season is also during the Dragon Boat Race time.

Its not an easy task to make them - the wrapping itself is insanely labour intensive that only skilled hands can handle. So I rather save myself the labour and embarrassment. Off I go this season to seek good dumplings:D

I say labour intensive and only skilled hands because there's so much ingredients to prepare. Even the glutinous rice had to be soaked for a few hours, a lot of slicing, marinating of the ingredients...Then comes the highly skilled process of wrapping. Unless you wrap it right and wrap it well, your whole will turn all soggy and probably be oozing out of the bamboo leaves when you boil the 粽子

So here's a heads up folks, the next few blog post will be on dumplings. I promise you, they will be one of the best 粽子 around.