The tradition of eating qingtuan at Qingming Festival evolved from the ancient Chinese Cold Food Day (one or two days before Qingming Festival). The custom on Cold Food Day is that people do not make a fire and stop cooking. People can only eat food that doesn’t need to be heated. Therefore, food such as Qingtuan can be prepared a day in advance and can satisfy hunger. Later, the Cold Food Festival evolved into the Qingming festival, and qingtuan eaten on the Cold Food Festival became an essential food for the Qingming Festival in eastern and southern China
Its appearance has remained unchanged for thousands of years. However, its function as a religious rites has gradually faded, and it has become a seasonal snack with unique characteristics.
Qingtuan made with mugwort has many names, such as Qingcaotuan, Qingmingguo, Aiguoba, Aicaoguo, and Aibabao. In Fujian and Chaozhou, it is called Qingcaoguo, Caozaiguo, Caoguo, or Shuquguo; the Hakka people call it Qingzha, Aicibab, Aici, or Aizha, among others; while in Hong Kong, it is called Qingmingzai or Jishitengchaguo.
Traditional flavors include sweet and salty, with sweet fillings such as red bean paste and date paste, and salty fillings such as pork and bamboo shoots. Nowadays, there are also variations with meat floss, salted egg yolk filling, and molten custard filling.
To achieve a very chewy and glutinous texture, pure glutinous rice flour can be used to make the dough. However, pure glutinous rice dough cannot hold its shape well after steaming. Adding some wheat starch can improve the dough’s elasticity and make it easier to shape. The right proportion can also result in a good texture. Reducing the sugar content will shorten the shelf life a bit, and the steamed dumplings can be stored at room temperature for 1-2 days. If you want to eat them fresh, you can store the uncooked green dough in the freezer, just like making dumplings or tangyuan. When ready to eat, bring a pot of water to a boil, put the frozen balls into the steamer, and steam for 10 minutes.
The starch in glutinous rice flour quickly ages and hardens after cooked. To prevent this, I added Trehalose to the dough, which helps to slow down the aging process of starch. The dough remains chewy and soft for 1-2 days. Red bean paste and green dough are a classic combination, but I also made peanut and sesame filling. Instead of using lard or other oils as a binder, I used ground peanuts of different degrees and peanut butter to make a binder, which tasted great without adding any extra oil.
◤Green Rice Dumplings Ingredients
◤Wheat Starch Dough
- Glutinous Rice Flour 300 g
- Wheat Starch 90 g
◤Green Filling
- Chinese Mugwort Paste 90 g (2 kg fresh Chinese mugwort leaves)
- Bicarbinate of Soda 2 g (1/4 tsp)
- Salt 2 g (1/4 tsp)
- Glutinous Rice Flour 100 g
- Granulated Sugar 8 g
- Trehalose 8 g
- Camellia Oil 5 g
If Chinese mugwort is not available, spinach leaves can be used instead. Use 205 g of spinach leaves and add 10 g of ice.
◤Red Dough
- Pink Dragon Fruit Powder 5g
- Lukewarm Water 60ml+ (add more water if the dough is too dry)
- Glutinous Rice Flour 100 g
- Granulated Sugar 8 g
- Trehalose 8 g
- Camellia Oil 5 g
◤Yellow Dough
- Pumpkin Powder 10g
- Lukewarm Water 60ml+ (add more water if the dough is too dry)
- Glutinous Rice Flour 100 g
- Granulated Sugar 8 g
- Trehalose 8 g
- Camellia Oil 5 g
◤Adzuki Fillings (Can make 10, each 30g)
- Adzuki Bean 200g
- Demerara Raw Cane Sugar 80g
- Wheat Starch 1 tbsp
- Oil 1 tbsp
- Homemade Maltose 1 tbsp
◤Peanut Sesame Fillings (Make 10, each 30g)
- Peanuts (shelled) 120g
- White Sesame 40g
- Black Sesame 40g
- Demerara Raw Cane Sugar 70g
- Olive Oil 2 tbsp (30ml)
【Instructions】
◤Peanut Sesame Fillings
1. Roast the shelled peanuts in the oven at 130°C for about 30 minutes until fragrant, then let them cool.
2. Rinse the black and white sesame seeds with water in a mesh strainer, drain the water, and put them in a flat-bottomed pan. Stir-fry over low heat until dry. Observe the color of the white sesame seeds. When they turn slightly yellow, remove from heat. Otherwise, they will have a bitter taste and cannot be eaten.
3. Grind black and white sesame seeds with a food processor.
4. Take half of the shelled peanuts and grind them in a stone mortar. If you don’t have a stone mortar, you can put them in a zipper bag and roll them with a rolling pin.
5. Use a blender to turn the other half of the peanuts into a peanut butter. If your blender is not powerful enough, you can add 1 tbsp of peanut oil and mix them together.
6. Use the peanut butter to stick the peanut crumbs, black and white sesame paste, and raw cane sugar together. Use a spoon to shape them into balls. This amount can make about 9-10 balls. Set aside.
◤Mugwort Juice
6. Pick fresh mugwort leaves, remove the hard stems, and rinse the tender leaves.
7. Boil water in a pot until it boils, quickly add the mugwort tender leaves, add salt and baking soda (helps to maintain the green color), stir well, and boil over high heat for 2-3 minutes. High heat can maintain the tender green color of the leaves.
8. Remove the mugwort tender leaves and immediately soak them in ice water for about 2-3 minutes. Pour out the soaked ice water, replace it with fresh ice water, and change the water 2-3 times to remove bitterness.
9. Drain the water from the mugwort leaves, and use a blender to turn them into mugwort puree. The mugwort leaves do not need to be added with too much water, otherwise the taste will become very light and the color will not be dark green enough after adding glutinous rice flour.
10. Filter the mugwort fibers with a cotton cloth. If you use a high-power blender such as Blendtec to blend the mugwort puree finely, you can leave about 1 tablespoon of mugwort fibers to add to the dough, adding a fragrant mugwort aroma.
◤Dough
11. Boil water for the mung bean starch until it boils, quickly pour in the cooked mung bean starch, quickly stir with chopsticks until it becomes translucent crumbs, knead until it can be pressed with fingers, and divide it evenly into 3 pieces of the same weight to make 3 different colored dough later. Cover with a lid to prevent drying.
12. Mix the glutinous rice flour, trehalose, granulated sugar, and oil evenly into 3 portions.
13. Green dough: Take one portion of glutinous rice flour and mix it with granulated sugar, trehalose, and oil. Add 1/3 of the cooked mung bean starch dough before tearing it into pieces for easy mixing. Pour in the mugwort puree and stir with chopsticks until it becomes crumbly. Knead it with your hands until it feels moist. If it is too dry, add a little water. Roll it into a ball and put it in a large plate. Cover with a lid and set aside.
14. Pink dough: Take one portion of glutinous rice flour and mix it with granulated sugar, trehalose, and oil. Add 1/3 of the cooked mung bean starch dough before tearing it into pieces for easy mixing. Add the pink dragon fruit powder, pour in warm water, stir with chopsticks until it becomes crumbly, and knead it with your hands. The dough with natural coloring powder may be drier, so feel the moisture of the dough before deciding whether to add water. The dough should be soft and easy to knead.
15. Yellow dough: Take one portion of glutinous rice flour and mix it with granulated sugar, trehalose, and oil. Add 1/3 of the cooked mung bean starch dough before tearing it into pieces for easy mixing. Add the pumpkin powder, pour in warm water, stir with chopsticks until it becomes crumbly, and knead it with your hands. The dough with natural coloring powder may be drier. Among the three doughs, the pumpkin dough is the driest and may require an additional 1-2 tablespoons of water until the dough is soft and easy to knead.
◤Shaping
16. Roll the dough into a long strip and divide it into 6 equal portions, each about 40g.
17. Take one portion of the dough and shape it into a thin circle. Place a filling ball in the center, and use one hand to rotate the dough while pushing it upwards. Pinch the dough tightly together at the top to wrap it around the filling ball, and then use your palms to roll it into a round ball on the cutting board.
18. Use the back of a knife to press a deep mark on the top of the dough. The mark should be pressed firmly, or else the dough will expand slightly after steaming, making the mark difficult to see.
19. Use other colored dough to make small leaves and stems as decorations using mini cookie cutters.
20. Place a piece of baking paper under each green dough ball.
◤Steaming
21. Fill a pot with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Place the green dough balls in a steamer basket and cover it. Adjust the heat to medium and steam for 10-12 minutes. Do not steam for too long, or the glutinous rice will become too soft and lose its shape.
22. Turn off the heat and spray a thin layer of oil on the surface of the green dough balls using a cooking spray. This helps to keep them moist and prevent sticking.
23. To carry them out, wrap them in plastic wrap.