These red bean zongzi are sticky rice dumplings full of molten glutinous rice dotted with tender red (adzuki) beans! Serve with a little maple syrup or honey for a truly special dessert or snack, especially around the Dragon Boat Festival!  Using Whole Red Beans for a Different Texture  With the Dragon Boat Festival coming up, of course my mind turned to zongzi (粽子).But have you ever eaten a zongzi and craved more rice? When I last had my red bean paste zongzi, both Bill and I were craving more rice.So I decided to nix the paste, making more room for rice, and added soaked red beans for that creamy textural contrast.

With no red bean paste to make, this recipe is a lot less work.I love it even more than my original red bean paste zongzi recipe!  It shines when you serve it hot, warm, or even at room temperature.Bill prefers his zongzi warm, but the cooled sweet glutinous rice means it gets extra chewy, and that’s how I like it.  What is Alkaline Water (Jiǎnshuǐ)? Both of my red bean zongzi recipes are jianshui zongzi, or alkaline water zongzi.

For me, that rice mixed with alkaline water, also known as lye water, is the real prize.  This alkaline water has potassium carbonate in it, which raises the pH of dough.While you may have never heard of it, it’s used in some of your favorite foods, like pretzels, ramen noodles, and mooncake dough! It’s food grade and safe to consume, and you can find it at your Chinese grocery store. 

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